How many people does it take to keep an empty detention centre running?

At least 125, apparently.

Australia reopened its Christmas Island detention centre in early 2019, just a few months after closing it. The island is an Australian territory but lies 3,000km to the west of the mainland, closer to Indonesia.

The government threatened to send sick refugees from Nauru and Manus — the other islands where Australia detains refugees and asylum seekers — to Christmas Island instead of the Australian mainland.

But the centre stood empty until late August, when a Sri Lankan family of four known as the "Biloela family" were flown to Christmas Island and held in detention there.

In figures provided to a parliamentary committee considering the “medevac” law, the Department of Home Affairs gave a detailed insight into what its staff are actually doing on Christmas Island. The figures are from August 26, when there were no detainees there at all.

The 125 staff included 112 provided by detention contractor Serco. Of those, five handle catering: four staff plus a manager. Some handle “programs and activities”. Four look after welfare, 71 are detention service officers, and 10 of those are on the emergency response team. Four are on “compliance/admin”, and another four on “stores”.

Health contractor International Health and Medical Services supplied nine staff. Only four were directly employed by the Australian government: two Australian Border Force officers, and two Home Affairs officers.