G’day all.

Chris Ho-Stuart <> writes:

>I disagree that there is a major problem surrounding the expenses

>of handling illegal arrivals. Quote some figures for me if you

>disagree. This is a genuine request. I am not sure of the actual

>cost figures involved. I think we currently get a bit less than

>5000 illegal arrivals by sea every year.

I’m not agreeing or disagreeing, but here are the figures. The sources I used are:

– DIMA fact sheet 81, “Unauthorised Arrivals by Air and Sea” – DIMA fact sheet 83, “People Smuggling” – Phillip Flood, “Report of Inquiry into Immigration Detention Procedures”

These are probably all available on the DIMA web site (http://www.immi.gov.au).

In the financial year 2000-01, 4141 people arrived in Australia without authority by sea. (Note that “by sea” can mean several things, including 42 classified as “stowaways”.) In the same year, 1508 people were refused entry at airports.

Of those arriving by sea, 3299 were adults (or aggregate “number of people on boat” were adults and children are not differentiated) and 912 were children. In addition, 2 babies were born in Australia to those who arrived during that period.

Of those, 3291 are held in detention, 806 were granted a temporary protection visa, 41 departed Australia and 1 was granted a refugee visa. (Note: If you add them up, you get 4139. Who knows.)

Now the costs.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates the worldwide proceeds of people trafficking to be US$10 billion a year.

The amount of money that the Australian government spent on locating, removing and detaining people who arrived in Australia illegally and those who were found working illegally are:

1997-1998: $115 million 1998-1999: $128 million 1999-2000: $196 million (projected)

I haven’t found any figures for 2000-2001.

It costs on average $50,000 for every unauthorised arrival from the time of arrival to the time of their departure from Australia. The cost, of course, is mostly in salaries for personnel.

The average daily cost of keeping a person in immigration detention is $105-$115, depending on who you ask. (DIMA says $115, the Flood report says $105. This is probably because the figure changed.)

Does this help anyone?

Cheers, Andrew Bromage

Sept. 2001