Best of 2023: How millions of dollars in detention money went to Pacific politicians

Today, we're bringing you an episode from our archive. Australia's Home Affairs Department used vast sums of taxpayer money to fund suspect payments to powerful Pacific Island politicians, specifically to run offshore processing of asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island. A major investigation by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald has found a secret money trail beginning in Home Affairs coffers and ending with payments to bank accounts controlled by powerful Pacific Island politicians. The payments were made by companies engaged by the government to run the facilities: in Nauru, two companies called Broadspectrum and Canstruct, and on Manus Island, a company called Paladin and were for services to help run the facility.   The Pacific payments scandal forms a part of a much larger problem within the Home Affairs department. Because while focusing on housing boat arrivals offshore, Home Affairs has taken attention away from its core business of helping legitimate migrants arrive and expelling the rest. We are not suggesting that any payments were in fact bribes, which is ultimately something that can only be proven by a court. But the deals raise integrity concerns that warrant significant scrutiny by the Department. On this episode, investigative journalists Nick McKenzie and Michael Bachelard on how our Home Affairs Department is failing. Read more on our Home Truths series here.  This episode first aired on July 25, 2023.  Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.