Asylum-seekers being detained in the community in Nauru are struggling to buy enough food and must choose between eating and paying for other necessities, it has been claimed.
The difficulties are being driven by a mix of high living costs and low income support, according to a report from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
Of 78 people interviewed for the report, 99 per cent said they couldn’t afford to buy enough food with their current allowance.
On top of that, 68 per cent said they rarely or never had access to fresh fruit, vegetables and meat, and 82 per cent said they didn’t have easy access to free, clean drinking water.
Community detainees live on $260 a fortnight to cover their basic needs outside accommodation.
The group have been sent to the tiny island nation under Australia’s long-standing policy of offshore processing for asylum-seekers who arrive by boat.
Speaking anonymously, detainees consistently told the centre the allowance wasn’t enough to sustain them, forcing them to decide between buying food and other necessities such as clothing and internet access.
Many ran out of money before their next payment and were forced to reduce meals or go without food altogether.
“With food we have to compromise, if you buy vegetables you can’t afford rice. If you buy meat, you can’t afford fruit,” one said.
“The money is not enough because everything is expensive here – rice, fish, we cannot buy any fruit here, internet for $100 per month, how is it possible to survive?” said another.
Nauru struggles with food insecurity due to its remote location and limited local agriculture, with perishable food flown in weekly and often selling out quickly, or being prohibitively expensive.
With no rivers or freshwater lakes, the island also relies primarily on rainwater harvesting and desalination, meaning water shortages are common during times of low rainfall, forcing those who live there to turn to bottled water.
The ASRC said asylum seekers in the community often struggled due to their lack of orientation or local knowledge about how food systems worked, as well as infrequent transportation to and from markets.
As of May 31, there were 101 people seeking asylum in Nauru, 91 of who were in community accommodation.
The majority of those in detention in Nauru were young to middle-aged men from South and East Asia.
The group of asylum-seekers are separate to a group of hundreds of former immigration detainees, known as the NZYQ cohort. They were sent to Nauru from Australia after the High Court in 2024 ruled indefinite detention to be unlawful.
—AAP
