Old casino for asylum housing
The Age
Wednesday July 1, 2009
THE Federal Government is involved in multimillion-dollar negotiations to use Christmas Island's luxurious casino resort in its battle to house the rapidly growing number of asylum seekers and staff required to care for them.There are now more than 720 asylum seekers and about 300 detention and related staff on the island, in effect doubling the tiny island's permanent population of about 1100 and putting significant stress on available accommodation.The casino, on a cliff above the Indian Ocean, has been closed for 11 years, but once turned over $5 billion a year from high-rolling gamblers who flew by private jet to the island only 50 minutes from Jakarta.The empty casino's manager, Michael Asims, told The Age yesterday that the owner, Sydney-based entrepeneur David Kwon, had been negotiating with the federal Department of Immigration for several weeks over using the facility to relieve overcrowding on the island due to the increase in boatloads of asylum seekers arriving this year.It is believed the resort would be used mainly for detention staff, immigration and customs officials and police, although Mr Asims would not rule out the possibility of asylum seekers occupying part of the casino.The casino has 156 hotel rooms, fully furnished and air-conditioned - 52 of them are two-storey suites with stunning ocean views. It also has two state-of-the-art kitchens, one of which was leased by the government in 2002 to provide meals for asylum seekers on the island.Mr Asims said Mr Kwon was also negotiating over 12 blocks of apartments he owns at Poon Saan, on the island's west coast.Sources on Christmas Island said Mr Kwon wanted to sell the flats to the Immigration Department for $7 million, to house asylum seekers. Each of the 12 blocks has nine double-bedroom units and sea views. The sources said six blocks were usable, but required renovations estimated at $300,000. The other six blocks were so dilapidated they would need to be torn down, but would provide space for 40-50 single people in prefabricated dwellings.Mr Kwon bought the 12 blocks of flats and the casino in 2002 for $5.7 million, although the casino alone cost more than $60 million to establish. Its biggest investor was Robby Sumampow, an associate of the family of then Indonesian president Suharto. It operated for five years before official disapproval of the gamblers' flights from Jakarta stopped the money flow.Mr Kwon also tried several years ago to establish a space centre on the island to launch satellites into orbit. Despite the federal government spending $30 million to build a wharf that has never been used and granting tracts of land for the project, it has never eventuated.Mr Asims said Mr Kwon was not trying to sell the casino and hoped it might reopen for gambling but added that anything was for sale at the right price. It is believed the price on the casino two years ago was $12 million, but there were no buyers.The latest boat arrived at Christmas Island on Monday with 194 people on board. They were taken to the detention centre ringed by electrified fences in the jungle at North-West Point, built at a cost of at least $400 million by the Howard government.The asylum seekers on Christmas Island are housed at several sites apart from the detention centre, including an old single-men's construction camp, which is accommodating families, and a former mining camp at Phosphate Hill. Several families with children are living scattered around the island's community.A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Evans said yesterday that the Immigration Department had discussed with property owners available accommodation on Christmas Island as part of the Government's contingency plans for boat arrivals."The department has principally been investigating options to provide additional accommodation for staff on Christmas Island but no decisions have been made to date," he said.
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