The pearling chief Nicholas Paspaley has teamed up with a Darwin property developer to secure a $200 million taxpayer-funded deal to build a detention centre.
The Immigration Department has agreed to the duo’s venture to ease pressure on the overcrowded system. The centre will house 1500 asylum seekers. Paspaley and John Robinson will build and manage the new facilities at Wickham Point, about 35km south of Darwin.
The government has agreed to a three-year lease with the pair. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the deal saves the government more than $175 million in capital costs. “Based on an independent quantity surveyor’s assessment of the likely capital and lease costs of a similar sized facility for the mining industry, Wickham Point is value for money,” he said.
According to the Paspaley Pearls website, Mr Paspaley’s family fled the Greek island of Castellorizo to Australia in World War I. The Paspaley family’s business empire has evolved to include aviation, property development, farming and marine engineering.
