The facility is called Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre (BITA) and is at
100 Sugarmill Road, Pinkenba. Advocates for asylum seekers and refugees have been visiting people in detention since Immigration Detention began, and just showing that you care is so important to those with their lives on hold.
The detention centres around the mainland are normally full to capacity, so there are always people to visit. Before going to the detention centre a visit application needs to be done and for this you will need the person’s name and an identifier, such as their D.O.B.We can supply you with these details. Then you need to submit an online application to visit. The application requires that you give five working days’ notice before visiting. You first create an account on The Department of Home Affairs Website, and once you have done this, submitting the application is (generally!)fairly straight-forward .Occasionally the website is down, but this doesn't last for too long.
There are 3 compounds at BITA, and they have different visiting times. Generally the asylum seekers are housed in just 2 of these compounds. Do not rely on any online information about what the visiting times are, as this is normally out of date.
For the correct information, it is best to phone Serco (The Company contracted to provide security and visiting arrangements at the detention centres.) Their main number at reception is 07 36379100. If you have problems getting through, other numbers are 36379123 and 36379155. Follow this link, to get started:
https://online.immi.gov.au/lusc/login
By visiting those in detention, this is a great way of countering our government's appalling treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. Simply showing that we care about those detained, they can be reassured that we disagree with how they are being treated by Australia. And it sends out an important message; No matter how badly Canberra treats these people, we can and will continue to visit and support them for as long as it takes.
BITA is near the airport, and can be reached on buses 302,303 and 590
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