A " Foreseeable " Event !

This week the long suffering Australian taxpayer got an at least million dollar hit in the pocketbook when a riot left our detention centre on Christmas island - a smoking ruin.  With hindsight, this was an almost inevitable event given the change in circumstances that had occurred.

Christmas island is our foremost holding centre for asylum seekers who arrive here unannounced by boat - and it is constructed accordingly.   It is not a prison, and it is held to a level of security consistent with housing civilized people. The guard and service force comes from a private security company and their men and women are lightly armed with batons and capsicum spray.  There is the expectation of demonstrations from time to time, but Christmas island has not ever been considered a major security risk.

All that changed when a decision was made to hold people we intend to deport at this centre. Many of these were hardened criminals who have served time in Australian prisons and most were actively opposed to being deported.   It was sheer inevitability that they would react by creating a riot and they had the skill and resources to take control and force the civilian security people to retreat for their own safety.

One of the asylum seekers at this centre had the misfortune to fall to his death from a cliff after he tried to escape and this was the excuse for the riot.  Windows were smashed and fires lit and a huge damage toll taken of buildings and their fittings.  A big contingent of Federal riot police was flown to the island to regain control.

The aftermath is telling.  Of the 119 awaiting deportation, 113 had been convicted of serious crime and their residency permits withdrawn - and in some cases their citizenship cancelled. 11 were held because they were previously armed robbers. 27 had committed serious assault.  5 were child sex offenders. 9 had a history of grievous bodily harm to others. 2 had been convicted of manslaughter.  4 of rape and 9 for common theft.

This hard core criminal group completely changed the nature of a detention centre to that of a prison - and nothing else changed.  What the people who designed the Christmas island holding facilities intended as a "soft " facility to hold convivial refugees hopefully awaiting a decision on their acceptance status faced hardened criminals mixed with the general population and no extra upgrade of the security force to maintain order.

Moving deportees to Christmas island seemed to be a desperation move.  Our turgid court system seem to countenance endless appeals and our overloaded prison system completely lacks the facilities to contain the prisoners flowing through the courts.   Many of these deportees are rich from the proceeds of crime and they will engage the best lawyers to play delaying tactics.  If given bail, they will simply disappear into the diaspora of overstaying visa holders and the criminal element hovering on the fringe of society.

What is urgently needed is a law change.   Once a deportation order is served it should be acted upon immediately.   Then the lengthy appeals process can run it's course - from whichever country the applicant is now calling home !