At What Cost report shows offshore processing will cost $1.2bn over three years as Jacqui Lambie tosses up whether to support medevac repeal

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

Offshore detention costs Australian taxpayers as much as $573,000 a person each year, according to a report from advocacy groups released as the independent senator Jacqui Lambie weighed up whether to support the repeal of medevac laws.

The At What Cost report, released on Tuesday by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Save the Children and GetUp, showed the cost of offshore processing over the next three years would be $1.2bn, and $573,ooo each person a year.

This was on top of the $9bn spent on offshore processing and onshore mandatory detention between 2016 and 2020, analysis of government figures undertaken for the report by Equity Economics showed.

“Whilst the human cost of Australia’s six-year failure to find a solution for all those people trapped offshore remains devastating, so too is the economic impact for a government increasingly in search of fiscal savings,” the report said.

Jacqui Lambie to meet with the government on medevac repeal Read more

“The cost of keeping these 535 people offshore after six years is enormous, both economically and morally. A solution should be found urgently – to the benefit of both these people and the budget bottom line.”

The report said that detaining the same person onshore in Australia would cost $200,000 less a person, with onshore mandatory detention costing on average $346,000 each person a year. The cost for those living in the Australian community on a bridging visa is $10,221 each person a year.

The new figures came as the government prepared to put the medevac repeal legislation to a vote in the Senate this week, and after Lambie met with the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, on Monday to discuss her non-negotiable demand for her support.

Lambie has refused to reveal details of her demand, but has not denied reports that she wants the government to accept an offer from New Zealand to take 150 refugees out of offshore detention.

When asked on Monday if the government would be prepared to accept the New Zealand offer, Morrison said: “Our policies on those matters haven’t changed.”

The leader of the government in the Senate, Mathias Cormann, said the legislation would be voted on before parliament rose at the end of the week, regardless of Lambie’s position.

“Every individual senator has to make a decision: whether they stand on the side of stronger national security or weaker national security,” he said.

Jacqui Lambie says she will vote to repeal medevac on one undisclosed condition Read more

Debate on the legislation began in the Senate on Monday. Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally, said the medical evacuation laws were working as intended and should not be repealed.

“Denying people medical care is un-Australian, it’s inhumane, it’s uncompassionate,” she said.

“If you or I are sick, we see a doctor, and vulnerable people in Australia’s care who have already suffered significant trauma in their lives should not be forced to the brink of death to receive the medical treatment they require.”

The report points to the most recent Australian government figures which show that as of 31 October 2019, these were 535 transitory persons left offshore of the 3,127 who had been detained on the islands of Manus and Nauru since offshore processing began in 2013.

Of this group, 449 have been found to be refugees, with another 39 progressing through their refugee status determination process.

About 120 of the 535 have been approved for departure to the US and 47 have been found not to be refugees.

The report said while it was positive that so many of the original cohort had been resettled, “this leaves approximately 368 offshore refugees likely in need of resettlement”.

But the report also raised concerns about transparency in budget reporting of the cost of detention, saying the quality of publicly available information had deteriorated since it last reported in 2016.

“Published costs and arrival numbers is extremely limited and available information does not add up,” it said. “This makes analysis and oversight of government activities difficult to measure and assess accurately, limiting the accountability of government public awareness of the true cost involved.”