Budgeting for punishment and deterrence

Issue 

BY SARAH STEPHEN

The government released its mid-year budget review on October 17. A key feature of the review was the allocation of large sums on top of existing funding for coastal surveillance and detention of asylum seekers arriving in Australia without authorisation:

  • $20 million for Nauru;
  • $45 million for building detention centres in foreign countries and buying demountables and taking them to Christmas Island;
  • $86.1 million for the immigration department, on top of its normal operating budget;
  • $175 million for extra border protection measures;
The government has already spent an extra $103 million so far this year in shipping asylum seekers to Nauru and Papua New Guinea. The cost of the massive naval operation to intercept boats of asylum seekers is apparently nil, having been absorbed into the defence budget.

Despite the refugee crisis unfolding in Afghanistan — a consequence of the war Australia has given its full support to — the government has ruled out accepting any refugees from Afghanistan. Immigration minister Philip Ruddock was quoted by the October 23 Age as saying it would be “better and cheaper for them to go to neighbouring countries”.

According to Ruddock, settling 1000 Afghan refugees would cost $30 million, whereas giving them support in refugee camps in Pakistan would be far more cost-effective. The government has only committed an extra $14.3 million to assist displaced Afghans in Pakistan and Iran.

If you add $326 million in projected increases to the cost of detaining asylum seekers on Australian soil ($110 million) plus the $103 million spent on stopping over 1500 people from making it to Australia since August, it totals a whopping $540 million.

If this money was used for a humane response to the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, how far would it go? On top of the 12,000 places set aside for refugee and humanitarian intake each year, Australia could offer to resettle a further 17,000 Afghan refugees.

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