Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I can advise that we are dealing with an increased number of persons in detention. That is correct. They are nowhere near the numbers that the Howard government had to deal with in a series of camps around Australia, but we are dealing with increased numbers. What we have done is increase the capacity on Christmas Island. We have used the very modern facility, built by the Howard government, which only came online in 2007 as part of the Howard government’s preparedness for the next spike in activity. We thank them for that, because we are sure they would not have built it otherwise. Otherwise you are suggesting that they wasted $400 million to build an 800-bed facility that they were never going to use.