Exclusive: Government spent $78 million transporting asylum seekers last year

Protesters demand the resettlement of children held on Nauru, outside Parliament House in Canberra on 27 November.

Protesters demand the resettlement of children held on Nauru Source: AAP

The figures for the last financial year highlight the ongoing cost of moving and deporting asylum seekers to and from Australia.


The Australian government spent $78 million on the transfer of people between detention centres onshore and offshore, as well as on deportations, in the last financial year, SBS News can reveal.

The figures from the Department of Home Affairs obtained under Freedom of Information laws shows significant costs for the transfer, deportation and associated costs such as food and accommodation.

The $78 million figure was down from the $97 million spent in the previous financial year.

 

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