The fires have reignited the controversial issue of detaining illegal refugees

SYDNEY, December 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Australian government Sunday, December 29, refused to reconsider its refugee policy despite three fires in as many days destroying an entire wing at one of its controversial detention centers.

Firefighters said the largest blaze, which gutted most of the men’s compound and caused eight asylum seekers to be treated in hospital, was an act of arson, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Authorities have declined to lay blame but suspicion has inevitably fallen on detainees at the Baxter Detention Centre in Port Augusta, South Australia.

The spate of fires began December 27 and have reignited the controversial issue of detaining illegal refugees.

Premier of South Australia state Mike Rann has called for the arsonists to be deported. “It’s totally unacceptable as a protest,” Rann told reporters.

“Those who are deliberately risking the lives of other asylum seekers by this kind of violent behavior, quite frankly in my view, should be out of the country.

“They are doing their cause immeasurable harm and will lose the compassion and the sympathy of the Australian people.”

Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the fires would not alter the government’s refugee policy.

“If this is a deliberate act of sabotage, then those who are responsible for it should face the full force of the law,” Downer said. “It’s not going to change the government’s policy.”

Sixty-four of 79 bedroom units in one section of the centre were destroyed in the second and largest blaze early Sunday, said fire services spokesman Bill Dwyer.

He said mattresses, cupboards and shower curtains were used to fuel the blaze which alone caused about two million dollars’ (1.12 million U.S.) damage. The center was housing 146 men, 28 women and 41 children at the time.

Eight detainees were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation and two detention centre staff were also affected by smoke, immigration department spokesman Pete Pedersen said. They have since been released.

Australian Federal Police said they were questioning detainees.

The latest fire began later Sunday in the compound to which detainees were earlier evacuated.

“They probably did it out of frustration,” said Marion Le from the Independent Council for Refugee Advocacy.

Refugee activist Father Peter Brennan said while Baxter was a more modern facility than other Australian detention centers, its remote location created an environment of isolation amid an already uncertain future.

“In Australia, where we keep people in detention for one or two years while we process their claims, we don’t do that in other western countries, what we do is create the pressure cooker situation over those couple of years,” Brennan told the Special Broadcasting Service.

Many Baxter detainees have had their applications rejected and are awaiting appeal or deportation.

“They’re of course feeling very frustrated,” Brennan said. “If they hadn’t been in detention while their claims were being processed, as in the U.K., the U.S. or Europe, then it would be a very different situation.”

He described Baxter as an “extraordinary punitive environment”.

It was opened just four months ago to accommodate detainees relocated from the controversial desert facility at Woomera, the scene of breakouts, riots and anti-detention protests, AFP reported.

Particular criticism has been made of the detention of mothers and children.