Barnett miffed by Bowen no-show

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says he's disappointed federal Immigration
Minister Chris Bowen chose not to meet with him while visiting detention centre
sites in the state.
Mr Bowen on Tuesday visited a centre holding asylum seeker families in the
Goldfields town of Leonora after inspecting the site of a planned new centre in the
wheatbelt town of Northam on Monday.
He said the aim was for the new centre to benefit the people of Northam and he had
no plans to increase the number of detainees at Leonora.
"Certainly the position at the moment is that the number of people at Leonora is
appropriate going forward," he told ABC Radio.
Mr Bowen did not meet the WA premier, who has expressed concerns about security when
the housing of hundreds of single male asylum seekers starts at a disused army
barracks in Northam from March next year.
"It will be state resources that will be stretched to deal with this issue," Mr
Barnett told ABC Radio on Tuesday, referring to the need for WA police to react if
riots or disturbances occur.
He said he was disappointed Mr Bowen chose not to meet him.
"Chris Bowen wanders into town, I would have thought it was logical to talk to the
state government at a formal level."
But Northam shire president Steve Pollard said he and his council had a satisfying
and informative hour and a half with Mr Bowen and immigration officials to discuss
the new centre.
"I think most councillors went away satisfied," he told AAP on Tuesday.
But a public meeting at the town hall on Thursday evening might not be quite so
amicable as opponents of the centre voice their concerns.
Mr Pollard said he expected a big turn-out but hoped cool heads would prevail as
townsfolk questioned immigration officials and councillors.
"Anger is always a possibility, certainly there will be people with very strong
opinions and they will voice those opinions very strongly, that's to be expected."
Police and security officers would be present at the meeting, the shire president said.
"Obviously it needs to be kept a lid on so we don't have people getting physically
out of control."
Mr Pollard said up to 1500 single males would be housed in around 250 demountable
accommodation units at the army base.
"It's going to be self-contained with very, very limited interaction between the
community and detainees."
External and internal barrier fences and electronic surveillance would be in place
for the mainly Afghan detainees, he said.
"It's not expected to be short term. They're not going to spend $150 million on the
facility and pull it down next year."
Mr Pollard said seminars would be held for Northam businesses to help them tender to
provide goods and services for the centre.