Media Release: Rushed hearing reveals secret Nauru deal could be worth $2.5 billion

Last night’s rushed Senate hearing on the Albanese Government’s Anti-Fairness and Deportation Bill has exposed shocking revelations about the Albanese Government’s secret deal with Nauru – including that the agreement could be worth at least $2.5 billion, with estimates that it may reach over $7 billion in terms of its total value to Nauru. The Department of Home Affairs said that they have not completed economic modelling on what the deal could be worth. 

Under questioning from Senators Pocock, Shoebridge and Cash, Home Affairs officials confirmed that the bulk of the $408m will be put into a trust, the terms of which are still not finalised, even though the Memorandum of Understanding has been signed. Nauru will receive an ongoing payment of $70 million a year, and will have access to that, along with being able to draw down on the trust and receive interest on the total. Home Affairs admitted to Senator Pocock that the total could be over $2.5 billion dollars, a number that he said sounded ‘absolutely bonkers’.

Despite the scale of the deal, the hearing confirmed there is no cap and no minimum number of people who can be deported to Nauru under the arrangement. Under questioning about the related Home Affairs Bill, the Department admitted that it has been deliberately designed to get around arguments currently before the High Court, and that the powers to remove fairness from deportation decisions could apply far beyond the NZYQ cohort. 

The Department of Home Affairs also admitted that they don’t know whether companies associated with the Finks bikie gang still have contracts to provide security on Nauru, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in August. 

Civil society and experts were locked out of the hearing, and the only witnesses were officials from the Department of Home Affairs. In an unconventional move, Senator Shoebridge tabled evidence from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Human Rights Law Centre, Human Rights Watch, the Law Council of Australia, the Asylum Seeker Centre and a host of multicultural community leaders, all of whom are opposed to the Bill. The Committee immediately suspended for five minutes, before finally agreeing to accept the submissions.

Jana Favero, Deputy CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said:

“This is proof we need a proper Senate inquiry into this Bill, and not this sham process. From this rushed 3 hour hearing, we now know the Government’s secret deal with Nauru could be worth at least $2.5 billion, arrangements for the way the money will be managed are still unfinalised, and the total costing hasn’t even been done but the total value could be over $7 billion. Imagine what a proper inquiry with expert witnesses would uncover?” 

“The Department of Home Affairs could not articulate reasons for the Bill to be rushed through Parliament. A Bill with these kinds of life-changing implications for people that is linked to a deal worth so much money needs to be properly scrutinised.”

You can read the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s submission to the hearing here. 

ENDS 

For further information or to request an interview contact Natasha Blucher (ASRC) on +61 412 034 821 or media@asrc.org.au