THE Federal Government's "Pacific solution" for asylum seekers, designed to discourage arrivals by processing them offshore, has cost more than $1 billion over five years, according to a new report.
The report, prepared by Oxfam and A Just Australia, which oppose the offshore-processing scheme, calculated it cost more than $500,000 per person to process fewer than 1700 asylum seekers in Nauru, Manus and Christmas Island. By comparison, the cost of holding asylum seekers in a mainland centre, based on Department of Immigration estimates, was 3.5 per cent of the running costs of the Pacific solution.
In calculating the $1 billion cost, the authors included navy interception, detention centre infrastructure and running costs, aid packages to Pacific governments, transport and health services.
