ABSTRACT

The concomitant policies of offshore processing and territorial excision are foundational and extraordinary aspects of Australian refugee and immigration law. This chapter focuses on the offshore processing centre on Nauru, in order to interrogate how the norm of sovereignty is used, or rather, abused in the Australian policy of offshore processing. Nauru is an island state, located in the Central Pacific Ocean with a population of approximately 10,000, including a current non-Nauruan population of about 1,000 people. The chapter also focuses on offshore processing not as a policy that governs how Australia controls its borders or treats asylum seekers, but rather as a regime quite literally built on Australia's relationship with its former colonies. Onshore asylum seekers, particularly those arriving by boat, have been at the centre of political debate and discussion in Australia for well over two decades. Asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia are transferred to Nauru for processing under the 'Pacific Solution'.