the asylum seeker stand-off in Nauru is back to square one, despite what appeared to be a deal between Australian and Nauruan authorities. Earlier tonight, officials from both countries boarded the HMAS Manoora but a little over an hour ago, they returned to shore empty-handed. The lack of progress this evening is an embarrassing set-back for the Australian Government, which had earlier said it wanted to bring a number of asylum seekers ashore tonight.

TONY JONES: Ben Wilson joins me on the line now from Nauru. Ben, I believe you've been hearing from the spokesperson for the Nauruan Government. What has he said?

BEN WILSON: The take from what happened tonight, off the coast, on board HMAS Manoora, is that the group of asylum seekers they planned to bring ashore tonight weren't ready to leave the ship and, as a result, the Nauruan delegation which went out to the ship with the brief of ensuring that anyone leaving the ship was doing so voluntarily and the Australian officials came back empty-handed.

They were preparing a landing craft which has been bringing asylum seekers to shore over the

ABDUL KHALIQ FAZAL: Well, this is not correct because I'm part of the Afghan government. No-one will be prosecuted to return to their own home in their own country. That's totally bizarre. I mean, if they are going to produce other excuses, OK, I can get along with that, but not the prosecution issue. No Afghan from any community or any tribe will be prosecuted if they come to Afghanistan. Afghanistan is their home, their country; they are most welcome by the government and by the Afghan community in Afghanistan.

TONY JONES: Just to recap on what this deal means - the Nauruan officials I believe will ask each and every person whether they agree to come off.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Australian Government, TONY JONES, HMAS Manoora, Nauruan Government, Afghan Australian, KHALIQ FAZAL, United Nations, I'm Afghan, asylum seekers, WILSON That's, Khaliq Fazal, tony jones, abdul khaliq fazal, australian government, abdul khaliq, khaliq fazal, detention centres, government accept, ben wilson, afghan asylum, afghan asylum seekers, nauruan government, khaliq fazal australian, australian government afghan, fazal australian government,
Approximate Word count = 1946
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)