One would hope that during the time of pandemic new thinking would be sought but you can always rely on the right of Australian politics to return to the past for a solution that we already know not to work.
Expect a waste of taxpayers money, unecessary cruelty and a level of secrecy thet the Pentagon would be proud of..
Australian Lawyers Weekly reports
The Australian government is preparing to reopen the detention centre on Christmas Island to house criminals who cannot be deported amid COVID-19 restrictions.
The Australian Border Force (ABF) will reopen the detention facility at the North West Point of Christmas Island to house people currently in immigration detention on the Australian mainland.
The facility has previously housed asylum seekers and, more recently, Australians returning from coronavirus hotspots.
The ABF confirmed on Tuesday evening that people currently in immigration detention will be “temporarily” transferred to the facility at North West Point on Christmas Island, where Australians returning from Wuhan were held in the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Human Rights Law Centre said that reports that the federal government will reopen the detention centre highlight the failure of the Minister for Home Affairs to appropriately respond to the threat posed by COVID-19 in immigration detention.
“Everyone deserves to be safe and treated humanely in the middle of this public health crisis. There is an easy and safe solution to the threat posed by COVID-19 – [minister Peter] Dutton could today release the women and men held unnecessarily in immigration detention centres into housing in the community where they can socially distance,” David Burke, legal director with the Human Rights Law Centre said.
