Australia to send hundreds to Nauru in $1.6bn migrant resettlement deal

The Pacific land volition resettle up to 354 erstwhile detainees Canberra says person ‘no ineligible close to stay successful Australia’.

The Australian authorities has agreed to wage the tiny Pacific land federation of Nauru immoderate $1.6bn to resettle erstwhile detainees who person “no ineligible close to stay successful Australia”, successful the latest iteration of Australia’s arguable offshore detention policies.

Both governments signed a secretive woody past week nether which Nauru volition resettle up to 354 radical who person nary ineligible close to enactment successful Australia successful speech for an archetypal 408 cardinal Australian dollar outgo ($267m) and astir 70 cardinal Australian dollars ($46m) each twelvemonth thereafter.

Independent Senator David Shoebridge said a “snap Senate hearing” connected Wednesday nighttime revealed that the “agreement with Nauru to nonstop asylum seekers there” could outgo the Australian authorities up to 2.5 cardinal Australian dollars ($1.6bn) implicit 30 years.

Labor's caller anti-fairness measure volition instrumentality distant the earthy justness rights of refugees and migrants. pic.twitter.com/WDi7bVH30h

— David Shoebridge (@DavidShoebridge) September 4, 2025

The Senate proceeding came aft Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced past week that helium had signed a memorandum with Nauru’s president “for the due attraction and semipermanent residence of radical who person nary ineligible close to enactment successful Australia, to beryllium received successful Nauru”.

“It’s successful some nations’ involvement to determination done this arsenic efficiently arsenic we can,” said Clare Sharp, caput of migration from the Department of Home Affairs.

“It’s successful Nauru’s interest, due to the fact that wealth doesn’t travel until radical arrive,” she said.

With an estimated colonisation of immoderate 12,500 and a mainland measuring conscionable 21 quadrate kilometres (8.1 quadrate miles), Nauru is among the world’s smallest countries.

Nauru’s President David Adeang said successful a connection connected Sunday that the statement with Australia volition “support Nauru’s semipermanent economical resilience”.

Jana Favero, lawman CEO of the Melbourne-based Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said the woody with Nauru was “discriminatory, disgraceful and dangerous”.

Favero said the wide wording successful the woody could alteration galore thousands of radical to beryllium deported from Australia.

“That’s tens of thousands of lives astatine hazard – not the tiny fig the authorities would person Australians believe,” Favero said successful a statement.

Australian migration officials said determination are nary guarantees each 354 radical – including immoderate convicted of superior crimes – volition beryllium deported to Nauru, with the Pacific land making the last decision.

Australia’s authorities has struggled to find a mode to woody with immigrants who person nary different state to spell to erstwhile their visas are cancelled. The country’s High Court ruled successful 2023 that indefinite detention was unlawful if deportation was not an option, starring to the merchandise of 220 people.

The fig of radical successful that concern successful Australia present numbers 354, authorities officials said.

In February, Australia paid an undisclosed sum for Nauru to judge 3 immigrants convicted of convulsive offences, though ineligible challenges person reportedly stalled their transfer.

Nauru was 1 of 2 countries Australia initially sent asylum seekers to erstwhile it archetypal began its arguable offshore detention programme successful 2001.

In June 2023, the past refugees remaining connected Nauru returned to Australia aft Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fulfilled an predetermination committedness to extremity offshore detention.

In January this year, the United Nations Human Rights Committee found Australia’s offshore argumentation had violated 2 provisions of the legally-binding 1966 International Covenant connected Civil and Political Rights – 1 connected arbitrary detention and 1 protecting the close to situation detention successful court.

Nauru has successful caller years turned to different migration-related schemes successful attempts to revive its economy, which historically has relied connected thriving exports of phosphate, a cardinal constituent utilized successful fertiliser. But those supplies person agelong dried up, and researchers contiguous estimation 80 percent of Nauru has been rendered uninhabitable by mining.

Last month, Nauru’s authorities announced it had welcomed its archetypal caller citizens nether an Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Programme, which provides citizenship and a passport for a minimum concern successful the state of $105,000.

The authorities hopes to rise tens of millions of dollars successful yearly gross from the programme, which would assistance the land federation accommodate to rising oversea levels, arsenic immoderate of its adjacent neighbours, including Tuvalu, look existential threats from rising oversea levels.