Australia has signed an agreement with Nauru to deport former detainees without a valid visa to the Pacific Islands nation in a move slammed by refugee advocates.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke quietly visited the tiny atoll nation on Friday where he met with President David Adeang, his cabinet and other parliamentarians before signing a memorandum of understanding.
Australia will pay Nauru $408 million up front once the first people arrive and $70 million a year for the resettlement.
It follows a fraught history as human rights organisations protest the deportation of people to the Micronesian island following a United Nations special rapporteur finding “systematic violations” of the International Convention Against Torture.
The memorandum “contains undertakings for the proper treatment and long-term residence of people who have no legal right to stay in Australia, to be received in Nauru”, according to a statement from Mr Burke.
Nauru will grant long-term visas to the cohort, opening the door to Australia circumventing a High Court ruling that hundreds of immigration detainees couldn’t be held in detention indefinitely if there was no prospect of their removal.
The NZYQ cohort’s release in 2023 caused a political headache for the Labor government after scores were charged with further offences after being released into the community.
Some had serious criminal convictions while others were in immigration detention for visa issues.
Mr Burke said the memorandum would target the NZYQ cohort.
“Anyone who doesn’t have a valid visa should leave the country,” he said.
“This is a fundamental element of a functioning visa system.”
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said the deal opened the door to mass deportations without notice and could affect as many as 80,000 people.
“These secret deals send one clear message – in Australia, some people will be punished simply because of where they were born,” deputy CEO Jana Favero said.
“This deal is discriminatory, disgraceful and dangerous.”
Bethany Rose from the Visa Cancellations Working Group, a coalition of lawyers and academics, said the government was dismantling key legal and accountability protections.
“Like anyone else, these people have served their time and restarted their lives in the communities, recovering after what may be years of indefinite detention,” she said.
“We are talking about people’s lives.”
Mr Burke introduced legislation into the lower house on Tuesday that would bolster the Commonwealth’s power to deport non-citizens to Nauru after a legal challenge halted three people being sent there in February.
If passed, the laws will give the government power to circumvent natural justice principles – under which people have the right to a fair hearing – if there is a third country arrangement a person could be deported under.
Mr Burke said procedural fairness was “a fundamental principle in many areas of decision-making” but accused non-citizens of using it to frustrate and delay their deportation.
“These amendments do not remove procedural fairness from the processes that support decisions whether to cancel or refuse the grant of a visa, neither do they affect merits review,” he said when introducing the legislation on Tuesday.
“These amendments are largely directed to the final steps in the removal process, where non-citizens who are on a removal pathway have had all claims to remain in Australia considered and rejected.”
The money comes on top of Australia providing Nauru $100 million in budget support and $40 million for policing in exchange for an effective veto of security and critical infrastructure agreements with third countries.
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