Senior Defence brass opposed the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's bid to use the remote Scherger RAAF base as a detention centre, documents released under freedom of information show.
Defence refused to release more than half the pages in the heavily redacted package of documents.
But the documents it did release about the arrangements between it and the Immigration Department show preparations to convert the base into a detention centre were being made on an ad hoc basis.
Defence had long-running concerns about the security, accessibility, cost and maintenance issues associated with the arrangement.
On Monday, an analysis of tenders data by The Canberra Times revealed the Immigration Department had entered into contracts worth at least $176million since 2010 to prepare and operate the Curtin and Scherger detention centres.
The cost of converting Scherger into a detention centre - $16.9million - was dwarfed by the cost of re-opening Curtin.
This year Defence continued to raise concerns with Defence Minister Stephen Smith about the number of asylum-seekers held at the former base.
In a Ministerial brief prepared for former defence minister John Faulkner last July, officials warned: ''Access by road is limited during the wet season and Defence anticipates significant costs associated with the logistical, technical services and staff support required to set-up and operate the base effectively for any length of time ... Defence does not consider this option feasible due to issues with accessibility and the significant infrastructure required to achieve a sustainable operation but will discuss further with DIAC.''
The Government approved the use of Defence facilities to accommodate asylum seekers despite this advice. In a later undated missive, Defence officials recommended new Defence Minister Stephen Smith use Scherger ''on a contingency option for emergency [asylum arrival] surges only''.
By the end of September, Defence believed, the RAAF Base Scherger would be used only ''as an immediate short-term accommodation solution to accommodate up to 300 single adult men until the extended facilities at RAAF Base Curtin are available''.
Scherger opened in October.
Four months later, Defence said Immigration was proposing to double or even triple the number of people Scherger could hold.
The facility was already over capacity.
While Defence was now willing to allow the facility to be used as a detention centre into 2013, ''any significant increase in the number of IMAs [irregular maritime arrivals] accommodated at Scherger is not feasible at this point''.
A month later, Defence noted, the Government had approved a plan to expand Scherger ''to the maximum extent possible'', to accommodate asylum seekers from Christmas Island. It now has a capacity of 596.
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