AUSTRALIA'S onshore detention facilities will be significantly boosted to cope with an overflow of asylum-seekers.
This comes as the Gillard government acknowledges its East Timor solution for offshore processing faces potentially long delays.
The expansion sparked opposition claims the government had not been honest with voters by denying the move before the election, and outrage from West Australian Premier Colin Barnett who said he had not been consulted.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen yesterday announced that RAAF Scherger, a remote far north Queensland air force base near Weipa, would be converted into a detention centre in the short term to house up to 300 asylum-seekers.
The Curtin detention centre in Western Australia will be doubled to take another 600 detainees, while the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation in the western suburb of Broadmeadows will be expanded to house an extra 100 families and children. Read more.
This comes as the Gillard government acknowledges its East Timor solution for offshore processing faces potentially long delays.
The expansion sparked opposition claims the government had not been honest with voters by denying the move before the election, and outrage from West Australian Premier Colin Barnett who said he had not been consulted.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen yesterday announced that RAAF Scherger, a remote far north Queensland air force base near Weipa, would be converted into a detention centre in the short term to house up to 300 asylum-seekers.
The Curtin detention centre in Western Australia will be doubled to take another 600 detainees, while the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation in the western suburb of Broadmeadows will be expanded to house an extra 100 families and children. Read more.