Pacific Solution

Pacific Solution is the name given to the Government of Australia policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention centres on island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland. Initially implemented from 2001 to 2007, it had bipartisan support from the Coalition and Labor opposition at the time. The Pacific Solution consisted of three central strategies:
*Thousands of islands were excised from the Australian migration zone and Australian territory;
*The Australian Defence Force commenced Operation Relex to intercept vessels carrying asylum seekers (SIEVs);
*The asylum seekers were removed to detention centres in Nauru and on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, while their refugee status was determined.
A number of pieces of legislation enabled this policy. The policy was developed by the Howard Government in response to the Tampa affair in August 2001 and the Children Overboard affair, and was implemented by Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock on 28 September before the 2001 federal election of 24 November.

The policy was largely dismantled in 2008 by the first Rudd Government following the election of the Labor Party; Chris Evans, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship described it as "a cynical, costly and ultimately unsuccessful exercise".

In August 2012, the succeeding Gillard Government (Labor) introduced a similar policy, reopening the Nauru and Manus detention centres for offshore processing.

On 19 July 2013, newly returned Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, during his short-lived second term of office, announced that "asylum seekers who come here by boat without a visa will never be settled in Australia", striking a Regional Resettlement Arrangement between Australia and Papua New Guinea, colloquially known as the PNG Solution, to divert all "unauthorised maritime arrivals" to mandatory detention on Manus Island with no possibility of attaining Australian residency.

The Operation Sovereign Borders policy took over from the Pacific Solution after the 2013 federal election, won by the Coalition. It commenced on 18 September 2013 under the new Abbott government. On 31 March 2019, Operation Sovereign Borders reported that there were no people held in the detention centre on Nauru, which had been closed; the Manus centre had been officially closed on 31 October 2017. However, on 30 September 2019 the total number of asylum seekers still in PNG and Nauru was 562 (separate numbers were not published), being housed in alternative accommodation.

Implementation (2001–2007)

The Australian Government passed legislation on 27 September 2001, with amendments to the Commonwealth '' Migration Act 1958'', enacted by the '' Migration Legislation Amendment (Excision from the Migration Zone) (Consequential Provisions) Act 2001''. Specifically, the new amendment to the 1958 Act allowed "offshore entry persons" to be taken to "declared countries", with Nauru and Papua New Guinea made "declared countries" under the Act. The implementation of this legislation became known as the Pacific Solution at the same time as or soon after the passing of the legislation (at least within a year).

By redefining the area of Australian territory that could be landed upon and then legitimately used for claims of asylum (the migration zone), and by removing any intercepted people to third countries for processing, the aim was to deter future asylum seekers from making the dangerous journey by boat, once they knew that their trip would probably not end with a legitimate claim for asylum in Australia.

On 28 October 2001, at his 2001 election campaign policy launch, Prime Minister John Howard said "we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come", in an effort to build support for the policy.

Asylum seekers were intercepted at sea while sailing from Indonesia and moved using Australian naval vessels. Detention centres were set up on Christmas Island, Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, and on the island nation of Nauru. Some were also accepted for processing by New Zealand. Most of the asylum seekers came from Afghanistan (largely of the Hazara ethnic group), Iraq, Iran, China, and Vietnam. The last asylum seekers to be detained on Nauru before the end of the policy had come from Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Arrivals dropped from a total of 5516 people in 2001 to one arrival in 2002 after implementation of the policy, and remained below 150 annually until 2008. The removal of the Taliban from power in Afghanistan may have had some effect in this decrease, as nearly six million Afghans had returned to Afghanistan since 2002, almost a quarter of the country's population at the time.

Four boats were successfully returned to Indonesian waters out of the twelve Suspected Illegal Entry Vessels (SIEVs) intercepted by the Navy during Operation Relex during 2001–2002, having made 10 attempts to enforce the policy, based on judgements of whether it was safe to do so or not. Three men allegedly drowned trying to swim back to shore after returning to Indonesia.

In November 2003, a boat carrying 53 passengers was successfully deterred, and in March 2004, Customs returned a boat with 15 people after interception at the Ashmore Islands.

The success rate was 36 per cent of boats, or 31 per cent of asylum seekers sent back to Indonesia. Details of operations from 2005 to 2008 are scant. Operation Resolute began in July 2006, run jointly by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and the Australian Defence Force.

During the Pacific Solution period, mainland detention centres were closed at Baxter, Woomera and Curtin. A lower level of boat arrivals continued throughout the Pacific Solution period, although it was reported to have peaked in 2012, since the abolition of the policy, despite worldwide asylum claim numbers remaining low by historical standards. These arrivals also corresponded with increasing numbers of new refugee arrivals in Indonesia after the abandonment of the policy: 385 in 2008, 3,230 in 2009, 3,905 in 2010, 4,052 in 2011, 7,218 in 2012 and 8,332 in 2013. A probable link between restrictive refugee policies and lower attempts at seeking asylum in Australia by boat have been confirmed by the UNHCR: in April 2014, UNHCR Indonesia representative Manual Jordao stated: "Word that the prospects of reaching Australia by boat from Indonesia are now virtually zero appears to have reached smugglers and would-be asylum seekers in countries of origin such as Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Myanmar. The numbers registering with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Indonesia have dropped from about 100 a day during 2013 to about 100 a week now."

The number of asylum seekers assessed as genuine refugees via the Pacific Solution process was lower than for onshore processing. 68 per cent of the asylum seekers were deemed genuine refugees and less than 40 per cent of asylum seekers sent to Nauru received resettlement in Australia. A 2006 report by the Australian Human Rights Commission showed that of the 1509 asylum seekers sent to Nauru by that time, 586 were granted Australian resettlement (39%), 360 resettled in New Zealand (24%), 19 resettled in Sweden (1.2%), 10 in Canada (<1%) and 4 in Norway (<1%). A total of 482 asylum seekers (32%) were deemed not genuine refugees and sent home.

The cost of the Pacific Solution between 2001 and 2007 was at least .

Amnesty International, refugee rights groups and other non-governmental organisations said that Australia was failing to meet its international obligations. The ad hoc nature in which the policy evolved was also criticised, as it resulted in people being moved to Manus Island and Nauru before facilities were ready. Poor facilities and services including intermittent electricity and fresh water, poor medical facilities and the serious mental impact of detention on people in these conditions without the certainty of being granted refugee status were also strongly criticised.

Suspension

During the campaign for the 2007 parliamentary election, Australian Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd promised to continue the Howard Government's policies of turning boats back to Indonesia and the issue of temporary protection visas. Upon Kevin Rudd's 2007 election win, the Pacific Solution was abandoned, with the Nauru processing centre closed down in February 2008, a move welcomed by the UN Refugee Agency. The last detainees left Manus Island in 2004 and Nauru in February 2008.

The Republic of Nauru was concerned about losing much-needed aid from Australia. Opposition immigration spokesman Chris Ellison</