Leader makes secretive visit to parliament amid bike contract claims

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The president of Nauru has made an unannounced visit to parliament as controversy continues over Australia’s move to resettle former detainees in the Pacific Island nation. Both the Coalition and the Greens are calling for more transparency and more information about what was discussed.

Transcript

00:00No flags and zero fanfare.

00:05Are you able to see why you were visiting?

00:08David Adiang slipping into Parliament's Senate entrance before leaving just half an hour later.

00:15Mr Adiang, was there any discussion of deportations to your country?

00:18The purpose? A meeting with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.

00:22The details? That's not clear, with Mr Burke saying only he had a productive meeting with Nauru's

00:28President Adiang today in Canberra and that the relationship between our countries is critical on a range of issues.

00:36Confirmation coming after the ABC made inquiries with the government.

00:41This government does have a growing problem with secrecy.

00:45The meeting taking place less than two weeks after the first NZYQ detainee was sent to Nauru

00:51under a multi-billion dollar deal to take Australia's foreign-born criminals.

00:57This is a two and a half billion dollar deal, we think, we think, because it hasn't been disclosed.

01:03We engage regularly with the Nauru government, that's a matter of public record.

01:09Mr Adiang's quiet visit also coming in the wake of jaw-dropping allegations that bikey gangs

01:15have won a lucrative contract to provide security for former immigration detainees in Nauru.

01:21The situation that's playing out before our eyes is extraordinary.

01:25The government's quick to stress that this trip wasn't sparked by the recent headlines

01:29and was planned well in advance of the most recent controversy.

01:33It also denies that the visit was secretive, saying it wasn't an official bilateral visit

01:39and that President Adiang attended other public events in Canberra.

01:43But given the enormous political controversy over the bilateral relationship with Nauru

01:49and the very high-profile, very expensive deal over the NZYQ cohort,

01:55a level of political tumult over this unannounced trip is inevitable.

02:01that happens to be of a small supremacy that represents the highest resolution of the World War War,

02:04and to be able to think about it, we can be aware of that as much as possible,

02:05as possible, the most likely to be able to improve the world of define ourselves.

02:07That's something that we're feeling and that it's quite significant.

02:09You should be feeling and that we're feeling and that we're feeling in the right way in the right direction.

02:11Have a great glance, it's been sort of relatively wide-breaking situation and it's been seen in the right direction,

02:13because it's been the right direction of the world.

02:15I'm not the right direction.

02:17But then you're not the right direction of the East Coast,

02:20but that's the biggest government perspective.

02:22How to do this?

02:24The US and the right direction of the US,

02:25is the right direction of the US.

02:26What we're looking at the US?

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