In January, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton explained the initial releases as a cost-saving measure, stating it was “cheaper” for people to live in the community than in a hotel. While this has long been true, it seems a hollow line from a government that continues to maintain a policy of offshore detention in Nauru and Papua New Guinea to the cost of over $1.2 billion per year (that’s roughly $4 million per person this financial year).
Scores of medevac refugees have been released from detention. Their freedom, though, is an illusion