Christmas Island detention plan added to offshore processing costs

When building an immigration ­detention centre on Christmas ­Island proved too ambitious, the government spent millions to keep offshore processing in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Some of the 53 Vietnamese asylum seekers at the Christmas Island detention centre in 2003. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

When the government’s plan to build a 1200-bed immigration ­detention centre on Christmas ­Island proved too ambitious, the cabinet was staring at a $418m bill and a three-year delay.

The project’s near failure in 2003 forced the government to spend millions more to keep the lights on at offshore processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, newly released cabinet documents show.

The Christmas Island immigration detention centre was conceived in the wake of the Tampa affair in August 2001, when Australian troops boarded the freighter MV Tampa to end a standoff with 433 asylum-seekers.

By June 2003, John Howard’s government knew it had to go back to the drawing board to get an immigration centre built on the remote Australian territory of Christmas Island.

Initially, territories minister Wilson Tuckey led a push to build a detention centre on the island’s southwest point in 39 weeks from start to finish. Cabinet records ­released by the National Archives of Australia on Monday show that in April 2002 the budget for this was $210.4m.

The centre was to hold 1200 people with a school and hospital facilities akin to a regional centre.

However, by September the estimated cost had reached $418.5m and the project would take two years. By February 2003, there was a compromise proposal to build a 426-person centre at a cost of $276.2m. It would take three years.

Meanwhile, cabinet authorised foreign minister Nick Minchin and immigration minister Philip Ruddock to negotiate continuation of offshore processing arrangements with Nauru “until the new Christmas Island facility becomes available”.

They were authorised to spend an additional $15.5m in 2003-04.

A makeshift Christmas Island detention centre in 2003, where 53 Vietnamese asylum seekers were being processed after being picked up off Port Hedland, Western Australia, by HMAS Canberra. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

They were also tasked with finding out what was required at Manus Island, where Australia’s offshore processing deal with the Papua New Guinea government was also due to run out.

Cabinet was told in a report on June 16 that the overseas centres could accommodate 2500 combined but there were risks with their continued use. The report said Nauru was on the edge of bankruptcy.

“These facilities represent a substantial capacity for accommodation of asylum seekers. However, these facilities remain beyond the control of the government and cannot be relied upon in the longer term,” the cabinet document states.

Cabinet agreed to build the scaled-back immigration detention centre on Christmas Island. It would have a surge capacity of 800. Later, under Labor, Christmas Island would be forced to hold about 4000 asylum-seekers at once.

The Howard government had time to build the centre because of a lull in boats. When cabinet authorised the final iteration of the Christmas Island centre in June 2003, no asylum-seekers had ­arrived by boat for a year.

Mr Ruddock told colleagues this meant Australia could again afford to accommodate an annual humanitarian intake of 12,000 refugees.