MELBOURNE — Residents of the western suburb of Broadmeadows are celebrating a small victory after the Howard government announced in its 2006 budget that it had decided to scrap the construction of a $120 million, 500-bed immigration detention centre.

In the budget papers, the planned detention centre has been downgraded to a 30-bed “Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre”. Immigration minister Amanda Vanstone has announced that the ITAC would house “low security risk detainees” who would spend a short time in detention.

The announcement comes after a campaign by the Hume City Council and residents against any detention centre being built in Broadmeadows.

Chris Peterson

From Green Left Weekly, May 24, 2006.
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