Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I have always made clear that the Christmas Island detention centre will be utilised by the Labor government because it was the Howard government’s major investment in detention facilities. Senator, you ought to pay attention. That has been the consistent policy of this government. It was announced at the election that we would process people on Christmas Island. The Howard government spent $400 million, under a project supervised by Senator Minchin, on building an 800-bed detention centre. So the Howard government invested $400 million in the detention centre, and they anticipated the need for 800 beds. They had the foresight to know that there would be surges in the future that would require a capacity of at least 800 beds plus other facilities on Christmas Island. I commend them for their foresight, although I think $400 million was a very high price to pay.