Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Cost of processing asylum seekers in Nauru

Tony Abbott proposes that asylum seekers be processed in Nauru. Julia Gillard's quick rebuttal is that it will cost the taxpayers AUD$1bil; therefore implying that her own Malaysian deal is less costly at AUD300mil. Now, take note that even though these figures are not well defined, Julia Gillard must be thinking we are a bunch of ignoramuses.

Let's assume that cost of living is a good indicator in this case. Just a quick check reveals that the cost of living indicator (where New York = 100) is 91.16 for Yaren, Nauru, and 71.82 for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia*.  I can safely say that the cost, while slightly higher in Nauru than in Malaysia, is not three times, my dear Prime Minister. If you must exaggerate, please do it more plausibly.

* see: http://getrichfast.in/Chinese/nauru-international-cost-of-living-comparison-global-trends/

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