No happy birthday for Australia's $12 billion refugee detention program

July 19 marks the eleventh anniversary of a dark day in Australia’s history when the then-Rudd government announced that “unauthorised maritime arrivals” would not be allowed to settle in Australia and were to be detained in offshore locations.  

This marked a reversal of Labor policy, as the newly elected Rudd Government in 2007 closed down the detention centre in Nauru, with the then-Minister calling it a ‘shameful and wasteful chapter in Australia’s immigration history’. 

Since 19 July 2013, the astronomical cost of the policy has reached $12.118 billion. 

Today, around 48 refugees remain in Port Moresby, PNG after transfer from Manus Island in a 2021 deal that neither the Morrison nor Albanese governments has adequately explained, nor has PNG’s.  

‘Like so much of this detention program, the PNG deal is clouded in secrecy,’ said St Vincent de Paul Society National President, Mark Gaetani in a statement marking the anniversary.

‘Before Parliament rose for the winter break the Government provided information about the Independent Management Arrangement that conceals more than it reveals. It said funding for PNG to manage this cohort had been “confidentially negotiated” and that disclosing the dollar value of Australia’s support could compromise PNG’s ability to manage the residual caseload. 

‘It said openness about the funding would have the potential to “cause significant damage to the Australia/Papua New Guinea bilateral relationship”. The Government stressed that no merits-based review of the funding arrangement will be considered because it relates to policy decisions of a “high political content” that affect Australia’s relations with other countries and forms “part of Australia’s border protection response”. 

‘As a result of this secrecy and the poor way the whole process has been handled, a number of these asylum seekers are seriously ill, without access to proper medical care, and are struggling to get by in an environment that is neither safe nor welcoming, Mr Gaetani added.

‘At present, Australia is paying PNG an undisclosed amount to handle an issue that could be more humanely resolved here. The reality is that vulnerable individuals are being sacrificed on the altar of diplomacy.’ 

Mr Gaetani said a further 100 asylum seekers, more recent arrivals, are being held offshore on Nauru, the independent Pacific nation, most of them in a facility run by the US for-profit prison company, Management and Training Corporation. 

‘This costly and poorly run program is also lacking in transparency, with journalistic and human rights access denied. The Society believes all those held in offshore detention should be brought to Australia immediately for proper assessment, medical treatment where necessary, and then for consideration of resettlement, whether here or in a third country.’  

Mr Gaetani echoed the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s view that ‘the whole history of offshore processing has been a complete financial and moral policy failure’, adding, ‘This is bound to continue if we detain people in poor conditions, hidden from scrutiny and with limited access to proper medical care and legal assistance’. 

The St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia consists of 45,000 members and volunteers who operate on the ground through over 1,000 groups located in local communities across the country. 

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