Labor reopens detention for overstayers

Australia's government plans to reopen detention centres for visa overstayers, hiring 100 new compliance officers and freeing up 250 beds to manage roughly 77,000 unlawful non-citizens.

Burke says it's routine, not Trump-style

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says the policy restores a standard practice used before 2015, where overstayers were detained briefly to arrange departures, and is nothing like immigration enforcement in other countries.

“This is not the sort of operation that some people have seen on TV happening in other countries.”

Greens compare plan to Trump crackdown

Greens immigration spokesperson David Shoebridge says Labor is reheating Tony Abbott's attacks with a Trump twist, noting the detention centres will be run by a US private prison company that operates ICE facilities.

“This is where Labor has sunk to, reheating Tony Abbott's immigration attacks, with a 2026 Donald Trump twist.”

US prison company wins major contract

Management and Training Corporation, a US private prison operator running ICE detention facilities, won a 2.3 billion dollar contract in 2025 to run onshore detention in Australia through its subsidiary Secure Journeys.

Past detention regime harmed children

Former Human Rights Commission head Gillian Triggs warned that Australia's pre-2015 detention system put children in a horrific pipeline, with hundreds held without education and most severely mentally and physically ill.

Compliance officers operated differently before

Former immigration official Abul Rizvi notes that pre-2015 compliance officers wore business attire, were unarmed, and required employer permission before entering premises, unlike military-style enforcement.

Plan aims to cut net migration numbers

The detention expansion is part of Labor's effort to reduce net overseas migration from 292,100 to 245,000 in 2026-27 and 225,000 annually thereafter to meet budget forecasts.

Rights groups warn of exploitation risk

Human rights advocates argue the plan will double detention capacity and leave undocumented migrants vulnerable to exploitation, calling for investment in worker protections instead of expanded detention.

“Rounding up undocumented migrants and locking them in detention is a profoundly anti-worker proposal that undermines the Albanese Government's commitment to stamping out modern slavery.”