The West Australian today The Christmas Island detention centre will be reopened to house asylum seekers who have been detained in Victoria.
The West Australian has been told that the facility — which has been empty since February and was initially used as a quarantine facility — will begin taking asylum seekers from as early as this month.
The decision to reopen the facility was ticked off by the National Security Committee of Cabinet this week and will help free up facilities in Victoria.
Christmas Island sits between Indonesia and WA and is 2600km north-west of Perth.
It was originally opened in 2008 by the Rudd Government during the peak of a wave of asylum seekers attempting to make their way to Australia by boat.
More than 1200 asylum seekers, including women and children, died during attempted journeys under the Rudd Government.
