Nauru increases journalist visa application fee from $200 to $8,000

Posted 23 minutes ago

Aerial photo of the bankrupt island state of Nauru
Photo: Hundreds of asylum seekers are held at a detention centre on the island. (Torsten Blackwood: AFP)

The Nauran parliament has passed legislation to increase the cost of applying for a journalist visa to $8,000.

A spokeswoman for the Nauran government has confirmed the figure, which is a significant increase from the current $200 fee.

Under the new rules, expected to come into force this week, members of the media will face the increased cost for a single-entry visa valid for three months.

The fee will not be refunded if the application is unsuccessful.

Visitors from Commonwealth countries travelling to Nauru for holidays can be granted visas on arrival which cost $100.

Hundreds of asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat are held at a detention centre on the island.

Only three or four media visas were granted last year, according to Nauru's top visa officer Ernest Stephen who spoke to the Global Mail.

The newspaper also reported that there was a notable increase in the issuing of media visas in the weeks after the former Labor government reintroduced offshore processing for asylum seekers in September.

Another attempt to 'censor the media'

A damning United Nations report into conditions on Nauru, released in December, found asylum seekers lived in harsh conditions with little privacy and limited services for those suffering from trauma and the effects of torture.

But Australia's former immigration minister, Chris Bowen, said services at the detention centre were adequate.

Matthew Batsiua, member of Nauru Opposition Group, says it is the Nauruan government's latest tactic to censor the media.

"They certainly bully our local media in terms of what they can show, who they can interview, and this is another illustration of that kind of behaviour in terms of bullying media and avoiding accountability," he said.

"It is an alarming trend, and this [Nauruan] government since they've come in has slowly shown its true colours - they are not interested in true accountability; they are not interested in true transparency.

"They talk hot about it, but it's all lip-service. When it comes down to the crunch, they won't balk in trying to censor media, and this latest policy ... is another illustration of that kind of behaviour and conduct."

He said his party was opposed to any policy that attempts to curtail any transparency of their actions.

"This hiking up of fees for journalists coming in to Nauru is a step in that direction, and we think that it's the wrong move and we're certainly

mantra wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 11:17am:

The Nauran parliament has passed legislation to increase the cost of applying for a journalist visa to $8,000.

A spokeswoman for the Nauran government has confirmed the figure, which is a significant increase from the current $200 fee.


  Cant you read   

Do you really believe Nauru makes independent decisions when they're relying on our handouts to keep their economy going?

Why don't you two look further than your nose?

If Abbott stepped in and said that he wanted journalists there and not to increase their visa fees so outrageously - they would not have done so.

woody2014 wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 11:46am:



Absolutely not.

And we know it.

Abbott's/Morrison's grubby little paw-prints will be all over this.

And YOU know it.

mantra has the right of it. Nauru is totally dependent on us, even rely on us for drinking water and food!

The simian probably knows he is a clown and way out of his depth while Morriscum is a joke and an embarrassment, including to himself. So they strive with might and main to hide their stuffups!

Kat wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 11:50am:



  Look out Casey Jones their coming to get ya  "TOOT'  'TOOT"

Dsmithy70 wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 12:01pm:


  smacking BULLSHYTE   

John Smith wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 12:57pm:


I got that from 6 looong years of LABOR SPIN  WOG BOY