Woomera, South Australia and Woomera was chosen as a site for such a facility. The establishment of the Woomera Immigration Detention Centre in 1999, through the refurbishment of the original Woomera Village construction camp at 'Woomera West', eventually brought in new permanent staff (as the Nurrungar people were leaving) to settle and maintain the village population at around 1,200. The immigration detention centre, however, proved to be a highly controversial facility and it closed in early 2003 after only about 36 months of operation, at which point the land and buildings were handed back to the Defence Department. Following the closure of the
Refugees in New Zealand to New Zealand. Since Helen Clark welcomed refugees from the Tampa, New Zealand has been seen as a place where Australia might resettle asylum seekers who arrive by boat. This approach was formalised in an agreement between Julia Gillard and John Key in 2013 to allow up to 150 refugees from the Nauru and Manus detention centres to be relocated to New Zealand every year. With the 2013 Australian election of Tony Abbott the deal has remained on the table but has never been taken up by the Australian Liberal Party. While many Australian refugee advocates have argued for New