Work started this week on a $3.1 million low-security, residential-style immigration facility in Adelaide.

The purpose-built Adelaide Immigration Transit Accommodation (ITA) facility, first announced in the 2004-05 Budget under the former government, is to be built in Kilburn. It will have a capacity of 13 people.

Similar short-term transit accommodation has already been built in Melbourne and Brisbane. The department, which first notified residents of the development in 2008, has been in the neighbourhood recently to ensure nearby residents are aware of the impending works and how the site will be used.

Like these other facilities, the Adelaide ITA has been designed in a residential style. It will replace the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) facility that has been operating in Richmond for a number of years.

Those accommodated in the new centre will be mostly individuals who have been detained in South Australia and are not considered a security risk.

Any detained person who is considered a security risk will be accommodated in either the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) in Sydney or the Maribyrnong IDC in Melbourne, the same principle which applies today.

Security will be low and unobtrusive to local residents, who have been consulted about the facility. Fencing will be a monitored suburban residential-type.
The centre will be staffed 24 hours a day by the department’s detention services provider.

The facility will consist of two three-bedroom cottages to accommodate 12 people and a one-bedroom bedsitter. Shared amenities will be available for people in detention and their visitors, including a recreation room and kitchenette. There is also an administration block for staff.

The development was announced by the previous government in the 2004-05 Budget and again in 2006. Works are expected to be completed by early December.

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