Key facts
- Australia plans to reopen detention centers for visa overstayers.
- The government will hire 100 new compliance officers and add 250 detention beds.
- The policy aims to reduce net overseas migration to 245,000 in 2026/27.
- Greens MP David Shoebridge compared the plan to Donald Trump's immigration policies.
- The private prison company Management and Training Corporation (MTC) won a $2.3bn contract to run onshore detention in Australia.
- The pre-2015 detention regime for children was described as a 'horrific pipeline'.
The Australian federal government's plan to reopen detention centers for visa overstayers has drawn criticism from the Greens and advocacy groups, who have compared it to Donald Trump's immigration policies in the United States. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced the plan on Thursday, stating it was a return to a 'routine process' that existed before 2015, involving detention for individuals whose visas had lapsed before they could secure flights home. Burke emphasized that the operation would not resemble 'sweeping immigration crackdowns' seen elsewhere.
The government intends to hire 100 new compliance officers and make an additional 250 detention beds available, potentially repurposing a quarantine facility in Victoria. Most individuals are expected to be held for only a few weeks, with encouragement to depart voluntarily. The policy is part of a broader effort to reduce net overseas migration from its current level of 292,100 to meet budget forecasts of 245,000 in 2026/27 and 225,000 annually thereafter.
Greens immigration spokesperson David Shoebridge criticized the plan, labeling it a 'Donald Trump twist' on immigration policy and accusing the Labor government of 'reheating Tony Abbott’s immigration attacks.' He highlighted that the detention centers would be managed by Management and Training Corporation (MTC), a US private prison multinational with a controversial track record in ICE detention facilities, which recently secured a $2.3 billion contract to run onshore detention in Australia.
Minister Burke dismissed the comparisons as 'ridiculous,' asserting that the policy merely reinstates a long-standing practice of using around 250 beds for individuals refusing to leave after their visas expired. He noted that this approach was in place for decades until mandatory cancellations were introduced in 2014 by then-immigration minister Peter Dutton. Former deputy secretary of the immigration department, Abul Rizvi, also downplayed the ICE comparisons, noting that compliance officers in the pre-2015 era were unarmed and operated differently, focusing on educating employers about worker rights.
However, former head of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Dr Gillian Triggs, warned that Australia's pre-2015 migration detention regime had placed children in a 'horrific pipeline.' The CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Kon Karapanagiotidis, stated that the plan would 'double Australia’s immigration detention regime' and undermine the right to seek asylum and work. The legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, Sanmati Verma, suggested investing in protection for undocumented migrants rather than expanding detention facilities.