People seeking asylum in Australia have a right to the things we all want - safety, security and protection for ourselves and our families.
We can do better in welcoming asylum seekers into our community.
An asylum seeker is someone who has fled their own country and applies to another country, like Australia, for protection as a refugee. In 2010, around 358 800 people sought asylum in developed countries around the world. Just 2% of these people sought asylum in Australia.
Only a small number of asylum seekers come to Australia by boat seeking protection. Most 'boat people' are found to be refugees. What happens between 'seeking protection' and being 'found to be a refugee' is a distressing story.
Australian migration law says asylum seekers that:
- come to the Australian mainland without a visa must be held in immigration detention until they are granted a visa or removed from Australia
- come to ‘excised offshore places’ (like Christmas Island) without a visa may be detained – but in practice, all of these people are subjected to mandatory detention.
This law sets up Australia’s system of mandatory and indefinite detention. It is not just asylum seekers who are held in immigration detention. Other people may also be detained, for example people who have breached or overstayed their visa or had their visa cancelled.
Immigration Centers
- Christmas Island
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Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre
629 people are detained here. This is a high-security detention centre on a small island in the middle of the Indian ocean, approximately 2650km north-west of Perth. The detention centre was completed in 2007. It cost over $400 million to build.
Phosphate Hill
A closed detention facility which can hold about 300 people. It is older and much smaller than the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre.
Construction Camp
About 300 people can be detained here and it is mainly used for families and unaccompanied children. It is a closed facility which means that people cannot come and go freely.
- Leonora
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A low-security detention facility in a hot, dusty environment, which can hold about 200 people. It is used mainly for families and unaccompanied children. Low-security is still closed detention which means that people cannot come and go freely.
- Perth
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Perth Immigration Detention Centre
25 people are detained here. It is a small, high-security detention centre with a cramped and claustrophobic feel.
Perth Immigration Residential Housing
9 people are detained here, including 2 children. Residential housing is a lower-security place of detention. This one is used mainly for families and allows more privacy and normality than a detention centre. It is still closed detention, which means that people cannot come and go freely.
- Port Augusta Immigration Residential Housing
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38 people are detained here, including 34 children. This is a lower-security detention facility used mainly for unaccompanied children. The photo shows Port Augusta.
- Pontville Immigration Detention Centre
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200 people are detained here. Pontville is Australia's newest high-security detention centre. It cost around $14.8 million to build in 2011 and will cost around $15 million to run in 2011-12.
Click here to watch a video by the Department of Immigration about Pontville detention centre.
- Melbourne
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Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre
92 people are detained here. Maribyrnong is a high-security detention centre used for people who have breached or over-stayed their visa or had their visa cancelled, as well as asylum seekers. It has had some good refurbishments done in recent years but it is still prison-like, and holds some of Australia's longest term detainees.
Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation
76 people are detained here, including 2 children. Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation is a lower-security place of detention, opened in 2008. It was designed for detaining people for short periods but it is now used for asylum seekers who have been in detention for long periods. The conditions are better than a detention centre but people still cannot come and go freely.
- Sydney
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Villawood Immigration Detention Centre
372 people are detained here. Villawood is a prison-like, high-security detention centre used for people who have breached or over-stayed their visa or had their visa cancelled, as well as asylum seekers. In 2010, three people committed suicide here in a three month period. It was not designed to be used as a detention centre and a lot of the buildings are old and run-down.
Sydney Immigration Residential Housing
17 people are detained here, including 5 children. This is a lower-security place of detention used mainly for families, which allows for more privacy and normality. Residential housing has much better conditions compared with a detention centre but people are still in detention and cannot come and go freely.
- Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation
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65 people are detained here. Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation is a lower-security place of detention, opened in 2007. It was designed for detaining people for short periods but it is now used for asylum seekers who have been in detention for long periods. The conditions are better than a detention centre but people still cannot come and go freely.
- Scherger Immigration Detention Centre
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293 people are detained here. Scherger is a remote, high-security detention centre near the tip of the Cape York peninsula, used for adult men seeking asylum in Australia.
- Darwin
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Northern Immigration Detention Centre
341 people are detained here. A high-security detention centre that was formerly used for foreign nationals accused of illegal fishing, and is now used for adult men seeking asylum in Australia. The centre is harsh and prison-like with high wire fences, few trees and not much shade or grass.
Darwin Airport Lodge
A lower-security place of detention mostly used for families and unaccompanied children. Lower-security is still closed detention and people cannot come and go freely.
Berrimah House
A small detention facility mostly used for unaccompanied children who worked as crew on asylum seeker boats. People cannot come and go freely.
- Curtin Immigration Detention Centre
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957 people are detained here. One of Australia's most remote high-security detention centres in a harsh desert environment. The centre is used to detain adult men seeking asylum in Australia. Most of the men here have been held in detention for long periods of time.
- Adelaide
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Inverbrackie
Inverbrackie is an 'alternative place of detention' that can hold up to 350 people in a neighbourhood-style environment, giving families more privacy and normality than a detention centre. The conditions are much better than a detention centre but people are still in detention and cannot come and go freely.
Adelaide Immigration Transit Accommodation
9 people are detained here, including 1 child. A small, new detention facility with a maximum capacity of 25 people. Adelaide Immigration Transit Accommodation allows more privacy and autonomy than a detention centre, but it is still closed detention and people cannot come and go freely.
Some immigration detainees are permitted to live in the community in what is known as ‘community detention’. Community detention means that the Minister for Immigration can specifically permit an immigration detainee to live at a specified residence in the community.
In 2010, 90% of boat people came from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq. The Australian Government has issued DO NOT TRAVEL warnings to these countries.
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