The irony is that it wasn’t all that long ago that Australia was offering for the population of Nauru to move here. In the 1960s, Australia offered Nauru an island off the Queensland coast as a relocation option. Scientists predicted that Nauru would be uninhabitable by the mid-1990s due to the extensive damage wrought by phosphate mining carried out by Australia, New Zealand and Britain. That plan never eventuated because the Nauruans did not want to become part of a racist White Australia and lose their distinctive identity as a people.
Secret refugee deal with Nauru just moves the problem out of sight. By Jane McAdam, SMH