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Nauru centre closure to hit economy
Real estate news By Cath Hart
January 09, 2008
NAURU has warned that the Rudd Government's plan to scrap its immigration detention centre could slash the nation's earnings by 20 per cent, leaving its economy on the verge of collapse. Nauruan Foreign Minister Kieren Keke yesterday told The Australian that his Government would seek compensation from Australia amid estimates the centre's closure would cut the Pacific nation's $28.5 million GDP by a fifth.
Mr Keke warned Canberra to move cautiously on the shutdown and said Nauru would seek various forms of assistance from Australia - such as capital, skills training and immigration privileges. Nauru would also ask Australia to consider turning the centre into a technical college. "Removing 20 per cent of your economic drive in one blow without any measures to help compensate for that impact is going to see a fragile rebuilding economy take some major steps backwards, and put us at risk of collapsing again," Dr Keke said.
Nauru, which faced economic collapse after years of economic mismanagement and the near-exhaustion of its phosphate reserves, its primary source of revenue, signed a deal with the Howard government in 2001 to let Australia conduct immigration processing there. Nauru receives $15million in aid from Australia, in addition to the $5.5 million that officials estimate the centre generates.
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