One boat turned back in campaign period

The election campaign so far has been marked by an absence of asylum seeker boat arrivals but one vessel was returned to its country of departure.

In the latest Operation Sovereign Borders update for May, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said one person had voluntarily departed from a regional processing centre while 15 illegal maritime arrivals had been voluntarily removed from Australia.

One illegal maritime arrival was involuntarily removed to country of origin.

In a statement on its website, the Department says at the end of May, there were 847 people at the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre and 466 people at Nauru.

Of 1014 initial refugee notifications at Manus, 512 were positive and 502 negative. 541 refugees had been given a positive final determination.

Of 1194 refugee status determinations handed down in Nauru, 915 were positive and 279 negative.

The Department said those with a positive determination were now living freely in the Nauru community or in the processing centre under open centre arrangements.