Nauru offshore regime to cost Australian taxpayers nearly $220m over next six months

Australian government data says 107 people – 81 refugees and 26 asylum seekers – are still being held on Nauru. Photograph: Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images

Australia’s offshore processing regime on Nauru will cost taxpayers nearly $220m over the next six months as it holds 107 people on the Pacific island.

Brisbane firm Canstruct International has been awarded a new extension – its eighth non-competitive contract extension – for $218.5m to provide six months of “garrison and welfare services” on Nauru. The company’s total revenue from island contracts over the past five years now totals more than $1.8bn.