Age is irrelevant says Australian who married Manus Island asylum seeker

An Australian refugee advocate has married a 31-year-old Manus Island asylum seeker.

The Daily Telegraph revealed yesterday the controversial marriage of activist Dianne Baumann to Mohsen Norozi late last year, a man half her age.

The pair have denied it was to help the detainee skirt tough immigration laws.

Ms Baumann told The Daily Telegraph they would live together for a “long time in the future” and Norozi, while refusing to reveal his reasons for seeking asylum in Australia, or say where he is fleeing from, said he would look after his wife.

“I want to look after her in the future. I care about her. Is that a problem?” Norozi said.

Despite not revealing her age, it is believed Baumann is in her 60’s.

“I could be 17 or 70, it doesn’t matter how old I am.,” Ms Baumann said.

“It doesn’t matter to me, every day of my life it doesn’t matter to me. You are as you feel.”

Norozi said he had been in the offshore detention centre for four years, transferred from Christmas Island, when they got married.

The Daily Telegraph revealed late last year activists had married illegal arrivals in Manus Regional Processing Centre in an attempt to evade the federal government’s vow that no one in Manus or Nauru will ever resettle in Australia.

“Mohsen and I have known each other a long time and we’ll be sharing a house together for a long time in the future,” Ms Baumann said.

“I don’t think that anyone would get married for a visa because that’s ridiculous.”

Do you think their marriage should mean Norozi gets a visa?