Influx triggers Christmas Island clear-out

HUNDREDS of asylum-seekers on Christmas Island have been flown to the mainland over the past three days.

HUNDREDS of asylum-seekers on Christmas Island have been flown to the mainland over the past three days, with authorities making room for an anticipated surge in the number of illegal arrivals prior to the finalisation of the so-called Malaysian solution.

With regular charter flights to mainland detention centres, the Immigration Department has reduced the number of detainees on the island by about 800 since the week of rioting that culminated in a battle with police on March 17.

Since Wednesday, 300 asylum-seekers have been relocated from Christmas Island to other detention facilities around the country.

One of the island's compounds at Phosphate Hill, Bravo, usually holds about 200 people but is expected to be empty by Tuesday.

And dozens of unaccompanied minors - teenagers who arrived by boat without a guardian or parent - will be moved out of the area and into the Melbourne and Brisbane immigration transit accommodation buildings in coming days, The Weekend Australian has been told.

It is understood that with the federal government's asylum-seeker exchange deal with Malaysia likely to be finalised within weeks, there are fears there will be a large increase in the number of boats arriving in Australian waters before the agreement is formally recognised.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the government was alert to such a prospect. "We are aware of that possibility and we are looking at a range of arrangements to deal with any such occurrence," he said.

Asked specifically if the government was re-configuring the Christmas Island detention centre in anticipation of a surge in the numbers of asylum-seekers arriving by boat ahead of the finalisation of the deal with Malaysia, the spokesman refused to be drawn: "We will have more to say on the matter at a later date."

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the uncertainty surrounding Australia's policy on asylum-seekers was playing into the hands of people-smugglers.

"Announcing these arrangements (with Malaysia) before the deal had even been finalised was always running the risk of giving people-smugglers another excuse to sell their product," Mr Morrison said. "There are details that are still yet to be negotiated, let alone finalised."

Mr Morrison said the rush to announce the deal could have serious consequences. "It's yet another opportunity to market their product and they never miss an opportunity," he said.

Earlier yesterday, Mr Bowen confirmed that three of the 23 asylum-seekers who were involved in the torching of Sydney's Villawood detention centre last month have been given temporary refugee visas. "That does not mean their (permanent) visa has been granted, but they have satisfied the test as refugees," Mr Bowen said.

In effect, the three men will therefore hold temporary visas until the situation in their homeland is considered safe enough for their return.

Of the 23 men who were implicated in the Villawood riot, seven have been charged and they remain in Silverwater jail.

"Nobody has been given a (permanent) visa who is a person of interest in Villawood, absolutely not," Mr Bowen said.