SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia on Sunday defended a A$2.5 billion ($1.62 billion) deal to deport hundreds of non-citizens to the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru over the next 30 years, a plan criticized by rights groups.
Australia’s centre-left Labor government signed a deal with Nauru in September to resettle people denied refugee visas because of criminal convictions, reviving claims that Australia was “dumping” refugees onto the small island states.
On Sunday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the 30-year visas issued to deportees would give them the right to work in Nauru, a country of 12,000 people that covers just 21 square kilometers and is dependent on foreign aid.
“I went and personally inspected the accommodation and inspected the medical facilities there and the standard there is good,” Burke told Australian Broadcasting Corp television.
Human Rights Watch reported in September that asylum seekers forcibly transferred to Nauru by Australia died of medical neglect and suicide.
Nauruan business owners and community workers expressed mixed feelings to Reuters about people with criminal records being resettled on the island.
Burke said on Sunday that the island’s medical facilities are “far beyond what some people have speculated about their standards.
A 2025 report by Brigham Young University says health care systems in Pacific island countries, including Nauru, consistently fall short of World Health Organization standards.
Under the agreement, Nauru will receive A$400 million up front to create a subsidy for the resettlement program, plus A$70 million annually for the 30-year term of the agreement.
Nauru will decide which non-citizens to accept, although funding can be clawed back by Australia if the scheme does not meet expectations.
Nauru already hosts Australia’s processing center for asylum seekers, which last year provided the country with $200 million, or two-thirds of its income.
($1 = 1.5399 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
