Sarah Dingle reported this story on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 18:10:00
DAVID MARK: The Immigration Minister Scott Morrison says the Government will close four detention centres in Australia, saving almost $90 million a year.
He says the detainees at the four centres at Scherger in Queensland, Leonora in Western Australia, and Port Augusta in South Australia will be moved to other centres, though it's not clear where.
The other detention centre at Pontville in Tasmania is now empty, and PM has been told that a fifth centre, the Inverbrackie facility in the Adelaide Hills, will also be closed.
Scott Morrison says the centres were never designed to be permanent.
Sarah Dingle reports.
SARAH DINGLE: By the end of next month, four immigration detention centres will be shut down in an apparent attempt to save money.
Queensland's Scherger centre, Western Australia's Leonora facility, immigration housing at Port Augusta and Tasmania's Pontville centre will close.
Detainees will be transferred to other facilities.
In April last year the Coalition also promised if it was elected it would shut the Inverbrackie centre in the Adelaide Hills "as soon as practicable".
Today a spokesman for the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development told PM this promise will be kept, and there will be more said on this soon.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison says the centres are no longer needed because the arrival of asylum seeker boats has slowed under the new Government's policies.
SCOTT MORRISON: This Government is taking control of our borders, which enables us to shut mainland detention centres down in Australia. This will save taxpayers around $89 million a year and it's the first down-payment on the dividend of stronger border protection.
SARAH DINGLE: But the United Voice union, which represents workers at detention facilities, says dozens of staff have just found out their workplace is shutting down via the media.
Assistant National Secretary Sharon Caddie.
SHARON CADDIE: There are about 100 workers who are affected, and there are many more casuals and contractors who are involved. We are currently in negotiations with Serco to make a new enterprise agreement which talks about the wages and conditions that will apply to workers in detention centres. In fact, we've got a meeting scheduled with the company tomorrow, so we're quite surprised to be hearing this announcement from the Government today when really what should happen is the employers should be talking to their workers first.
SARAH DINGLE: Sharon Caddie says some detainees may be distressed at being moved and she's worried about detention centre staff who'll have to deal with that.
SHARON CADDIE: I think we're dealing with people that are already in an extremely stressful situation. The prospect of now being shifted to unknown alternate sites will clearly worsen that situation, and ultimately it's the workers in the receiving detention centres that are going to have to deal with the fallout of a Government who clearly doesn't understand how to deal with people.
SARAH DINGLE: The Immigration Minister says closing the four centres will save around $88 million a year.
But the local mayor near the Pontville centre, Tony Foster, says it's a huge waste because the centre was only opened three years ago at a cost of about $15 million.
TONY FOSTER: The lack of communication from the current Government with myself has been nothing short of pathetic. We haven't had any dialogue since they took office, whereby the previous government certainly would've advised us beforehand of any pending closure. So very disappointing from that aspect.
SARAH DINGLE: Pontville has been empty for some months after the previous federal government decided to move its younger detainees, including almost 200 children, into the community.
Mayor Tony Foster says while Pontville was operating, it revived the local economy.
TONY FOSTER: This one is close to the city centre, next to a capital. It afforded all sorts of opportunities for people to be able to work here that they didn't get when they had to fly in and fly out. People saw the benefits. The people there, even the detainees, they got involved in the community wherever it was possible, and the community engaged with them as well on a volunteer basis.
SARAH DINGLE: The Pontville and Scherger facilities will be handed back to the Defence Department.
Tony Foster says he'd rather see Pontville become a prison for 18 to 24 year old males where they could learn a trade before being released.
DAVID MARK: Sarah Dingle.
A spokesperson for the Australian , , announced plans this week to close four mainland immigration detention facilities — Scherger, at , Queensland; Leonora, in , Western Australia; Port Augusta, in , South Australia; and Inverbrackie facilities in , the , South Australia — by the end of February. The detainees would be relocated to other detention centres. Pontville detention facility, in , Tasmania, was empty and would also be closed.

The detention centres staff learned about planned closure of their workplaces from the media rather than the employer directly, , an Australian , commented. It estimated the number of affected people as 100 workers and "many more" casuals and contractors.
Pontville, Brighton location in Tasmania. 
In a statement, Australian   referred to recent border protection practices to justify the decision. On Tuesday, he told  radio, "This Government is taking control of our borders, which enables us to shut mainland detention centres down in Australia. This will save taxpayers around $89 million a year and it's the first down-payment on the dividend of stronger border protection. ... These sites are remote, relatively small and expensive. The savings ... amount to at least $7.4 million a month". He also noted that the Pontville and Scherger detention facilities would be returned to the .

The local mayor near the Pontville detention centre, Tony Foster, said the centre was opened only three years ago and revived the local economy. Foster also complained about the short notice from the new federal government . He cited recent centre upgrade costs of $15 million, estimated the number of local small businesses serving the centre between 45 and 48, and said he would explore the option of converting it to a "corrections facility for 18 to 24 year olds" with the relevant state and Commonwealth officials.
Pontville and Brighton, 3km apart. 
Scott Donaghy, who runs the ''Brighton's Best Bakehouse'' business in Brighton, said "Staff members come in for breakfast, coffee, lunch, having a meeting. Not only were they coming in but there was more money coming into the general area from wages and people living here. I'm disappointed at the fact that another employer is gone from the area." A pharmacist-in-charge at ''Brighton Discount Drug Store'' also commented, saying that staff members from the detention centre came to Brighton for lunch and shopping.

The announcement follows controversial reports of wrecked refugee boats found near Indonesian shores by the local police. The refugees had reported being towed back from Australia by the Australian Navy, which had originally deceptively claimed Christmas Island as the refugees' destination.