Australia spent more than $9m for each asylum seeker held on Nauru last year – so why can’t they afford to buy food?

The Budapest hotel houses some of the asylum seekers and refugees sent to Nauru while they await processing. The ASRC survey includes reports of substandard accommodation facilities. Photograph: Supplied View image in fullscreen The Budapest hotel houses some of the asylum seekers and refugees sent to Nauru while they await processing. The ASRC survey includes reports of substandard accommodation facilities. Photograph: Supplied Australia spent more than $9m for each asylum seeker held on Nauru last year – so why can’t they afford to buy food? Many of the more than 100 people awaiting processing on the tiny Pacific island are skipping meals to make ends meet, a new survey has found Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Most refugees and asylum seekers held in Nauru’s detention centres say they cannot afford to buy enough food or access clean drinking water, despite the Australian government spending the equivalent of more than $9m per person last financial year. The group of more than 100 people have been sent indefinitely to the tiny Pacific island while they wait for their asylum claims to be processed. Many of the cohort say they are skipping meals to make ends meet, according to a new survey by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) advocacy group. ‘What is our future?’: the Nauru detention centre was empty. Now 100 asylum seekers are held there Read more Rakib*, who has been on Nauru for more than two years without the ability to work and earn his own money, feels he is at breaking point. “I think it would be better if they kill us, or if we die,” says the man in his 20s, whom Guardian Australia has chosen not to identify for his safety. “Because, you know, like when you die, you get peace.” Prohibitive costs Of the 78 people ASRC surveyed between February and April, all but one said the Australian government’s $260 fortnightly payment, intended to cover purchases of food, drinking water, supplies, phone credit and internet service, was not enough to keep them from going hungry. (The minimum 28GB monthly data plan with the country’s main internet and mobile provider, Digicel, costs $112, or around 20% of the monthly allowance provided.) Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Nauru’s population of around 13,000 is heavily reliant on imported goods. More than 90% of food consumed is imported, and prices on the island can fluctuate depending on availability and trade disruptions. Vegetables such as tomatoes, capsicums and onions cost around $18 a kilo – up to three times as much as similar goods in Australia. Rakib has been on Nauru for 2.5 years after attempting to get to Australia by boat. He says the situation has worsened in recent months: the cost of a single banana has risen from $1.50 to around $4. He says there has also recently been shortage of rice, which is an affordable staple for many Nauruans and asylum seekers on the island. “We have been told