The Pacific island will resettle up to 354 former detainees Canberra says have \u2018no legal right to remain in Australia\u2019.<\/p>\n
Published On 4 Sep 20254 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
The Australian government has agreed to pay the small Pacific island nation of Nauru some $1.6bn over three decades to resettle former detainees who have \u201cno legal right to remain in Australia\u201d, in the latest iteration of Australia\u2019s controversial offshore detention policies.<\/p>\n
Both governments signed a secretive deal last week under which Nauru will resettle up to 354 people who have no legal right to stay in Australia in exchange for an initial 408 million Australian dollar payment ($267m) and about 70 million Australian dollars ($46m) each year thereafter.<\/p>\n
Independent Senator David Pocock said a \u201csnap Senate hearing\u201d on Wednesday night revealed that the \u201cagreement with Nauru to send asylum seekers there\u201d could cost the Australian government up to 2.5 billion Australian dollars ($1.6bn) over 30 years.<\/p>\n
The Senate hearing came after Australia\u2019s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced last week that he had signed a memorandum with Nauru\u2019s president \u201cfor the proper treatment and long-term residence of people who have no legal right to stay in Australia, to be received in Nauru\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s in both nations\u2019 interest to move through this as efficiently as we can,\u201d said Clare Sharp, head of immigration from the Department of Home Affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s in Nauru\u2019s interest, because money doesn\u2019t flow until people arrive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
With an estimated population of some 12,500 and a mainland measuring just 21 square kilometres (8.1 square miles), Nauru is among the world\u2019s smallest countries.<\/p>\n
Nauru\u2019s President David Adeang said in a statement on Sunday that the agreement with Australia will \u201csupport Nauru\u2019s long-term economic resilience\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jana Favero, deputy CEO of the Melbourne-based Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said the deal with Nauru was \u201cdiscriminatory, disgraceful and dangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n
Favero said the broad wording in the deal could enable many thousands of people to be deported from Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s tens of thousands of lives at risk \u2013 not the tiny number the government would have Australians believe,\u201d Favero said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Australian immigration officials said there are no guarantees all 354 people \u2013 including some convicted of serious crimes \u2013 will be deported to Nauru, with the Pacific island making the final decision.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s government has struggled to find a way to deal with immigrants who have no other country to go to when their visas are cancelled. The country\u2019s High Court ruled in 2023 that indefinite detention was unlawful if deportation was not an option, leading to the release of 220 people.<\/p>\n
The number of people in that situation in Australia now numbers 354, government officials said.<\/p>\n
In February, Australia paid an undisclosed sum for Nauru to accept three immigrants convicted of violent offences, though legal challenges have reportedly stalled their transfer.<\/p>\n
Nauru was one of two countries Australia initially sent asylum seekers to when it first began its controversial offshore detention programme in 2001.<\/p>\n
In June 2023, the last refugees remaining on Nauru returned to Australia<\/a> after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fulfilled an election promise to end offshore detention.<\/p>\n