KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — Australia’s controversial offshore detention centre, which was reopened after the “Malaysian solution” fell through, has cost the country’s taxpayers A$2 billion (RM6.12 billion) to date, an Australian daily reported today.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald’s (SMH) analysis, each refugee held at the Manus Island detention centre cost the Australian government over A$1 million and the government is now scrambling to relocate the remaining 854 refugees after reports of massive abuse surfaced earlier this month.
“They show the centre has cost Australians at least A$420 million to build and maintain, and A$1.25 billion to run since the Gillard government reopened it in late 2012 — giving a total of more than A$1.6 billion,” SMH reported, quoting figures obtained from the parliamentary library.
The parliamentary library noted, however, that the figures could not be considered precise due to “inconsistencies in the official numbers” which did not include last year’s capital costs, the last four months’ operation costs, as well as additional costs like chartered flights and the cost of resettlement.
It also said that “much of the money has been lost to corruption.”
The “Malaysia Solution” was a deal signed by former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, to swap 800 asylum seekers in exchange for 4000 processed refugees from Malaysia. The deal fell through following opposition in both countries.
The Guardian reported last week that over 2,000 leaked incident reports of Australian detention centres on remote Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus revealed “serious allegations of sexual assault and child abuse.”
According to the leaked documents, there were seven reports of sexual assault of children and 59 reports of assault on children, with instances of guards trading additional privileges in exchange of sexual favours and of guards slapping children across the face.
SMH also reported Immigration Minister Peter Dutton as saying last week that the detention centre would be permanently shutting its doors, but stopped short of offering a timeframe.
The SMH also reported that there was speculation of a possible new resettlement deal with Malaysia despite the “Malaysia solution’s” falling through.
This comes after former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott came under fire by the country’s lawmakers last week for expressing regret over not backing the “Malaysia solution”, adding that he wondered if his opposition to the people swap had resulted in the “hyper-partisanship” that now “poisons” Australian politics, UK daily The Guardian reported.
