Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

In response to the member for Watson, there have been developments on Nauru since the budget was framed. As you are well aware, the government currently has legislation in the House and is considering a Senate response to that legislation. Subject to final decisions by the government and the will of the House, that could potentially have implications for Nauru. I suppose it goes to the point I made earlier, that this—people arriving illegally—is a very dynamic area. Again, we have a new development which has led the government to make further decisions to review some of the earlier arrangements relating to people arriving illegally on boats and has led to implications for Nauru. We do not have projections for numbers. As to whether this legislation will imply a need for some further improvements on Nauru which will have a financial implication, that has not been finalised in any sense. As I understand it, we have no projections about who might arrive illegally by boat—not fishermen—in the foreseeable future. I am not in a position to provide a commitment by giving you a satisfactory answer because I do not think the numbers are available. I suspect there will be financial implications for some upgrading so that women and children can have living quarters which are a village type facility, consistent with the arrangements that we have struck on the mainland.

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