The Member of Parliament for Manus province in Papua New Guinea says there is no way asylum seekers will be settled in his province.
Photo: AAP
This comes after the government announced last week it would allow the temporary resettlement of refugees from the island's Australian detention centre, which would eventually lead to permanent resettlement.
Ronni Knight says about 96 percent of PNG's land is customarily owned and the government doesn't have enough of its own to permanently settle the refugees.
Mr Knight says even if the refugees were resettled locally, they would not be able to survive in the communities on subsistence living.
"The concern that a lot of people have is that the government thinks that these people are going to be settled in Manus. That is not true. They will not be settled anyway whatsoever in Manus. And I think it will be difficult for them to settle anyone in Papua New Guinea whatsoever."