The first group of immigration detainees have arrived at a as authorities seek to free up space in overcrowded detention centres on the mainland.
Authorities revealed temporary plans to reopen the North West Point facility last week, citing pressure caused by coronavirus travel restrictions limiting deportation options.
The Australian Border Force (ABF) did not confirm when transfers to the remote island would take place but told SBS News on Saturday that a group of detainees from Western Australia had now arrived at the facility.
All of the transferred detainees have been convicted of crimes, including assault, sexual offences, drugs, and other violent offences, an ABF spokesperson said.
People who serve jail time while on a visa in Australia face automatic deportation.
Carolyn Graydon, a principal lawyer at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), said on Friday that 30 men from the Yongah Hill detention centre in Perth had been transferred to Christmas Island that morning, with a second group likely to depart next week.
Detainees have reported being asked to undergo medical checks, the ASRC said in a statement, which they said were likely in preparation for travel.
"There is enormous anxiety among people at present. Everybody is being put on notice. Nobody knows what is going on," Ms Graydon told SBS News.
"A lot of people have pre-existing trauma or torture-related mental health issues and many have been detained for long periods."
Asylum seeker organisations and Christmas Island leaders have expressed concern about the government's reopening of the facility, citing the risk of spreading COVID-19 to the island, located 1,500 kilometres from the Australian mainland, which has previously recorded no known cases.
“The [Home Affairs] Department’s plan to reshuffle people detained across states and re-open Christmas Island is highly risky and gambles with the lives of detainees, staff and ultimately, places the whole community at risk," Ms Graydon added.
Alongside an undisclosed number of detainees, between 200 and 300 staff members will be moved to the community to manage the facility "in the coming weeks", an ABF spokesperson said in a community factsheet sent to local government members on Christmas Island.
“We’ve got a significant proportion of the population living in high-density housing units in three-storey blocks, so if the virus comes it’s going to go through those sites,” President of the Shire of Christmas Island, Gordon Thomson, told SBS News earlier this week.
“We would rather they all piss off, we don’t want the detention centre reopened. It’s very simple.”
, with local residents forced to travel to Perth to receive serious medical treatment.
A medical clinic staffed by International Health and Medical Services is set to provide care to immigration staff and detainees.
The ABF spokesperson said all detainees and staff on the recent flight to Christmas Island had completed their quarantine in Perth, in line with Western Australian requirements.
The inside of a medical facility at the North West Point Detention Centre. Source: Home Affairs
The North West Point facility is located approximately 15 kilometres from the main settlement area on Christmas Island, and is a separate compound to the one currently holding a Tamil family of four that previously lived in Biloela, Queensland.
It was closed by the federal government in 2018, only to be reopened the following year amid fears an influx of asylum seekers would be transferred to Australia under the now-repealed medevac laws.
Most recently, the compound was used as a quarantine facility for Australians evacuated from Wuhan, the epicentre of COVID-19, in February.
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