A NEW high-tech refugee detention centre on Christmas Island would be used to hold suspected terrorists, a local official said today. Christmas Island shire president, Councillor Gordon Thompson, said today he toured the detention centre site and it was "most definitely being set up as a place" where people could be isolated very securely. "Within the complex there are different sections, each of which can be separated very simply and very quickly by bringing down electronically controlled gates," he said on ABC radio. "The electronic surveillance is going to be totally intrusive, the control of information from the outside will be total."
Asked if the prison would be used to house suspected terrorists, Mr Thompson said "absolutely". He said US defence officials had recently visited the Indian Ocean territory. "They tell us it's so they can do good humanitarian work in our area in the event of natural disasters," Mr Thompson said.
"We think that maybe they're looking at Christmas Island from the point of view of how useful it might be in a logistical sense for their military efforts around the world but also (they) have got an eye for what they might want to do in the Guantanamo Bay-style operation."
A spokesperson for the immigration department said only unauthorised arrivals would be held at the centre. The Government has said the centre is a deterrent to illegal entrants and smugglers. The 800-bed complex is believed to have cost more than $240 million.