Chinese protestors Villawood Amanda Vanstone The Australian 12 April 2006

TUESDAY 12 APRIL 2006
John Stapleton
The government was yesterday forced to issue reassurances to a group of Chinese protestors resisting attempts to move them from the Villawood Detention Centre in south-west Sydney. An asbestos scare has prompted Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone to close the centre for at least a month.

The closing of the infamous centre and the movement of 260 detainees has come just days ahead of planned Easter protests by refugee advocates. The closure came after NSW Police objected to sending hundreds of officers to cover expected protests at the weekend because of fears over asbestos found on the site.

A total of 98 detainees were moved yesterday and the remainder are expected to be moved today. Amongst those being moved 14 detainees deemed to be ``high-risk'' were taken to Long Bay Jail, 69 were flown to Baxter in South Australia and 12 were given residential detention, including short-term motel accommodation under guard. The remainder are expected to be moved to Holdsworthy Army Barracks today.

The government claims that only three of the detainees at Villawood and the rest were people who have over-stayed their visa who had been found to be working illegally.

Refugee advocates claimed that up to 60 Chinese detainees held a sitdown protest throughout the day. Spokesman for the Refugee Action Coalition Ian Rintoul said detainees refusing to leave Villawood were concerned that they would be cut off from family and local supporters.

``Villawood should be closed and if the government was seriously concerned about their welfare they would release them into the community,'' he said.

A protestor outside the Centre, Joanne Ball, said the way the Department had gone about the relocation was ``despicable''. ``They haven't consulted refugees inside the centre or their families. They may have no visiting rights for the next fortnight at least.''

Department of Immigration spokesman Sandy Login said he totally rejected the descriptions being fed the media by refugee advocates of a large sit-in protest inside the centre. ``There were a handful who were resisting the move,'' he said. ``Their main anxiety was that they wanted to be reassured they would be returned to Villawood. We negotiated, we consulted, we brought in commmunity representatives as well as representatives from the government appointed body the Immigration Detention Advisory Group.

``They met with the anxious detainees and we have provided them with a letter from the Minister's office which gave them an undertaking would be returned to Villawood and the relocation was only temporary.''

The letter assuring Chinese detainees they will be returned to Villawood was signed by two members of the Advisory Group.

Refugee advocates have claimed that the government is closing down the centre to deflect attention away from the planned protests. The Department of Immigration claims their principal concern is the safety of the detainees, their staff, the local community, police and the protestors themselves.