Ruddock looks at smaller centre
By KIRSTEN LAWSON
Canberra Times
The Government will consider scaling down the Woomera detention centre, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock revealed yesterday, as his advisory group flew back to Woomera in a bid to end the hunger strike.
The news came as Foreign Minister Alexander Downer warned in London that Australia would not back down.
"Never, never deal with Australians by threatening them," he told Reuters news agency.
"You can threaten a lot of countries, but you never want to threaten Australians."
Mr Downer said protests were setting the public against detainees.
"Nothing is making Australians angrier than these people who, by making threats in detention centres, are trying to circumvent our immigration laws," he said.
Also yesterday, the nine minors who threatened suicide if they were not moved from the centre by 5pm yesterday extended their deadline till today. The four Iraqis and five Afghans are aged 16 and 17.
And a 15-year-old Iraqi boy attempted to hang himself from a fence at the centre overnight on Monday, according to lawyers, with 246 detainees still refusing to eat but most removing stitches from their mouths.
The proposal to "mothball" Woomera was made by Mr Ruddock's independent advisory group, which visited last week.
Group chairman John Hodges said yesterday Woomera was a harsh environment and should be used only for contingencies when there was an influx of boat people.
"They [the detainees] are in air-conditioned messes, are well fed, well clothed and well housed," he said.
'[But] it's more I guess the harsh weather environment - extremes of cold in winter and heat in summer, and its comparative isolation. There are no blades of grass in Woomera. There are no trees in Woomera."
Yesterday, Mr Ruddock said the Government was considering the recommendation. But it would depend on new boat arrivals and capacity at other centres.
"Inevitably changes will be made, and those changes can include, if we don't have additional boat arrivals, even moving to a situation where you might be able to either close or mothball a facility," he said.
But Woomera would not be closed.
"Whatever approach you take, Woomera will be required for certain contingencies and quite possibly for holding other groups of people who have exhausted their asylum claim opportunities," he said.
And he stressed he was not giving in to the protesters' demands, drawing a parallel with the dangers of negotiating with hijackers.
Yesterday, three members of the Government advisory group flew back to Woomera for the third time in a week, led by former chief of the Air Force Ray Funnell.
Mr Funnell said he was certain Woomera could be closed in the longer term.
"There are no more people arriving by boats. We are processing those already in the centres. The total population of detainees is reducing. Spaces are becoming elsewhere and in the near future the new centre at Baxter, between Port Augusta and Whyalla, will become available, so all those things will help," he said.
The Baxter centre is being built for contingencies at the former El Alamein military base near Port Augusta.
Most of the protesters are Afghan asylum-seekers who were frustrated their refuge applications were put on hold after the overthrow of the Taliban. The Government has agreed to resume processing claims today for those not hunger striking, but lawyer Rob McDonald said that was not enough.
Also yesterday, the Afghan honorary consul to Australia, Mahmoud Saikal, said Australia should offer money to the Afghans to make a "dignified" return.