New South Wales Police say that the authorities that run the Villawood Detention Centre don't have appropriate powers to stop riots similar to the ones that broke out earlier this year.
New South Wales Assistant Police Commissioner Frank Mennelli also told a parliamentary commission that the facility may not be secure enough for people involved in riots.
In April, asylum seekers who said they had no other option, rioted at Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre.
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Two days earlier, Mennelli held a meeting with Immigration Department officials, and the private company that runs the detention centre: Serco.
He says he warned then of the possibility of just such an event occurring.
“At the end of the scenario, a debrief was conducted. And I was told it was unrealistic and would never happen”, Frank Mennilli told a parliamentary commission today.
He said that because the centre is Commonwealth property, when a riot broke, the roles of Serco officials and police were unclear.
“I believe we have very limited powers and I can say until this day that has still not been clarified in my mind,” Mennilli told the inquiry.
Serco staff have limited powers too.
Mr Mennilli is suggesting changing laws, for example to allow them to force detainees off roofs.
The Opposition seized on the opportunity to criticise the government.
“It just shows again that this government was not prepared to for the chaos that was unleashed on this detention network when it all went to seed,” Shadow Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said.
Mr Mennilli believes Villawood isn't the appropriate place for people who start riots.
The Federal Police agree it's a concern.
Other than a maximum security prison like Silverwater, Serco and DIAC are limited in their ability to accommodate these people appropriately, the AFP said.
But the Greens say detainees at Villawood are desperate people, not criminals.
"I think the Assistant Commissioner's evidence today was clouded by the fact he doesn't know who is in these facilities,” Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young said.
She also says the media should be given access to detention centres.
Serco says it never anticipated the level of violence that it saw in the riot, and when the police couldn't intervene it was left with no choice but to lock down the facilities it could and get its staff out of harms way.
Company officials say they were under the impression the police could intervene if needed.
“We came to a situation where we did request it but we were told that it wasn't their jurisdiction,” Serco Regional Manager John Hayes said.
The request for assistance was then referred on to the Federal Police but they said they didn't have the resources to respond.
