Nauru Regional Processing Centre

The Nauru Regional Processing Centre is an offshore Australian immigration detention facility that has been in use from 2001 to 2008, from 2012 to 2019, and from September 2021. It is located on the South Pacific island nation of Nauru and run by the government thereof with support from the Australian government. The use of immigration detention facilities is part of a policy of mandatory detention in Australia. The Nauru facility was first opened in 2001 as part of the Howard government's Pacific Solution. The centre was suspended in 2008 to fulfil an election promise by the Rudd government, but was reopened in August 2012 by the Gillard government after a large increase in the number of maritime arrivals by asylum seekers and pressure from the opposition led by Tony Abbott. It was reclosed in 2019 before reopening for a second time in September 2021. Current Coalition and Labor Party policy states that because all detainees attempted to reach Australia by boat, they will never be settled in Australia, even though many of the asylum seekers detained on the island have been assessed as genuine refugees. The highest population at the centre was 1,233 detainees in August 2014. As of 7 September 2023, there were 11 people in the detention centre.