Where are people in detention in Australia?
Contents
Types of detention in Australia
People in Australia who do not have a valid visa are required by law to be detained (which is why Australia has a policy of ‘mandatory detention’). This includes people who come to Australia and claim asylum without a valid visa (typically by boat), but also includes other people, including people who have had their visas (including protection, refugee and humanitarian visas) cancelled by the government.
People can be detained in places where they cannot leave, known as ‘closed detention’ or ‘held detention’. These may be in places that are specifically designed to hold people, such as Immigration Detention Centres (IDCs) or Immigration Transit Accommodation (ITAs) or other kinds of places such as hotels, hospitals and aged care homes (‘Alternative Places of Detention’, or APODs’). All of these places are called ‘detention facilities’, and this kind of detention is referred to as ‘closed’ or ‘held’ detention.
Another kind of detention is where the Minister requires the person to be held in a certain place in the community on specific conditions, under a ‘residence determination’, or what is more commonly referred to as ‘community detention’. This page also covers community detention.
Australia’s detention policies
The Minister can also release a person from detention by granting a ‘bridging visa’ that allows them to live in the community while their visa status is being resolved. Statistics on these people can be found in our statistics on people seeking asylum in the community.
Statistics on people seeking asylum in the community
How many people are in closed detention?
As of 30 June 2023, there were 1,114 people in detention facilities. This included 1,066 men and 48 women.
Note that the monthly statistics only show how many people are in detention at a point in time (at the end of each month).
Change over time
There has been significant change in the number of people in closed detention in the past ten years. The current figure is a significant decrease from the peak of 10,201 in July 2013. However, it is high when compared to 375 in January 2009.
