Albanese government plans to detain visa overstayers for weeks
Immigration Minister Tony Burke announced plans to detain roughly 77,000 unlawful non-citizens for several weeks to encourage departure.
The scheme reverses a 2015 policy that limited detention mostly to criminals. Burke told the National Press Club on Thursday.
The government will hire 100 compliance officers. The government will also free up 250 detention beds.
A COVID quarantine facility near Melbourne Airport with 100 beds may also be used. Once detained, overstayers get a bridging visa.
If they do not leave when it ends, they enter detention before being deported. Australia currently holds 1,100 people in detention.
The new capacity could almost double that number. Humanitarian groups have raised alarm.
They question whether children would be detained or separated from families. Gillian Triggs, former head of the Australian Human Rights Commission, warned against the pre-2015 system.
It held 1,100 children without education for more than a year. It caused severe mental and physical illness.
- 77,000 unlawful non-citizens
- Overstayers targeted
- 100 officers
- New compliance staff
- 250 beds
- Detention beds to free
- 1,100 people
- Current detainees
Why it mattersThe plan marks a big shift in how Australia handles people who overstay visas. It brings back a detention system critics say caused serious harm to children.
AustraliaAustralian immigration policy is toughening on unlawful residents; families face possible detention, and the detention system will expand substantially.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 7 d ago
