'Fallen well short' of standards: Audit slams Immigration Department over Nauru and Manus Island contracts

By Michael Koziol, Political Reporter
Updated January 17 2017 - 9:08pm, first published 3:57pm
The offshore immigration detention centre on Manus Island.  Photo: Andrew Meares
The offshore immigration detention centre on Manus Island. Photo: Andrew Meares
The Nauru detention centre - the accommodation buildings on 20 July, 2013 - after the rioting and fires which destroyed much of it. Photo: Peter Cox
The Nauru detention centre - the accommodation buildings on 20 July, 2013 - after the rioting and fires which destroyed much of it. Photo: Peter Cox
The Greens say the audit reveals "a department that has gone rogue and needs to be brought to heel" by Peter Dutton. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
The Greens say the audit reveals "a department that has gone rogue and needs to be brought to heel" by Peter Dutton. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Billions of taxpayer dollars were handed to the private contractors running Australia's offshore detention centres without adequate authorisation or value-for-money assessments, the Commonwealth auditor has found.