Australia has commenced its $2.5bn deal with Nauru to offload more than 350 people from the NZYQ cohort after the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed the first arrival had landed on the tiny Pacific island last week.
Burke said Nauruan authorities had confirmed the arrival on Friday, as reported by the ABC, triggering the first yearly instalment of $408m.
“When someone’s visa is cancelled they should leave,” Burke said in a statement.
No further information is known about the man’s case or circumstances at this stage.
The deal between Australia and Nauru is expected to last 30 years and will allow Australia to apply for 30-year long-term visas on behalf of the cohort to enable their deportation from the country.
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Around $20m of the first instalment will become immediately available for the Nauruan government to “facilitate the settlement”, while the remaining $388m will go into a sovereign trust fund, which is expected to include board members from both the Nauruan and Australian governments.
Nauru’s trust fund will receive a further $70m each year from Australia as part of the deal, totalling more than $2.5bn across the three decades.
Details of the agreement remain a secret, subject to a public interest immunity claim. But home affairs department officials claim those sent to Nauru, many of whom have been found to be refugees, will be able to live freely within the community and cannot be sent to another country, where they could face persecution in a situation known as chain refoulement.
Department officials indicated earlier this year a former regional processing centre, handed to Nauru by Australia, could be used as temporary accommodation while the cohort is settled in. It’s not known what state the centre is in.
The deal’s fine print allows Australia to “claw back” any funds provided to the trust should Nauru fail to deliver on the deal.
Burke has suggested around two dozen people released under the high court’s NZYQ ruling against indefinite detention have been granted visas so far. Guardian Australia is aware of at least eight who have been redetained awaiting deportation.
Adnan*, a man within the NZYQ cohort, told Guardian Australia he hadn’t heard of Nauru prior to being redetained earlier this year by Australian Border Force officials in a night-time raid.
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“I thought there had been a mistake. I hadn’t had a lawyer for years, and I had never really understood what was happening in my case,” he said through his lawyer.
“These days are like living in a nightmare. I made mistakes since I came to Australia – I have been punished for those mistakes. I have tried everything to put my life back on track. I am not a young man – I cannot keep rebuilding my life. I do not know why Australia has selected me for this terrible punishment.”
The associate legal director of the Human Rights Law Centre, Laura John, accused the federal government of being “willing to completely disregard the basic rights of migrants and refugees” in a process shrouded in secrecy.
“We do not know if the person who has been exiled has left family behind in Australia, whether they need medical care that is unavailable in Nauru, or even if they still had visa appeal options in Australia,” she said.
“This secrecy is not an accident. It is a deliberate tool wielded by the Albanese government to ensure that it does not have to grapple with the real, human consequences of its actions.
“Some of the people facing deportation to Nauru have lived in Australia for most of their lives. Others are stateless and have no other home. Some have serious health conditions and will likely die in Nauru. All of them have already been doubly, or triply punished by the government. They should not be subjected to lifelong suffering.”
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