The prime minister has insisted a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars struck by his home affairs minister during an unannounced trip to Nauru was “hardly a secret”, while refusing to say what the total cost would be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Australia has agreed to pay the tiny island nation more than $408 million to accept members of the so-called NZYQ cohort, and almost $70 million per year to cover their costs, under the deal inked on Friday.<\/p>\n
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke signed the memorandum of understanding with Nauruan President David Adeang during a trip last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A statement announcing the deal was quietly uploaded to the Department of Home Affairs website on Friday. But it was not publicised or shared widely with journalists, as is common practice.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there was “nothing secret” about the deal. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n
“It’s hardly secret, you just are asking me about it on national TV,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing on Monday.<\/p>\n
“It was reported. Tony Burke went to the Nauruan Parliament and spoke with the Nauru government. There’s nothing secret about it.”<\/p>\n
In a tense back and forth, the prime minister refused to elaborate on the details of the arrangement.<\/p>\n
That included whether the $400 million payment would be up-front, how many people would need to be resettled in return or the time frame for the yearly payments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said further details would be “released appropriately” in tandem with Nauru, but did not provide a timeline for when.<\/p>\n
“It’s an arrangement between our government and the Nauruan government and … there’s complexities and details here, including the number of people who go, there’s a range of provisions as part of it,” he said.<\/p>\n
The group slated for deportation were in Australian immigration detention before a landmark 2023 High Court decision ruled it was unlawful to hold people with no reasonable prospects of removal indefinitely.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of detainees were released into the community as a result of the ruling, but it is unclear how many Nauru is required to accept under the arrangement.<\/p>\n
Many in the cohort have been convicted of violent offences, but have served their sentences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Federal government inks $400m deal with Nauru<\/a><\/p>\n Australia will pay a further $70 million per year to cover the ongoing resettlement costs for the group of more than 350 people.<\/p>\n “People who have no rights to be here need to be found somewhere to go,” Mr Albanese said.<\/p>\n “We make no apologies for the fact that we have been very clear about trying to deal with a decision of the High Court.”<\/p>\n In a statement posted to social media over the weekend, the Nauruan government echoed the language of the Australian government.<\/p>\n It said the agreement included “undertakings for the proper treatment and long-term residence of people who have no legal right to stay in Australia” in Nauru.<\/p>\n “Australia will provide funding to underpin this arrangement and support Nauru\u2019s long-term economic resilience,” the statement read.<\/p>\n The payment from Australia would go towards supporting “Nauru’s long-term economic resilience”, according to the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n A statement uploaded to the Department of Home Affairs website on Friday confirmed a deal was signed after Mr Burke met with the president and members of the Nauruan cabinet.<\/p>\n “Anyone who doesn\u2019t have a valid visa should leave the country,” Mr Burke said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n “This is a fundamental element of a functioning visa system.”<\/p>\n Lawyers, crossbench slam deal<\/p>\n The deal, which was revealed over the weekend, has attracted sharp criticism from human rights lawyers, advocates and members of the crossbench.<\/p>\n Independent senator David Pocock labelled it “a cynical and eye-wateringly expensive political fix to shunt a problem Australia has off to a smaller, poorer neighbour”.<\/p>\n It comes days after the government unexpectedly moved to bolster its deportation powers by introducing a bill that would remove its obligation to provide procedural fairness to non-citizens facing removal to a third country.<\/p>\n Under the proposed changes, the rules of natural justice \u2014 which in practice means the requirement to give people subject to a decision a fair hearing \u2014 would not apply in cases where the government has “third country reception arrangements”.<\/p>\n Government moves to bolster powers to deport non-citizens to Nauru<\/a><\/p>\n Australia is currently seeking to resettle three people released as a result of the landmark “NZYQ” High Court decision on the tiny island nation in exchange for an undisclosed fee, but their removal has been stalled since February due to court challenges.<\/p>\n Independent Zali Steggal said the proposed laws “brought to mind what is happening in the US, with ICE departments that just grab people, deport them, take them away and then go ‘oops I made a mistake'”.<\/p>\n “That’s why procedural fairness is so important, to make sure that administrative errors don’t occur. And we’re on a slippery slope,” she told the ABC.\u00a0<\/p>\n Australia is currently seeking to resettle three people released as a result of the NZYQ decision<\/a> in Nauru, but their removal has been stalled since February due to court challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n