More asylum seekers on mainland

An "under-pressure" federal government has moved to drastically expand detention
housing on the mainland as it struggles to cope with incoming asylum seekers.
But efforts to boost capacity at three centres - in Western Australia, Queensland
and Victoria - have been met with condemnation by critics who claim it is nothing
more than a stop-gap measure.
It has also prompted concerns about the health and safety of asylum seekers,
particularly at WA's Curtin Detention Centre, where capacity is set to be doubled at
1200 men.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett labelled it a recipe for trouble, forecasting
riots and breakouts.
"Twelve hundred single men in a remote location heading into the extreme weather
conditions and high temperatures and humidity of a Kimberley summer is not a very
safe situation," he said.
Notified just 15 minutes before the official announcement, Mr Barnett also attacked
the government for using his state as a dumping ground for asylum seekers, rather
than sharing the load across the country.
WA currently accommodates almost 50 per cent of detainees on the mainland, a
situation Mr Barnett described as unacceptable.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen defended the changes, saying increased arrivals and
higher numbers of claim rejections had weighed heavily on the system.
He said the $50 million expansion would go some way to ensuring asylum seekers were
housed in appropriate accommodation, rather than hotels or the like.
Capacity at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation, in Broadmeadows, will
be increased by 100, but only for families and children.
The Scherger Airforce Base, in far north Queensland, will be converted into a
detention centre for up to 300 single adult men, but will remain a short-term
solution.
"The other sites are not short term - they are expansions which will be indefinite
and they'll be there for as long as they're needed," Mr Bowen said.
He was adamant he had enough staff to deal with the influx, despite revelations his
office recently made a urgent plea for more help from other departments.
The Australian Greens and welfare groups savaged the expansion as keeping in line
with the government's "out of sight, out of mind" policy on asylum seekers.
"We need to be bringing asylum seekers to the mainland and housing them close to
support and services, not leaving them languishing in isolated island centres or
inappropriate desert prisons," Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young
said.
She also called on the government to rethink its suspension on Afghani claims, which
Mr Bowen conceded had added to the government's burdens.
"That suspension will be considered as we approach the time that the six-month
suspension expires," he said.
The government is in the midst of examining the long-term needs of the system and
will reveal its measures to deal with them in due course, Mr Bowen said.