The company responsible for housing asylum seekers on Nauru has gone on an urgent hiring spree just days after a fresh boatload of migrants landed in northern Australia.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal Nauru detention centre managers Management and Training Corporation posted a series of ads for people who can ‘work and live in a hot tropical environment on Nauru’ on Monday.
The job ads – for a single accommodation manager and multiple welfare and security officers – were all posted simultaneously to Seek, sparking uproar from the Opposition and concern the government is bracing for a wave of asylum seekers.
The mass ad spree comes three days after foreign nationals claiming to be from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh were found wandering in the remote West Australian community of Beagle Bay, having somehow breached the country’s border.
All three jobs are listed as being located in Brisbane – but the fine print states they require successful applicants to be willing to move to Nauru
The men’s arrival has reignited the debate around asylum seekers and the Albanese government’s ability to position itself as ‘tough on borders’ national leaders
The 39 men found in Western Australia were deported to Nauru – the tiny island nation north-east of Australia which the Federal government often detains asylum seekers on.
Opposition immigration spokesman James Paterson told Daily Mail Australia ‘it’s no wonder (the Albanese government) is having to expand offshore processing’.
‘Anthony Albanese says he’s got our borders under control but at the same time the government are secretly scaling up for a big surge of illegal boat arrivals to be transferred to Nauru,’ Senator Paterson said.
‘It’s only necessary because the people smugglers are calling out the Prime Minister’s weakness on border security.’
The offices of Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil brushed off questions about the hiring spree.
The arrival of the boat has reignited the debate about the government’s immigration policies.
It is the topic Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been most keen to talk about – the Prime Minister’s apparent ‘weak leadership’ on the issue.
‘It’s a weak Prime Minister being tested by people smugglers… he’s not telling the truth… this is not Operation Sovereign Borders as we knew it when the Coalition was in power,’ Mr Dutton said of the boat arrival earlier in the week.
‘It’s all that layer upon layer of weakness displayed by the government, that is what emboldens people smugglers and what encourages people to pay their money and get on the boat.’
Mr Albanese has maintained his government supports Operation Sovereign Borders
The job advertisements were all posted on Monday to Seek – just three days after foreign nationals claiming to be from Pakistan and Bangladesh were found wandering aimlessly in the remote West Australian community of Beagle Bay
In June last year, The Guardian reported that the government had facilitated been a stream of regular transfers off Nauru, and that the government intended to remove all asylum seekers by the end of that month.
But by October, there were reports a group of up to 11 asylum seekers had been intercepted and transferred to Nauru.
What Nauru is looking for in a worker
The successful candidate for the accommodation manager role will be responsible for ‘maintaining a productive working relationship with transferees’ and ‘overseeing their safety and wellbeing’.
Meanwhile, the security officers – of which there appear to be multiple roles available – are responsible for ‘raising alarms and calling for support if necessary’.
They’ll also be expected to patrol the facility and monitor surveillance equipment as part of their day-to-day tasks. Previous experience working in immigration security is a ‘desirable’ skill.
Meanwhile, the multiple welfare officer jobs on offer are six month contracts working four weeks on, four weeks off.
‘Due to short recruitment timeframes, applications will only be considered from those who meet all compliance requirements,’ the job advert states.
The successful candidates will have experience ‘working with complex clients’, understand ‘trauma informed practice’ and carry a ‘high level of emotional intelligence and resiliency’.
The company is also seeking a candidate who can work ‘cross-culturally’, with an ability to ‘identify risks and provide early intervention strategies’.
‘MTC Australia regularly advertises roles to ensure we can meet our operational requirements,’ a company spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The three roles currently advertised are to replace vacancies in existing positions.’
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has spent days sounding the alarm about people smugglers capitalising on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ‘s apparent ‘weak leadership’ on the issue
Anthony Albanese’s side of the story
Mr Albanese has maintained his government supports Operation Sovereign Borders – the Federal government’s code name for the effort to intercept asylum seeker boats at sea.
The PM said last week that his government’s ‘position on Operation Sovereign Borders is very clear’ and that no one who arrives in Australia illegally by boat will ‘settle here’.
Operation Sovereign Borders was created by the Abbott Government in 2013 in order to curb the amount of illegal immigrants seeking asylum in Australia by boat.
‘It’s the same system that operated before, and we will make announcements about what has occurred there through Operation Sovereign Borders, imminently, when that occurs,’ Mr Albanese said.
No boat has been found in the area where the men were located, sparking questions about whether they were dropped off by Indonesian fishermen.
One of the asylum seekers told the ABC that they had spent five days at sea, travelling from Indonesia to Australia.
After being dropped off on the beach, the group walked for about 35km, he said, before they were picked up by local members of a remote Indigenous community.
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