27 Jan 2006

Report highlights costs of Australia's Nauru detention centre

2:27 pm on 27 January 2006

The cost of maintaining the two Australian Government's processing centres on Nauru is now estimated at one million Australian dollars a month.

Australian newspaper, The Age, reports that this is more than six times the estimate given after the last big group of asylum seekers left the island late last year.

The centre is now home to just two Iraqi men who were found to be refugees, but were refused protection by Australia after receiving an adverse assessment from the Australian security agency, ASIO.

The camps are being maintained in a state of readiness, complete with dozens of staff, in case they are needed for the detention of asylum seekers in the future.