The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) lists six immigration detention centres that are operational in Australia.
They say the centres "primarily accommodate people who have overstayed their visa, breached their visa conditions and had their visa cancelled or have been refused entry at Australia's entry ports".
The centres are:
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- Villawood, established in Sydney in 1976. It has an absolute capacity of 458.
- Curtin, reopened in June 2010, south-east of Derby in Western Australia. It has a capacity of around 300.
- Northern Immigration Centre, established in 2001 in Darwin. It has an absolute capacity of 546.
- Perth Immigration Centre, established in 1981. It has an absolute capacity of 64.
- Maribyrnong, established in Melbourne in 1966. It has an absolute capacity of 80.
- Christmas Island, established in 2001 and reopened in 2008. It has an absolute capacity of 1088.
For a map of the facilities, click here.
In June 2009, DIAC entered into a five-year contract with Serco to provide services in detention centres across Australia. The transition from previous provider G4S to Serco was completed nearly one year ago.
Serco also has a contract with the department to provide services for people in immigration residential housing and transitional accommodation.
DIAC says it has implemented performance standards as part of its contracts with detention centre service providers. Part of the performance standards will focus on the well-being of people in detention.
