Casino won't house asylum seekers: Evans
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Updated
Filling up...the latest boatload of arrivals were taken to Christmas Island last Sunday. (Dept of Home Affairs)
The Federal Government is rejecting reports it has struck a deal to use a casino on Christmas Island to house asylum seekers.
A boat carrying 194 people entered Australian waters last weekend - the biggest boatload since the Tampa.
It is thought most of the latest arrivals are ethnic Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka. Like hundreds of other asylum seekers, they were taken to Christmas Island.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans says while there is still room in the Christmas Island detention centre, the Government is looking into alternative accommodation in case of overflow.
Senator Evans told ABC1's Lateline program last night that talks have been held with the casino but no agreement has been reached.
"What we've done is we've spoken to all the owners of possible accommodation on Christmas Island, and amongst those discussions we spoke to the owners of the casino," he said.
"Unfortunately the casino is very run-down, but we were looking at the possibility of using their old staff quarters for immigration."
Impending overflow?
The high security centre on Christmas Island can hold as many as 1,200 people, according to the Department, but its normal capacity is 800.
Right now, nearly 580 men are waiting for their claims to be processed.
All up, there are around 720 asylum seekers on the island.
Government policy is to only hold people long enough for basic checks, and the Opposition says an overflow is imminent.
"It's approaching full capacity," Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone said.
"And if we get more 200-person boats, as we have in the last little while, yes, you could say we need Plan B and we need it urgently."
Immigration lawyer David Manne says capacity is a direct result of how long people are kept in detention.
"A lot of the questions around whether it's full depend upon whether the Government actually properly implements its new detention policy," he said.
"There is evidence, clear evidence, that some people have been held for longer periods than they should have been under the policy and that essentially the policy was clearly contravened."
Economic strain
Mr Manne has been to Christmas Island to meet clients and he says its distance creates a massive extra cost for lawyers and the staff from government agencies.
"Just to get there from the Australian mainland costs roughly the same as it does to get to Europe, to fly to Europe," he said.
He says the remote location serves to deny basic rights when claims are processed.
"The examination of that claim on Christmas Island is conducted by Australian officials outside the basic safeguards of the law in Australia," he said.
"And that again is not only discriminatory, but potentially, not only a fundamentally inferior process, but potentially a very dangerous one."
Dr Stone says a softer policy from the Government is attracting people who left their home countries years ago.
"We would immediately look at the visa categories for people arriving on unlawful boats who were for a long time in a second country before, if you like, shopping around and deciding to buy their way into Australia," she said.
And with a worsening economy, asylum seekers could potentially create problems.
"No country can afford an open-door policy in relation to migration. We simply don't have the resources to settle people properly," she said.
"We also have a community backlash if you have in a difficult economic circumstance, not enough employment for all, more and more people who can't be found work."
But Senator Evans denies the Government has let its guard down.
"We still have excision of offshore islands. We still have mandatory detention [and] we still have very strong border controls which we've increased," he said.
"We still have really strong engagement in anti-people smuggling measures, including an extra $650 million in the last Budget to help combat people smuggling.
"So, there's no softening of our efforts to combat people smuggling and there's no softening of border security.
"There were some changes in terms of detention arrangements, but quite frankly, that's a very different thing."
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76 needed to form government
State of the Parties
76 seats required for victory
|
91.5% counted.
Updated Sat Sep 4 08:44AM
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| Party | % Vote | Swing | Won | Predict | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | 38.0 | -5.4 | 72 | |||
| Coalition | 43.7 | +1.6 | 73 | |||
| Greens | 11.7 | +3.9 | 1 | |||
| Others | 6.6 | -0.1 | 4 | |||
Changing Seats
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91.5% counted.
Last updated Sat Sep 4 08:44AM
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|||||||
| Time | Count % | Electorate | Held By | Margin | 2PP % | Swing | Predict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:37 | 93.5 | La Trobe | L/NP | 0.5 | 50.9 | 1.4% to ALP | ALP GAIN |
| 18:22 | 91.0 | McEwen | L/NP | 0.0 | 55.2 | 5.2% to ALP | ALP GAIN |
| 10:36 | 89.0 | Solomon | ALP | 0.2 | 51.9 | 2.0% to CLP | CLP GAIN |
| 18:52 | 83.1 | Melbourne | ALP | 4.7 | 55.6 | 10.3% to GRN | GRN GAIN |
| 17:37 | 94.3 | Denison | ALP | 15.3 | 51.2 | 16.5% from ALP | IND GAIN |
| 15:21 | 91.2 | Bennelong | ALP | 1.4 | 53.5 | 4.9% to LIB | LIB GAIN |
| 13:07 | 92.8 | Gilmore * | ALP | 0.4 | 55.3 | 5.7% to LIB | LIB WIN |
| 18:07 | 92.9 | Hasluck | ALP | 0.8 | 50.6 | 1.4% to LIB | LIB GAIN |
| 16:21 | 92.0 | Macarthur * | ALP | 0.5 | 53.0 | 3.5% to LIB | LIB WIN |
| 11:23 | 92.5 | Macquarie | ALP | 0.3 | 51.2 | 1.5% to LIB | LIB GAIN |
| 18:54 | 90.3 | Swan * | ALP | 0.3 | 52.6 | 2.8% to LIB | LIB WIN |
| 16:53 | 91.5 | Bonner | ALP | 4.5 | 52.6 | 7.1% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 17:21 | 89.8 | Brisbane | ALP | 4.6 | 51.0 | 5.6% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 11:36 | 92.7 | Dawson | ALP | 2.6 | 52.4 | 5.0% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 12:51 | 93.7 | Dickson * | ALP | 0.8 | 55.2 | 5.9% to LNP | LNP WIN |
| 14:36 | 91.1 | Flynn | ALP | 2.2 | 53.5 | 5.7% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 15:21 | 91.3 | Forde | ALP | 3.4 | 51.6 | 5.0% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 16:06 | 92.4 | Herbert * | ALP | 0.0 | 52.1 | 2.1% to LNP | LNP WIN |
| 16:37 | 90.4 | Leichhardt | ALP | 4.1 | 54.6 | 8.7% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
| 14:21 | 92.2 | Longman | ALP | 1.9 | 52.0 | 3.9% to LNP | LNP GAIN |
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