SYDNEY: Nauru's president quietly met with several Australian ministers this week, with both governments tight-lipped about a visit that comes after Canberra began ferrying immigrants to the Pacific island nation last month.
Neither government has disclosed an itinerary for Nauru's President David Adeang, who Australian national broadcaster ABC spotted at Parliament on Tuesday afternoon (Nov 11).
Hours later, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke posted on social media that he had held "a productive meeting" with Adeang "on a range of issues".
Foreign minister Penny Wong's office said she met Adeang on Monday, when she raised "recent media reports" with him. The top diplomat's office would not elaborate on the discussion.
Australian officials have said Adeang was visiting this week as part of a "leadership programme" with other Pacific leaders.
His trips to Parliament House were not announced in advance by either government.
The meetings come just weeks after Australia began transferring a cohort of around 350 immigrants - many convicted of serious crimes - to be resettled on the barren atoll.
Much about the resettlement arrangement, including how many people will be deported, has not been disclosed.
When AFP requested a copy of the deal, the government provided a 14-page redacted document last month.
Sharing more details, an official said, "could reasonably be expected to cause damage to the international relations" of Australia.
On Wednesday morning, Adeang's office posted on Facebook that he had met with Australia's Minister for Pacific Island Affairs Pat Conroy and Wong on Monday to discuss "development across health, education and infrastructure, national resilience, security and international affairs".
The brief statement did not say anything about a meeting with home minister Burke.
Adeang's visit to Parliament House also follows whistleblower allegations, first reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, that a motorcycle gang won a taxpayer-funded contract to provide security on Nauru to immigrants deported from Australia.
AFP has reached out to Australia's Department of Home Affairs for comment on the report.
Senator David Shoebridge, of the opposition Greens, called the secrecy around Nauru leader Adeang's visit "extraordinary".
"Only a government that is embarrassed by the deal that they've cut and potentially embarrassed by questions that will be put to the Nauruan president would do that," he said.
Australia's offshore detention regime, in which asylum seekers have been sent to sometimes squalid "processing" centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, has drawn international condemnation.
The policy was gradually scaled back following 14 detainee deaths, multiple suicide attempts and at least six referrals to the International Criminal Court.
Nauru's detention centre still held around 100 people as of January this year, according to UN figures cited by Amnesty International. - AFP
