Riot continues at NT detention centre

Accused Indonesian people-smugglers have gone back to protesting on the roof of the
Darwin immigration detention centre.
The Department of Immigration said the protesters, who began rioting just after 4am
(CST) on Sunday, caused more damage to the centre overnight.
The protesters - Indonesian boat crew who face people-smuggling charges - set
mattresses on fire and brandished poles on a roof at the centre on Sunday.
"One hundred and seventeen Indonesian detainees continue to protest," a spokesman
told AAP on Monday afternoon.
"A number of clients remain on the roof. However, NT Police and Australian Federal
Police (AFP) continue to negotiate with them in attempts to resolve the situation."
The federal police are yet to say if they will charge the protesters and would only
say they were dealing with an "ongoing matter".
"The AFP can confirm it has responded to an incident at the Northern Immigration
Detention Centre," the spokeswoman told AAP.
The department spokesman said the protest action would not influence the outcome of
the men's cases.
The detention centre at the Coonawarra Naval Base currently houses 487 detainees,
including 151 alleged Indonesian people smugglers.
Of those detainees, 151 are crew who are housed apart from asylum seekers.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said vulnerable asylum seekers would be suffering
from being kept at the same facility as alleged people smugglers.
"It's not appropriate for us to be detaining and housing asylum seekers in the same
areas as people who are charged for criminal offences, such as people smuggling,"
Senator Hanson-Young told AAP.
"While all of this (rioting) is going on, of course, it's having an impact on the
rest of the detainees who have fled torture and trauma and persecution."
Senator Hanson-Young also said she believed the detained crewmen were not really
people smugglers but poor fishermen who had been conned into making the journey.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said in response to the riot that the
government took suspected cases of people smuggling seriously and would not
compromise its stance.
"(In May) we introduced tougher penalties and extended mandatory minimum penalties
for people involved in people-smuggling offences," a spokeswoman for Mr O'Connor
told AAP.
There have been 55 people-smuggling convictions since September 2008 and there are
currently more than 100 alleged people smugglers before the courts, the spokeswoman
said.
Comment was not forthcoming from opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison.