While the Federal Government spends millions on anti-smoking campaigns to cut smoking rates among Australians, the cost of keeping up detainees' smoking habits is racking up a bill of about $4000 a day.
The Opposition has accused the Gillard Government of providing its own "mini-stimulus" package for the tobacco industry.
Detainees can earn points in the immigration detention system worth up to $50 a week by participating in education and activity programs, which they can then use to purchase items, including cigarettes and tobacco products or phone cards.
The figures were released in an answer provided by the Immigration Department to a question asked by Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash in Senate estimates hearings.
It revealed that Serco, the company that manages the detention centres, has spent on average $1.4 million a year on tobacco products for detainees since the 2009-10 financial year.
The Government has warned that the bill will continue to rise if the Coalition maintained its refusal to support legislation allowing the Government to pursue off-shore processing of asylum seekers, namely the revival of the Malaysia people swap deal.
Detainees can earn points in the immigration detention system, worth up to $50 a week, by participating in education and activity programs - including learning English - which they can then use to buy items including cigarettes and other tobacco products, or phone cards.
The escalating figures on tobacco costs were revealed in Senate estimates hearings, in an answer provided by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to a question asked by Liberal senator Michaelia Cash.
The answer revealed that the company that manages the detention centres, Serco, has spent, on average, $1.4 million a year on tobacco products for detainees since the 2009-10 financial year.
Detainees' preferred products included Winfield Red and Blue, Peter Jackson originals, Marlboro, Longbeach, Champion, Gudang Garam, Ventti rolling papers, and filters and tube machines.
"The products stocked at each facility vary slightly, depending on the cohort of people detained at that facility," the department said.
The Department also revealed that its service providers had contracts to buy smoking products from Coles and other companies.
The Government, under pressure over the blow-out in costs of holding people in detention, has warned these costs will continue to rise unless it can push through off-shore processing through a revived Malaysia people-swap deal.
But the Bill to overturn the High Court decision to rule offshore processing illegal is expected to be rejected by the Coalition.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said no one was to blame other than the Government, and the tobacco costs were just a symptom of the overall blowout in the number of people in detention since Labor came to power.
"Labor's four years of border protection failure has created their own mini-stimulus package for the tobacco industry," Mr Morrison said.
A departmental spokesman said asylum seekers were entitled to use their points to buy goods through the canteen, including phone cards, cigarettes, confectionery and snacks.
The Opposition has accused the Gillard Government of providing its own "mini-stimulus" package for the tobacco industry.
Detainees can earn points in the immigration detention system worth up to $50 a week by participating in education and activity programs, which they can then use to purchase items, including cigarettes and tobacco products or phone cards.
The figures were released in an answer provided by the Immigration Department to a question asked by Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash in Senate estimates hearings.
It revealed that Serco, the company that manages the detention centres, has spent on average $1.4 million a year on tobacco products for detainees since the 2009-10 financial year.
The Government has warned that the bill will continue to rise if the Coalition maintained its refusal to support legislation allowing the Government to pursue off-shore processing of asylum seekers, namely the revival of the Malaysia people swap deal.
Detainees can earn points in the immigration detention system, worth up to $50 a week, by participating in education and activity programs - including learning English - which they can then use to buy items including cigarettes and other tobacco products, or phone cards.
The escalating figures on tobacco costs were revealed in Senate estimates hearings, in an answer provided by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to a question asked by Liberal senator Michaelia Cash.
The answer revealed that the company that manages the detention centres, Serco, has spent, on average, $1.4 million a year on tobacco products for detainees since the 2009-10 financial year.
Detainees' preferred products included Winfield Red and Blue, Peter Jackson originals, Marlboro, Longbeach, Champion, Gudang Garam, Ventti rolling papers, and filters and tube machines.
"The products stocked at each facility vary slightly, depending on the cohort of people detained at that facility," the department said.
The Department also revealed that its service providers had contracts to buy smoking products from Coles and other companies.
The Government, under pressure over the blow-out in costs of holding people in detention, has warned these costs will continue to rise unless it can push through off-shore processing through a revived Malaysia people-swap deal.
But the Bill to overturn the High Court decision to rule offshore processing illegal is expected to be rejected by the Coalition.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said no one was to blame other than the Government, and the tobacco costs were just a symptom of the overall blowout in the number of people in detention since Labor came to power.
"Labor's four years of border protection failure has created their own mini-stimulus package for the tobacco industry," Mr Morrison said.
A departmental spokesman said asylum seekers were entitled to use their points to buy goods through the canteen, including phone cards, cigarettes, confectionery and snacks.
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