Last Friday one of our clients was released from Christmas Island Detention Centre after having his visa cancelled under s501(3A) of the Migration Act. We were engaged for the appeal process at the AAT and were successful in having his visa reinstated. Even better, the decision to release him was made at the end of the hearing, which was a great relief as it had been a long three-day hearing, and usually matters of this type can involve a two week wait before a final decision is made.

His release from immigration detention and the long journey back to Brisbane that follows got us thinking about the costs involved in detaining a person in an immigration facility, and this is what we know.

The annual cost, per person, of detaining and/or processing refugees and asylum seekers has been estimated as follows:

• almost $3.4m to hold someone offshore in Nauru or Papua New Guinea;

• $362,000 to hold someone in detention in Australia; and

• $4,429 for an asylum seeker to live in the community on a bridging visa while their claim is processed.

Australia will spend nearly $812 MILLION on its offshore immigration processing system next year – just under $3.4m for each of the 239 people now held on Nauru or in Papua New Guinea.

On the figures presented in this year’s budget, it costs Australian taxpayers $9,305 every day for each person held offshore.

Sources:

1. https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/.../cost-australias...

2. https://www.theguardian.com/.../australia-will-spend...