Australia Ignored Nauru Corruption for Deportation Deal?
A recent Guardian World report highlights accusations in the Australian Senate that Nauru's President David Adeang, along with others, corruptly siphoned millions from Australian taxpayer money intended for the island’s 'offshore processing' regime. The shocking detail, buried just below the fold, reveals Australia's financial intelligence agency, Austrac, had already suspected Adeang of
'corruption and money laundering' before the Albanese government signed a $2.5 billion deportation deal with Nauru. So, when did 'ignorance' become a strategic asset in foreign policy? This isn't about inadvertent oversight; it's practically a feature, not a bug. Australia's commitment to its brutal offshore detention policy appears to supersede any pesky concerns about where $2.5 billion of
taxpayer money actually goes, so long as the bodies—or rather, the refugees—are out of sight. One might wonder if 'corruption and money laundering' become less problematic when they facilitate controversial policy. The price of outsourced cruelty, it seems, is quite flexible on the details.