Exclusive: Peter Dutton tells News Corp all children released after immigration department reclassifies sections of centres as ‘community detention’

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The government has reclassified sections of detention centres as “community detention” in order to be able to claim that all children have been released from immigration detention.

At least 196 asylum seekers granted community detention after protests Read more

The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, announced on Sunday there were no children left in detention, but a source within his department told the Guardian the “release” was “more bureaucratic sleight of hand than emancipation”.

As an example, families with children in “held detention” in the “family compound” of Villawood detention centre were told by letter on Friday that their detention was now classified as “community detention”.

They have been “released” from detention without moving.

Restrictions on movement have been eased – children no longer require guards to escort them to school – but families remain behind a steel fence. The alarm on the fence has been disabled and a gate opened, but people need permission to stay elsewhere overnight, or have overnight visitors.

The family compound of Villawood immigration detention centre is a row of accommodation adjacent to the main detention block, with separate access. Until Friday it was classified as “held detention” but is now “community detention”.

Dutton told News Corp on Sunday that all children who had arrived irregularly in Australia by boat had been released from detention.

“It’s been almost a decade since there were no children in detention,” Dutton said. “On Friday night, when I got the call, it was something I was proud of.”

News Corp reported the claim without question.



“It has always been a goal [of the immigration minister] ... to get kids out of detention,” the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, told Sky News on Sunday.

Guardian Australia is aware of several families with children having been told their circumstances – while largely unchanged – no longer constitute detention.

Meanwhile, the fortnight-long protests waged by refugees and asylum seekers in Nauru continue.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Teenage boys on top of the roof of a tent in RPC3 during fortnight-long protests by refugees and asylum seekers in Nauru.

On Saturday night, a 19-year-old woman attempted suicide and was taken for medical care.

Seven teenage boys, including, reportedly, the woman’s brother, climbed the roof of a tent in the camp, chanting “freedom” and demanding to speak with immigration.

Security guards on the island turned off the lights to stop photos being taken, as the boys were threatening to jump.

The boys wrote a letter requesting a meeting with immigration officials and climbed down after guards agreed to ask immigration to meet them.



The letter written by asylum seeker teenage boys on Nauru, requesting a meeting with department of immigration officials, which was later denied.

Late on Sunday, the boys returned to the roof of the tent, after their request to meet with immigration officials was refused.

Voters in marginal seats want more compassionate asylum policy, poll shows Read more

Protests on Nauru continue over conditions in the processing centres and the long-term future for those found to be refugees.

Nauru has consistently refused to resettle refugees permanently and Australian government efforts to resettle refugees in third countries have foundered.

The Cambodian resettlement scheme – slated to cost $55m – has resettled only two people.

