Pregnant Somali asylum seeker to return to Australia for abortion advice
Refugees are not raped on Nauru and would riot for the cameras if Australian journalists were allowed onto the Pacific island, the Nauruan government claims. 
The government also insists Australian journalists have an "air of racial superiority" and it is under no obligation to respond to their requests for information, despite Commonwealth taxpayers spending billions of dollars on the island's detention centre.
A statement on Wednesday by Nauruan Justice Minister David Adeang said many Australian media outlets and journalists "have no respect for Nauru or our culture or people".
The island government refuses to answer many of the "ridiculous" questions posed to it because "Nauru has no obligation to answer to Australian media".
In response to recent calls for media access, Mr Adeang said in a statement: "Nauru is not a state of Australia!"
"The Australian media approaches us with great arrogance and an air of racial superiority, which is highly offensive to us," he said.
"They do not show us the respect of a sovereign nation and in return we have little respect for them."
Allowing journalists "to wander the small island" would prompt refugees who were living peacefully to take advice from refugee advocates and "start to protest and riot for the cameras and there would be chaos that the nation's police force would struggle to contain".
Mr Adeang acknowledged that many refugees face difficulties, but insisted "Nauru is safe, refugees are not being raped, they have freedom, many are happy and making the best of their situation, and life on Nauru is peaceful with locals and refugees living, in the main, harmoniously".
The Australian government routinely refers inquiries on asylum seekers and refugees to the Nauruan government, which in turn refuses to respond, leaving no official channels for journalists seeking information.
The Australian journalist Chris Kenny this month visited Nauru, making him the first foreign journalist allowed to the island in 18 months. He speculated that his support for Australia's border protection policies may have influenced the decision.
Nauru charges foreign journalists $8000 to apply for a visa, and the fee is not refunded if the application is refused.
Several media outlets have made unsuccessful attempts to secure a visa, most recently Al-Jazeera which was reportedly told by a Nauruan officials that  "all media application [sic] is not approved". 
On Wednesday a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees expressed concern over the "growing number of sexual assault and rape allegations since Australia restarted its policy of transferring asylum seekers to Nauru for processing in 2012".
The organisation was also "very disturbed" by the lack of arrests in such cases and that alleged rape victims "are left in unsafe conditions, given their own vulnerable status and the close proximity of their attackers, and tend to be stigmatised by the population and by members of the Nauru police force".
Immigration officials this month revealed that from   July to   September this year alone, detention centres at Nauru and Manus Island cost Australian taxpayers almost $280 million.
Follow us on Twitter