2016] The Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Australia 485 baby’s birth and to obtain a birth certificate’ and that the costs associated with the submission of completed registration forms are borne by the Department.164 The onus is thus squarely on Australian authorities to ensure that such children have their birth registered and acquire a birth certificate. This applies both in relation to asylum seekers in immigration detention and those in the community. Under Australian law, asylum seekers who arrive without a valid visa may be transferred to another country for processing and (if found to be in need of protection), for settlement. Nauru and Papua New Guinea are designated regional processing countries under s 198AB of the Migration Act.165 Pregnant asylum seekers in Nauru are normally returned to Australia for their babies’ birth,166 although in September 2015, a child was born to an asylum seeker in Nauru.167 There is no information publically available as to the process followed by the Department for registering the births of children whose mothers have been transferred to Australia from a regional processing country.168 In its report on the Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment 164 Letter from Scott Morrison, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, to Misha Coleman, Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce, 12 February 2014 <http://www.australianchurchesrefugeetaskforce.com.au/wpcontent/uploads/2014/05/MorrisonResponse.pdf>. It is unclear whether this includes assistance to apply for both birth registration and a birth certificate. It has been revealed that Serco, the service provider for Australian onshore immigration detention centres, is not required to record births in detention, and so it is unclear how the Department is informed of births in onshore detention centres in Australia: Paul Farrell, ‘Immigration Detention Centres No Longer Formally Report Childbirth, The Guardian (online), 25 November 2013 <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/25/immigration-detention-centres-nolonger-formally-report-childbirth>. 165 Neither country has ratified either statelessness treaty, although both have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Papua New Guinea has ratified the ICCPR and Nauru has signed but not ratified the ICCPR. 166 Senate Select Committee on the Recent Allegations Relating to Conditions and Circumstances at the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru, Parliament of Australia, Taking Responsibility: Conditions and Circumstances at Australia’s Regional Processing Centre in Nauru (2015) 83 [3.113]; Australian Human Rights Commission, above n 115, 89. 167 Neelima Choahan, ‘Birth of First Refugee Baby on Nauru Sets ‘‘Risky Precedent’’’, The Sydney Morning Herald (online), 21 September 2015 <http://www.smh.com.au/national/birth-offirst-refugee-baby-in-nauru-detention-centre-sets-risky-precedent-20150921-gjrhke.html>. 168 Michelle Foster, Jane McAdam and Davina Wadley, Submission No 5 to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, Migration Amendment (Protecting Babies Born in Australia) Bill 2014, 29 August 2014, 8, which details the authors’ concerns regarding the risks associated with non-registration of births before they are transferred to offshore processing centres.