A hell on Earth

Nauru's fly-blown squalor

by Adrian Tame

From the Sunday Territorian, Sunday 30 July 2002

THESE photographs, smuggled out of Nauru reveal for the first time the overcrowding, the sickness and the fly blown squalor facing asylum seekers caught up in Australia's Pacific solution in the tiny island's detention centres.

The two women who took the pictures with hidden cameras were threatened with arrest and prosecution.

Naura has been home to 1171 asylum seekers since last September when the Department of Immigration came up with the Pacific solution.

Last week, when the photographs were taken, there were 1090 detainees on the island - 268 have been found to have a legitimate refugee claim, 54 Afghanis, 196 Iraquis and 18 others. Ten more are yet to have their claim decided.

The two women who took the photographs were Kate Durham, Melbourne-based founder of Spare Rooms for Refugees, and Sarah Macdonald, a BBC reporter, filming for a documentary to be aired in three months.

Their shock revelations come as the Government faces ongoing threats to its detention policy with the break-out of 39 asylum seekers from mainland detention centre Woomera. Twenty-six were still at large yesterday after they were assisted in the escape by a group of 25 protesters.

The two women gained access to Nauru only because they were in transit. Repeated visa applications had failed to get them onto the island.

The two camps on Nauru - "Topside", set on a hot dusty plateau in the centre of the island, and "State House" in an airless hollow closer to the coast - are run at a cost of $72 million a year to Australian taxpayers.

The women saw:

Skin, stomach, and bowel disorders, tropical ulcers and eye diseases were all commonplace, caused by the unsanitary conditions in the island's camps.

Flush toilets had been installed, although there was no water to flush them.

Click on image for larger view

In stark contrast to the living conditions of the asylum seekers are the profits being reaped from the island by Australian tradesmen, including carpenters, electricians and builders who are earning up to $5000 a week in return for signing secrecy conditions.

A previous story

Pacific solution a 'Pacific nightmare': Nauru President

Sun, Jun 9 2002

The President of Nauru has described Australia's Pacific solution as a "Pacific nightmare".

President Rene Harris is frustrated that the Australian Government has failed to keep him informed about the fate of more than 1,000 asylum seekers who remain detained on the island.

Nauru agreed to house and feed more than 1,000 mainly Afghan and Iraqi asylum seekers as part of the Australian Government's so-called Pacific solution.

But the detainees were to have left the Pacific nation by May 30.

That deadline has come and gone and the refugee applications of 700 asylum seekers are yet to be processed.

President Harris is demanding answers.

"I've got Parliament due on Thursday and it would be nice if I could tell them something... but I have not much to say," he said.

"Tampa won it for them at the last election...I have an election coming up in 10 months and I'm not riding too well."

President Harris also claims the Australian Government has not kept its promise to provide Nauru with $30 million in goods and services, as part of the deal.


Opposition

The Federal Opposition is calling on the Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to respond to the claims immediately.

Opposition Foreign Affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd says Mr Harris's statement is dramatic and cannot be ignored.

"It's extremely unusual to have the President of Nauru publicly attack the Australian Government on a matter such as this," he said.

"It shows Australia's bilateral relations with key countries in the south Pacific are being shredded by this government's pursuit of a domestic political agenda."

A spokesman for the immigration department says Australia is endeavouring to have the applications processed as soon as possible.


More illegal immigrants likely

Meanwhile, the Federal Customs Minister Chris Ellison has confirmed the Government has received intelligence reports from Indonesia suggesting more illegal immigrants are on their way to Australia.

The Government brought in new regulations on Friday removing thousands of islands off Australia's coast from the migration zone, preventing illegal entrants who land there from applying for asylum.

Senator Ellison says surveillance is being stepped up, after intelligence reports that several boats are preparing to leave Indonesia and one carrying passengers is believed to be already on the way.

"We certainly have our people on alert, Coastwatch, Navy and Customs of course are on full alert in relation to this latest report," he said.


Opposition

The Federal Opposition has threatened to remove the new regulations through a disallowance motion in the Senate.

The Opposition also says it suspects the Government's latest border protection measures could be a move to camouflage potential embarrassment.

Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services Wayne Swan has told Channel Nine he is puzzled about why the latest initiatives were only introduced on Friday.

"They've been in Parliament all week boasting about what a great job they've done on border security, so we suspect the reason it may not have been announced in the Parliament was that they're seeking to camouflage a potential embarrassment," he said.

"Maybe there's a boat already in the area, we just don't know."

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