>Why would someone pay $20m for a property worth a fraction of that? Multiple times in the same small area?
Immigration detention facility[edit]
In 1991, an immigration detention facility, the 'Port Hedland Immigration Reception and Processing Centre', was opened to deal with the arrival of boat people seeking asylum. Port Hedland was seen as a good location as it is in an area where many asylum seekers arriving by boat were entering Australia, and had an international airport that would allow for easy deportations when required. The detention centre, situated on the beach front, was formerly a single-men's quarters for Mount Newman Mining Co. (since renamed BHP Billiton Iron Ore).[18] The centre was privatised by the First Howard Ministry in the late 1990s. It was closed in 2004 due to the falling number of asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia's north-west.[19] The town mayor called for the federal government to allow the town to use the detention centre to accommodate the many new mine workers needed in the town's mining boom. A lack of accommodation made it difficult for companies to operate efficiently as they were unable to house staff or consultants within the town's small number of hotels. The centre is now operating as the Beachfront Village.[20]