Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre to close with land to be sold

THE trouble-plagued Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre will close within the next two years and the land put up for sale.

Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre. Picture: Brendan Francis

THE trouble-plagued Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre will close within the next two years and the land put up for sale.

Federal Immigration Minister Peter Dutton announced last week that due to the success of the government’s “stop the boats” campaign the Maribyrnong centre, the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney and Perth Immigration Residential Housing Facility would shut.

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Expected revenue from the sale of the Maribyrnong centre at Hampstead Rd, Maidstone, would not be disclosed but the land could ­potentially open up a large area for new housing.

The site neighbours the former Victoria University Student Village, which could also become a residential estate.

“The closures are part of a comprehensive long-term plan for the immigration ­detention network and will occur progressively between 2016 and 2018,” Mr Dutton said.

The Leader reported in June that human rights ­activists had dubbed the Maribyrnong facility a “quasi-prison”, where racial violence and detainees on ice were rampant.

Claims emerged that ­security guards feared they had no control over former prisoners with cancelled visas living alongside refugees awaiting deportation.

In one of the most notorious cases, outlaw bikies strolled into the centre and successfully freed one of their own while terrified guards stood by and did nothing.

The facility has also been accused of having a growing culture of excessive force.

The Government contracted security officers were ­investigated over a string of attacks on detainees with two guards sacked for serious misconduct.

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre detention rights ­advocate Pamela Curr, who welcomed the closure, said the centre was “overcrowded” and a “shocking place” to keep human beings.

“It has the most appalling accommodation and it’s shameful that it existed for so long.”