The Wire

According to the UNHCR the number of assylum seekers coming to Australia has increased by 30% in the last year. 1100 of those landing on Christmas Island since January.The detention centre there originally built to house 800, now has over 2000 inmates. They’re sleeping three to a room or in tents. It’s increasingly becoming an embarrassing problem for the government – where to put them, and how to stave off accusations that Australia is being seen as a soft target for would-be refugees. Now the Austraian Greens have called for an urgent review of conditions. Former Shire President, Gordon Thompson describes what it’s like there right now.