In 1980, Californian punk band Dead Kennedys released their second single Holiday in Cambodia. This week, the Coalition government released a document called Settlement in Cambodia.

Both talk about life in the previously war-torn south east Asian nation. But only the seminal punk song's title does so with any irony.

The fact sheet handed to asylum seekers in the Nauru detention centre and refugees living on Nauru by immigration officials, talks up Cambodia as a secure and harmonious society with a cheap cost of living. Credit:Ben Rushton

The Abbott government's "fact sheet", handed to asylum seekers in the Nauru detention centre and refugees living on Nauru by immigration officials, talks up Cambodia as a secure and harmonious society with a low cost of living.

"Cambodia is a safe country, where police maintain law and order. It does not have problems with stray dogs," the five-page pamphlet notes.