Australia passes law to speed deportation of non-citizens to Nauru

Australia on Thursday passed a law allowing faster deportation of non-citizens to third countries, paving the way to send hundreds of refugees denied visas because of criminal convictions to the tiny Pacific island of Nauru.

Under a 30-year deal signed with Nauru last Friday, Australia has agreed to pay A$2.5 billion to host up to 350 deportees, with an upfront A$400 million to establish an endowment fund for the resettlement scheme, plus A$70 million annually.

Another Nauruan said the hospital and other infrastructure on the island were in disrepair, and locals travelled overseas for health services when they could.

Despite Australia spending hundreds of millions of dollars on offshore processing of asylum seekers on Nauru over the past decade, the money had not benefited local people, she said.

In Australia's parliament on Thursday, Greens Senator David Shoebridge criticised the new law, designed to speed up the deportation of people who had visas cancelled or refused, saying Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left government was treating Nauru "as a dumping ground".

The law removes procedural fairness for people being deported to a third country, limiting their ability to further appeal through the courts, the government said.

Human Rights Watch said the law allowed Australia to deport people without informing them of its plans, noting asylum seekers previously transferred to Nauru by Australia had suffered medical neglect.