The Australian Government passed legislation on 27 September 2001, with amendments to the Commonwealth
Migration Act 1958, enacted by the
Migration Legislation Amendment (Excision from the Migration Zone) (Consequential Provisions) Act 2001. Specifically, the new amendment to the 1958 Act allowed "offshore entry persons" to be taken to "declared countries", with Nauru and Papua New Guinea made "declared countries" under the Act. The implementation of this legislation became known as the Pacific Solution at the same time as or soon after the passing of the legislation (at least within a year). On 28 October 2001, at his 2001 election campaign policy launch, Prime Minister
John Howard said "we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come", in an effort to build support for the policy. Asylum seekers were intercepted at sea while sailing from
Indonesia and moved using Australian naval vessels. Detention centres were set up on
Christmas Island,
Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, and on the island nation of
Nauru. Some were also accepted for processing by
New Zealand. Most of the asylum seekers came from
Afghanistan (largely of the
Hazara ethnic group),
Iraq,
Iran, China, and
Vietnam. The last asylum seekers to be detained on Nauru before the end of the policy had come from
Sri Lanka and
Myanmar. Arrivals dropped from a total of 5516 people in 2001 to one arrival in 2002 after implementation of the policy, and remained below 150 annually until 2008. The removal of the
Taliban from power in Afghanistan may have had some effect in this decrease, as nearly six million Afghans had returned to Afghanistan since 2002, almost a quarter of the country's population at the time. Four boats were successfully returned to Indonesian waters out of the twelve
Suspected Illegal Entry Vessels (SIEVs) intercepted by the Navy during
Operation Relex during 2001–2002, having made 10 attempts to enforce the policy, based on judgements of whether it was safe to do so or not. Three men allegedly drowned trying to swim back to shore after returning to Indonesia. In November 2003, a boat carrying 53 passengers was successfully deterred, and in March 2004, Customs returned a boat with 15 people after interception at the
Ashmore Islands. Details of operations from 2005 to 2008 are scant.
Operation Resolute began in July 2006, run jointly by the
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and the
Australian Defence Force. During the Pacific Solution period, mainland detention centres were closed at Baxter,
Woomera and Curtin. A lower level of boat arrivals continued throughout the Pacific Solution period, although it was reported to have peaked in 2012, since the abolition of the policy, despite worldwide asylum claim numbers remaining low by historical standards. These arrivals also corresponded with increasing numbers of new refugee arrivals in Indonesia after the abandonment of the policy: 385 in 2008, 3,230 in 2009, 3,905 in 2010, 4,052 in 2011, 7,218 in 2012 and 8,332 in 2013. A probable link between restrictive refugee policies and lower attempts at seeking asylum in Australia by boat have been confirmed by the UNHCR: in April 2014, UNHCR Indonesia representative Manual Jordao stated: "Word that the prospects of reaching Australia by boat from Indonesia are now virtually zero appears to have reached smugglers and would-be asylum seekers in countries of origin such as Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Myanmar. The numbers registering with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Indonesia have dropped from about 100 a day during 2013 to about 100 a week now." The number of asylum seekers assessed as genuine refugees via the Pacific Solution process was lower than for onshore processing. 68 per cent of the asylum seekers were deemed genuine refugees and less than 40 per cent of asylum seekers sent to Nauru received resettlement in Australia. A 2006 report by the
Australian Human Rights Commission showed that of the 1509 asylum seekers sent to Nauru by that time, 586 were granted Australian resettlement (39%), 360 resettled in New Zealand (24%), 19 resettled in Sweden (1.2%), 10 in Canada (<1%) and 4 in Norway (<1%). A total of 482 asylum seekers (32%) were deemed not genuine refugees and sent home. The cost of the Pacific Solution between 2001 and 2007 was at least .
Amnesty International, refugee rights groups and other
non-governmental organisations said that Australia was failing to meet its international obligations. The ad hoc nature in which the policy evolved was also criticised, as it resulted in people being moved to
Manus Island and Nauru before facilities were ready. Poor facilities and services including intermittent electricity and fresh water, poor medical facilities and the serious mental impact of detention on people in these conditions without the certainty of being granted refugee status were also strongly criticised. ==Suspension==