FED:Tas detention centre ready in September

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2011
FED:Tas detention centre ready in September

By Adam Gartrell

CANBERRA, Aug 17 AAP - A new temporary immigration detention centre in Tasmania will
be completed in late September, four months behind schedule and just weeks before it was
due to be shut down.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen announced plans in April to house 400 male asylum
seekers in a converted army barracks at Pontville, north of Hobart.

Mr Bowen said the centre would open in May, but it ran into a series of delays including
difficulties obtaining an Aboriginal heritage permit.

Mr Bowen also said at the time the centre would be a "short-term response" to overcrowding
in the detention network and was expected to close in October.

But in its response to a question on notice from coalition senator Eric Abetz the government
says it now expects work on the centre to be concluded on September 26.

The government says "stage one" will be completed within the next few weeks. The first
detainees are likely to enter the facility soon after.

It maintains the centre - estimated to cost up to $15 million in capital - will be
operation for six months.

Senator Abetz said the government's plans were a mess.

"This debacle follows the trend of the government's botched border protection policy,
East Timor non-solution, the Malaysian embarrassment and now Pontville."

AAP ag/rl/jl

KEYWORD: DETENTION PONTVILLE

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