Sauerkraut_n_Pepsi t1_j849do3 wrote on February 11, 2023 at 2:59 PM

Reply to comment by arsenix in TIL the Pacific island nation of Nauru has been so damaged by phosphate mining that in 1964 Australia offered to repopulate the entire nation to Curtis Island near the Australian Coast. Nauru refused the offer in order to maintain their sovereignty and not become part of Australia. by triviafrenzy

The comment at the top of the thread, and yours, make it appear that the anti-immigration policy single handedly tanked the economy. While it didn’t help, in actuality it’s only one of like 100 reasons why Nauru is in bad shape.

There was no foresight or even the slightest consideration of long-term effects when the mining companies decided to strip the island barren. They knew that it would render the island uninhabitable once there were no phosphates left. This is why a relocation was proposed.

Also worth noting: the government of Nauru placed the money that it earned through mining in a trust to support the citizens once this inevitably happened. Due to mismanagement and a series of bad investments in real estate and Musical theatre, the assets in the trust were wiped out and basically bankrupted the government and its national bank ceased to exist.

So yeah anti immigration policy. Among many many other failures.