Nauru could open for a third of cost: oppn

4 Feb 2012, 1:31 pm   -   Source: AAP
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The coalition's Scott Morrison has released new costings for reopening Nauru, saying the government's figures are a "joke".

The offshore processing centre of Nauru could be opened for less than a third of the cost of the federal government's estimate, the opposition says.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison on Saturday released a report showing the centre at Nauru could be re-established with 1350 beds at a capital cost of $95 million, with an estimated annual maximum operational cost at full capacity of $202.5 million.

The government last month announced it would cost more than $2 billion to reopen and run the immigration detention centre on Nauru.

"The government's costings are a joke," Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.

"The minister (Chris Bowen) has sought to use this exercise of exploring Nauru for no other reason than to trash it.

"These costings show we can do it at a third of the price and we can do it at the same operating costs of the government's own facilities."

Mr Morrison said the coalition's costings had been prepared by a company directly involved in the establishment and running of the centre at Nauru for eight years.

It showed the first 350 beds could be up and running within 12 weeks for less than $10 million.

Operating costs would be no greater than running detention centres in remote locations such as Christmas Island, Mr Morrison said.

"The government's costings show they have no understanding of what sort of facilities should be put on Nauru," Mr Morrison said.

"They haven't done the policy work, they don't understand the proposal (and) they're not committed to it."

The government and the coalition have failed to reach a compromise on how to resurrect offshore processing despite weeks of talks.

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