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Aussies close down island camp
19/03/2003 10:44 - (SA)
Sydney - Australia announced the closure on Wednesday of a notorious centre for unwanted asylum-seekers on a remote Indian Ocean island, but confirmed plans to build a new detention camp on the same site.
Immigration minister Philip Ruddock said the last asylum-seekers had been removed from the temporary camp at Christmas Island, an Australian outpost in the northern Indian Ocean.
But, he said there still were plans to build a permanent facility on the island despite widespread criticism of Australia's policy of placing asylum-seekers in remote offshore detention camps.
The closure of the Christmas Island camp followed the announcement last week that another notorious detention centre, at Woomera in the South Australian desert, would be shut by mid-April.
Both camps were the scene of rioting during the New Year period by inmates angered by lengthy periods of detention and poor conditions.
Camp to be held in readiness
Ruddock said four Afghani asylum seekers on Christmas Island had returned home last week after accepting a A$2 000 dollar (about R9 830) repatriation payout.
Three other detainees were transferred to the Pacific island state of Nauru where Australia maintains another detention centre.
Ruddock said the Christmas Island camp would be "held in a state of readiness so that it can be reactivated at short notice should there be further boat arrivals".
"This in no way derogates from the commitment for a permanent facility on the island," he said.
- AFX
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