Australia currently pays about $40m a month to run its offshore processing regime on Nauru, an amount almost identical to 2016 when there were nearly 10 times as many people held on the island.
By August 2021, the number of asylum seekers and refugees held on the island had fallen nearly tenfold, but the costs of running the offshore program remained broadly static. In that month, there were 107 refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru at a cost to taxpayers of $464,486 a month for each person, or more than $15,000 a day.
The average monthly cost in 2021 is $358,646 for every refugee and asylum seeker held on the island, equal to $4.3m per person each year, a Guardian Australia analysis of government figures provided to the Senate shows.
There are no women, children or family groups remaining among those held by Australia on Nauru. There are only single men, meaning services around maternal health, infant healthcare and childhood education are no longer being provided.
The government has declined to tell the Senate to whom it has paid nearly $400m to help run the regime on Nauru.
Canstruct was paid a little over $1bn to provide garrison and welfare services; IHMS received $138.3m to provide healthcare; and the Nauru government was paid $73.3m.
Under questioning from Labor in the Senate, the department said it would not provide details on to whom that additional money was paid.
The Brisbane company, which is a Liberal party donor, helped build the Nauru detention centre, and started running the offshore regime on the island in late 2017.
The original contract awarded to Canstruct for services on Nauru was worth just $8m in October 2017. But this was amended almost immediately, increased by 4,500% to $385m just a month after being signed.
Since then, seven further amendments have escalated the cost to taxpayers to $1,598,230,689 a total increase of more than 19,300%, government tender documents show.
The eighth and latest amendment to the contract was published this month, with another $179m to continue operating on the island until the end of 2021.
Canstruct, or individuals or entities associated with it, has made at least 11 donations to the Coalition since 2017, according to state electoral disclosures. The company has previously strenuously denied any link between political donations and the awarding of any contracts.
