![Baxtersign](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Baxtersign.jpg)
Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre or commonly just Baxter Detention Centre, was an
Australian immigration detention facility near the town of
Port Augusta in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. It was the focus of much of the controversy concerning the
mandatory detention
Immigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorized arrival, as well as those subject to deportation and removal until a decision is made by immigration authorities to grant a vi ...
of
asylum seekers in
Australia.
History
Baxter Detention Centre was named after the nearby Baxter Range, a geographical feature which in turn is named after the explorer
John Baxter who, ironically, arrived in Australia as a
convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as " prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former conv ...
. It was located on a portion of the
Australian Defence Force's El Alamein Army Reserve that was nearest to Port Augusta. Following establishment expenditure of $44 million, Baxter Detention Centre became operational in September 2002.
After it closed in August 2007, some of the buildings were removed and the land returned to the Department of Defence. In May 2008, a
public auction was held for the surplus material remaining in the complex.
Facility
The centre was built by Fleetwood Portables in partnership with the Department of Immigration. Australasian Correctional Management was responsible for the administration of the centre.
Controversy
The centre suffered several arson incidents by protesting detainees, including on 12 November 2005, which caused extensive damage and forcing the evacuation of 58 detainees, of whom 4 were treated for smoke inhalation. Minister for Immigration,
Amanda Vanstone
Amanda Eloise Vanstone (née O'Brien; born 7 December 1952) is an Australian former politician and a former Ambassador to Italy. She was a Liberal Senator for South Australia from 1984 to 2007, and held several ministerial portfolios in the ...
, said of the incident: "We don't expect however for people to resort to property damage as a way of handling that frustration and particularly property damage that can put the lives of others at risk."
See also
*
Baxter Protests
*
ChilOut
ChilOut (Children Out of Detention) is a group opposed to the mandatory detention of children under 18 in immigration detention centres in Australia. The group was formed in 2001, in the context of the policies of the Howard government regarding ...
*
Cornelia Rau
Cornelia Rau is a German and Australian citizen who was unlawfully detained for a period of ten months in 2004 and 2005 as part of the Australian Government's mandatory detention program.
Her detention became the subject of a government inquiry w ...
*
List of Australian immigration detention facilities
This is a list of current and former Australian immigration detention facilities. Immigration detention facilities are used to house people in immigration detention, and people detained under the Pacific Solution, and Operation Sovereign Borde ...
References
External links
Refugee Freedom Bus Tour 2002 of detention centres; streaming video
{{Coord, -32.542807, 137.678475, format=dms, type:landmark_region:AU-SA, display=title
Immigration detention centres and prisons of Australia
Defunct prisons in South Australia
Eyre Peninsula
2007 disestablishments in Australia
2002 establishments in Australia