The Greens say Immigration Minister Chris Evans should not be opening the Christmas Island detention centre to detain recently arrived asylum seekers.

The $400 million, 800-bed detention centre on Christmas Island was built by the Howard Government but left unoccupied until now.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the Christmas Island detention centre should never have been built and should not be housing asylum seekers now.

“This facility, of monstrous size and cost to taxpayers, is not an appropriate way to accommodate people who have arrived in Australia seeking our assistance,” she said.

“It has been described even by Government MP Michael Danby as an ‘enormous white elephant’.

“Minister Evans is making a big mistake in opening up this symbol of the Howard regime’s appalling mishandling of asylum seekers.”

Senator Hanson-Young said asylum seekers should be brought to mainland Australia for prompt processing of their claims, health and security checks.

“Offshore processing of claims entrenches an out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude towards asylum seekers, and the psychological and physical effects of remote high-security detention are now well known,” she said.

“These people deserve timely attention from officials, and access to community services and support – which is made very difficult when they are being detained thousands of kilometres away from the nearest capital city.

“Public scrutiny and media access are also important to ensure all practices are in accordance with human rights and dignity of treatment.

“The Greens will continue to push for the Government to re-think their offshore claims processing, and instead introduce better practices adopted from overseas, such as promptly carrying out health and security checks in residential housing arrangements.”