Dozens of detainees being held in a Melbourne immigration detention centre remain on a hunger strike in protest of their living conditions, which they claim are worse than those in a high-security prison.
Detainees at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation, North compound began the strike on Tuesday last week and made a list of demands to improve the conditions within the centre which included better food and the freedom to go outdoors after midnight without a guard.
Located in Broadmeadows, the centre was opened late last year, weeks before the government closed the high-security Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre.
It's claimed detainees in MITA North are no longer allowed to have meals brought in by visitors and are constantly fed chicken and rice, with portion sizes kept to a bare-minimum with second-helpings not allowed.
There is also only one communal TV and detainees are forced to sit on iron stools that are bolted to the ground.
The living conditions inside the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation have been described as worse than a prison. Source: ABC Australia
New Zealand detainee Alvin Tuala - who is facing deportation after doing jail time for a violent crime - says the "atrocious" living quarters are littered with rubbish and the food is "awful".
"When we came from the other compound in Maribyrnong we had couches and normal, plastic chairs; we come here and, if you haven't seen any photos, it's basically a jail cell," Mr Tuala told SBS News.
"I'd rather be in a super-max facility in the correction system than this place," he said.
Mr Tuala said about 140 detainees remained on the hunger strike on Monday.
But the Department of Home Affairs has denied there was a hunger strike underway at MITA, saying in a statement, "Some detainees have been staging a peaceful protest, but continue to eat and drink."
"There is no mass hunger strike at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA). While some detainees are refusing to attend regular mealtimes as part of a protest, they continue to eat and drink in other parts of the facility.
"The ABF (Australian Border Force) strongly refutes claims that conditions in immigration detention facilities are inhumane or brutal."
Political activist and Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul described the conditions at MITA as "inhumane" and has called for a human rights inspection of the centre.
“Border Force control has created militarised detention centres that are worse than prisons,” said Mr Rintoul.
Having had enough of the inadequate treatment, Mr Tuala said there will be more hunger strikes if their concerns aren't taken seriously.
"We as a collective are just sick of writing request forms, complaint forms, talking to the ombudsman, it just falls upon deaf ears, nothing gets done," said Mr Tuala.
