Statement on Opposition's Nauru costings
Chris Bowen
posted Saturday, 4 February 2012
Today Scott Morrison has released anonymous, unfunded costings for a processing centre on Nauru, more than a week after the Government released its own detailed costings from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).
Mr Morrison has refused to reveal the name of the ‘major company’ that provided the costings and provide any details as to how its costings have been calculated.
If the Opposition aren’t willing to have their costings held to account by releasing all the details as the Government has, then these costings aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.
This unfunded, ill thought out plan is yet another example of the Opposition’s dodgy accounting to suit their political agenda. They have no economic credibility and simply cannot be trusted when it comes to their figures.
This is the party whose so-called ‘auditors’ were fined after being found in breach of professional standards for their work on the Opposition’s 2010 election costings.
This is the party that was found to have a $10.6 billion black hole in its costings at the last election.
It is interesting that the Opposition have managed to produce costings for Nauru now, when they didn’t have any costings or funding for Nauru when they took this policy to the 2010 election.
The Opposition claim they could build a centre on Nauru for $80 million when the Curtin detention centre cost $121 million and did not incur the same air and sea freight costs. It seems that their costings significantly underestimate the availability of materials and tradespeople on Nauru to build such a centre.
The Coalition also have a poor track record when it comes to delivering detention facilities at the budgeted cost. They budgeted $210 million to build Christmas Island and the final cost was close to $400 million.
In contrast, DIAC has costed the Nauru centre according to Australian standards, in terms of security, accommodation density and occupational health and safety requirements. Mr Abbott himself has said that Nauru should be run according to Australian standards (7.30, 20/9/11). He should clarify whether his position has now changed.
DIAC’s costings also take into account the level of infrastructure on Nauru, and utilities such as water and security.
As DIAC’s advice made clear, 750 people could be accommodated in a centre on Nauru in accordance with Australian standards. The Opposition claim they could fit 1350 people on the island with the addition of a new site. However, instead of revealing the size of or infrastructure on the new site, the only detail Mr Morrison has provided is that it would be called ‘The Location’. Mr Morrison should state how much it will cost to buy or lease this land and the impact this will have on their costings.
Far from ‘demonising and trashing Nauru’ as Mr Morrison claims, the Government was seriously considering establishing a facility there as part of an agreement with the Coalition to pass the Government’s offshore processing legislation. The Government had no interest in receiving an unnecessarily high figure and to suggest the department confected such a figure is both fanciful and insulting to the public service.
Mr Morrison’s claim that he would instruct departmental officials on how to do their costings just shows the Coalition would ignore the Charter of Budget Honesty to suit their own political interest.
As we well know, the Coalition has form when it comes to ignoring the national interest for its own political interest, as shown by Mr Abbott and Mr Morrison’s unwillingness to come to an agreement with the Government on offshore processing.
Tags: Immigration, Nauru, Opposition