Christmas Island costs revealed
See where you could stay on the deluxe hotel market for the price of holding one detainee on Christmas Island for one day.
PT0M43S 620 349Australian taxpayers fork out $1458 a night for each person held at the Christmas Island detention centre – equal to luxury hotel rooms in Sydney and Melbourne boasting glittering city views and Steinway grand pianos.
Some 167 men were held at the facility at the end of February, costing the public purse a staggering $243,000 a day.
The figures have emerged a fortnight before the federal budget, in which Turnbull government has warned of restrained spending as it seeks to return to surplus.
You could have this... the Presidential Suite at the Sir Stamford hotel at Sydney's Circular Quay. Photo: Stamford Hotels and Resorts
The expense is on top of spending on mainland detention centres, and the $1.2 billion cost of running offshore detention centres last financial year.
In response to a question posed by Labor at Senate estimates, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection revealed the daily cost of keeping someone detained at Christmas Island was $1458.
The presidential suite at the Sir Stamford hotel in Sydney's Circular Quay costs $1500 a night, and features Italian silk wall coverings, a Steinway Grand piano, mahogany writing desk and a Louis XV marble fireplace.
You could also have this... Melbourne's Crown Towers Premier Club Suite. Photo: George Apostolidis
Melbourne's Crown Towers Premier Club Suite, at $1400 a night, offers "unparalleled luxury" including panoramic views, floor to ceiling windows, walk-in dressing room and complimentary drinks and canapés.
In contrast, a former Christmas Island detainee told Fairfax Media the facilities there were a "one out of 10".
Men slept in bunk beds in dorms holding 16 people. The rooms usually contained a small sealed window and were "very dirty, very unhygienic".
Or maybe this... the Christmas Island Detention Centre. Photo: Scott Fisher
"The food is absolutely rubbish. You'd get mainly curry – curried beef, curried pasta. It's worse than hospital food, there is nothing to chew on," he said.
"The chicken is old and undercooked. It's horrible."
The man said the conditions had fuelled tensions among detainees, and contributed to riots at the centre last November.
As Fairfax Media has reported, the cost of Australia's immigration detention system recently blew out by more than $1 billion and the time detainees spend in detention centres has reached a record high under the Turnbull government, leading to higher than expected detention centre populations.
The department also revealed it intends to spend about $7.1 million on extra security measures at the Christmas Island centre, which Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has said houses a "hardened criminal population" awaiting deportation after visa cancellations. It is understood asylum seekers are also held there.
Labor's immigration spokesman Richard Marles said Australian taxpayers were left to carry the high cost of detention "because of this Liberal government's inaction and incompetence".
"This government has had more than two and a half years to resolve this issue, but slow processing and the lack of a proper third country resettlement agreement have resulted in these cost blowouts," he said.
Comment has been sought from the department and Mr Dutton.
