Australia will continue funding its controversial offshore detention processing centre on the Pacific island of Nauru even as the facility’s remaining refugees leave, in an effort to dissuade people-smugglers from sending boats to the country, according to local media.
The government will spend up to A$350 million (US$235 million) a year on the facility, The Australian newspaper reported, adding that the centre’s final asylum seeker had recently left the island.
A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said on Saturday that the government remained committed to the country’s “Operation Sovereign Borders” policy.
The centre remains ready to receive and process new unauthorised maritime arrivals and “a zero population in Nauru does not change Australia’s regional processing policy”, the spokesperson added.
Immigration has long been a divisive issue in Australia, which is known for strict policies that began under then-prime minister John Howard in 2001. Since then, thousands of asylum seekers have been sent to offshore detention centres on Manus Island and on Nauru, with some held there for years. The tough stance earned condemnation from the United Nations, which has called the policy arbitrary and illegal.
The issue came under the spotlight again last year following a nationwide campaign to allow an ethnic Tamil family who had been in immigration limbo for three years, to return to their Queensland community after suddenly being ejected from Australia.
The family was eventually given “bridging” visas and allowed to stay in the community while their claim was assessed.