As Nauru celebrates national day today, an academic has called for Australia to seriously consider giving the Pacific island nation Association status.
A Senior fellow at Australia's Center for Independent Studies, Helen Hughes, says Nauru has effectively become a beggar state that cannot stand on its own.
She says the impending closure of Australia's asylum-seeker detention center on the island, as well as the depletion of its mining industry, has only highlighted the dilemma about Nauru's future.
Ms Hughes says that Nauruans aren't being informed about their options, which she describes as straightforward because there are no economic possibilities which could gainfully employ Nauru's population.
"'They've got about 13,000 people, and they're spending like a country. You know, they've got a parliament, a cabinet, they're paying a huge public service. They haven't got the size. And they've neglected education and nobody's working."
Helen Hughes says negotiating an association status with Australia would give Nauru's people access to work and residence in Australia, improving the long-term economic outlook of the island.
