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

There is a range of contingency plans in place which deal with different scenarios. As I have said publicly, and as I have said today, one of our first options for extra capacity is the current immigration detention centre, designed for that purpose, located in Darwin—the northern detention centre. It is the case that, if one were looking for extra capacity, one would probably look to bring people who had first been assessed on Christmas Island and had done a range of checks there onto the mainland at Darwin. But, as I said, there is a range of contingency plans in place for different case loads and circumstances. I made it very clear, though, that the northern detention centre at Darwin is part of our mainland capability, as is Villawood. Those centres represent the capacity that the Howard government left this government to deal with unlawful entry persons. (Time expired)