Last refugees bid farewell to Nauru - Australia/”Pacific Solution”
Andra Jackson; 6/2/08
Twenty-one Sri Lankan refugees will be on their way to Australia today, leaving the controversial Nauru detention camps finally empty. The group, who are the last of 82 Sri Lankan asylum seekers taken to Nauru 10 months ago, learnt yesterday that the Australian Government had granted them permanent protection visas. They fly out of Nauru today for Brisbane, an immigration department spokesman said. Their departure clears the way for the Federal Government to implement its pledge on January 11 to close the Nauru camp and formally end the Howard government’s so-called Pacific Solution for asylum seekers.