Darwin Hotel Transformed Into Detention Site as Illegal Fishing Arrests Soar

Notices at the hotel’s entrance restrict access to authorised individuals only.
Darwin Hotel Transformed Into Detention Site as Illegal Fishing Arrests Soar
A supplied image obtained on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, shows people on a foreign illegal fishing boat spotted near Crocker Island, a remote Northern Territory island northeast of Darwin. AAP Image/Supplied by Northern Territory Land Council
|Updated:
0:00

A hotel in central Darwin has been repurposed into a temporary detention facility to manage a sharp rise in the number of Indonesian nationals apprehended for illegal fishing in northern Australian waters.

The Frontier Hotel, located in the city’s inner suburbs, is now closed to the public and staffed by uniformed personnel from MTC, a private contractor overseeing the site. Notices at the hotel’s entrance restrict access to authorised individuals only.

Naziya Alvi Rahman
Naziya Alvi Rahman
Author
Naziya Alvi Rahman is a Canberra-based journalist who covers political issues in Australia. She can be reached at [email protected].