Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre - Background To The Creation of The Facility

Background To The Creation of The Facility

Main article: Mandatory detention in Australia

During the early 1990s the Keating ALP government enforced a policy of mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals. All non-citizens arriving by boat without a valid visa were detained until they were either granted a visa, or deported.

Towards the end of the 1990s, a large increase in the number of unauthorised arrivals exceeded the capacity of the existing Immigration Reception and Processing Centres at Port Hedland and Curtin. The former, and at that time unused, 'Woomera West Construction Camp' was converted into an immigration detention facility in 1999 and the Woomera IRPC was opened to accommodate this increase.

Read more about this topic:  Woomera Immigration Reception And Processing Centre

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