‘‘If people are seeking to game the system – and then not return where they should return to after they receive any assessment that is deemed necessary – then they’ll remain there[on Christmas Island] by their own choice,’’ he said.
Jana Favero,director of advocacy at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre,said more than 900 people had been transferred to Australia without needing to reopen Christmas Island and it should be seen as a political stunt.
‘‘If people are still going to be on Christmas Island in four years,that would be 10 years of deprivation of liberty and freedom for people who have asserted their right to seek asylum in Australia,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s unfathomable to think that that would happen,but I don’t underestimate what the current government could do.’’
Far closer to the Indonesian island of Java than mainland Australia,Christmas Island is a three-and-a-half hour flight from Perth,and 2000 kilometres from Broome.
Its remoteness is an asset in terms of deterrence,but it comes with a huge price tag. Part of the enormous $300 million-plus a year budget includes an army of 72 clinical staff to be hired by the government’s contractor International Health and Medical Services,including mental health staff,nurses,an anaesthetist and a general surgeon.
The massive intake of expert medical staff is designed to eliminate any argument that care on the island is inadequate and that detainees need to go the mainland for treatment.
In 2008,when the centre first opened,it was reported the annual cost was $32 million for 30 detainees – that included $18 million in depreciation.
Immigration Minister David Coleman did not directly answer questions about why the cost in 2019 was forecast to be significantly higher or whether it was acceptable to detain asylum seekers for 10 years.
The costings were compiled by the Home Affairs and Finance departments.
The prospect of asylum seekers spending a decade in detention highlights another critical problem facing any Australian government,Coalition or Labor:what to do with hundreds of asylum seekers who have been rejected for resettlement in the US or who have not been given refugee status in the first place.
A majority are from Iran,which will not take people back unless they go voluntarily – a long-term point of contention between Canberra and Tehran.
Some 265 refugees – all of whom were assessed as being owed protection – have been knocked back by the US under President Donald Trump’s ‘‘extreme vetting’’. No other resettlement options are available other than in PNG itself.
As recently as last month during his visit to New Zealand,Mr Morrison again rejected that country’s offer to take 150 refugees a year from the islands,adding that the medical transfer legislation made him even less likely to take up the offer.
A spokeswoman for Mr Coleman said 493 people had now been resettled in the US,and more would leave in coming weeks. The deal to take up to 1250 people was unchanged,she said.