From the Mainstream Media

From Syd Morning Herald - Hanging man 'cut down and beaten'
By Andrew Clennell

A man who attempted to hang himself at the Curtin detention centre was cut down and beaten for "hours" by Australasian Correctional Management staff, according to allegations in a confidential draft report prepared for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

The report also details verbal abuse and beatings alleged to have been performed by the staff at the centre in Western Australia.

A spokesman for the Minister for Immigration last night rejected the allegations as "malicious" and "unfounded".

A heavily-edited version of the report, written by Ms Mary Crock, the lawyer who accompanied the former human rights commission chairman Mr Chris Sidoti to Curtin, was released publicly by the commission late last year.

The commission promised it would pursue the specific allegations separately, rather than identify detainees by publishing their allegations.

A commission spokeswoman said last night : "Inquiries into the complaints are continuing".

One detainee was quoted in the report as saying: "In one day because of the miserable situation we are in ... four cases of attempted suicide happened.

"One of the persons hanged himself and in his last breath his fellows could rescue him and imagine what: When they cut the rope the ACM staff took [him] and they kept beating him for hours and hours."

The detainee went on to tell the commission he had seen many people beaten.

The report also documents one detainee explaining how staff were rude to them: "Always you hear bad words from the staff like 'f--- you, f--- off, you Muslims are terrorists."

Mr Ruddock's spokesman said the commission had not released the allegations because they were unsubstantiated.

"They could not verify any of these allegations - they're just malicious, unfounded allegations and I think HREOC at that time thought it wasn't in the business of supporting unfounded, unsubstantiated allegations," she said. "I think we have probably heard them all and none of them has been found to have any basis."

Of the guards at the centres, the spokeswoman said: "Philip Flood [the minister's investigator] looked at the conduct of ACM staff ...

"He said while there was a small percentage of staff that behaved inappropriately at times, he felt the staff were dedicated professional officers and we would probably stand by that."

The report says one detainee claimed guards would beat people for "silly reasons". "If you don't want to move your place from the location you are in, they start beating you and hitting you," the detainee said.

"I've seen a person inside the clinic beaten ... If they hear anything going on in the detention centre or somebody wants to go on a hunger strike they punish people to terrify the others and to keep them from doing these things."

In the confidential draft report, its authors said: "The commission was unable to test any of the allegations made by the detainees outside of the centre."

Kerr challenges Ruddock over detention centre procedures

The World Today - Wednesday, March 28, 2001 12:38

COMPERE: We're joined now in his Canberra office by the Shadow Minister for Justice, Duncan Kerr.

Only yesterday Mr Kerr revealed that a Palestinian man has been held in solitary confinement for eight months in the Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Victoria.

The treatment of this Palestinian would not be allowed in any gaol in Australia.

In New South Wales for instance segregation orders for solitary confinement are only issued for 14 days at a time and the inmates undergoing that are actually allowed out for exercise. Something denied this man.

Duncan Kerr joins us.
There are some social justice and justice issues here, Mr Kerr, aren't there, in what is happening in the centres throughout Australia?

DUNCAN KERR: They're very serious ones and the Australian Labor Party has asked the Minister to establish a comprehensive and substantial independent inquiry with broad terms of reference, to look at allegations which have now been examined, some of which by the earlier inquiry by the Minister, into the operations at Woomera, but the larger issues about the kind that you have raised, are currently not under review, and there have been very alarming reports, not only by that report but by the Ombudsman, and by private citizens which suggest to me that we can't put our heads in the sand and say everything's operating appropriately, and particularly given that there is no longer a direct line of accountability that previous governments have operated in any detention facilities so that the Minister employed the staff engaged to run those facilities and any breakdown in administration the Minister would be directly accountable.

Now they've been outsourced, privatised, they're run by organisations that have resisted disclosure of documentation on the grounds of commercial-in-confidence. This is a very worrying trend, I think, in terms of the kind of society that we want to operate and the kind of openness that we should be operating with.

COMPERE: So you're saying that this is an extension of the privatisation of the prison system now going into other matters?

DUNCAN KERR: Well I think there's a real and growing concern that we are seeing the path of privatisation leading to a breakdown of accountability and particularly when it starts to intrude into what are areas that we used to think to be core areas of government accountability, that is, law enforcement, security and of course detention.

So, yes, I do think that there are real issues raised by privatisation of these facilities. They have been confronted by State Governments, the incoming Bracks Government has to address a break down in the system in a prison which had been operated as a private facility and took that back into its direct management.

I think that the Minister is trying to skate through the difficulties that he faces until the next election but I do think it would be better in the national interest for the Government to respond to the request for a full inquiry to address how we can as a community manage what is now increasingly seen to be a system out of control.

COMPERE: Duncan Kerr, thank you very much.Duncan Kerr is the Shadow Minister for Justice.

More on the case of Mohammed Dawood

Several suicide attempts and eight months alone for refugee

A Palestinian man has been kept in solitary confinement for eight months in two Australian immigration detention centres, under conditions worse than those in NSW jails. In that time Mr Mohammed Dawood, 27, has had only two visitors, and has tried several times to commit suicide, including an attempt last week to swallow a fluorescent light tube. Yesterday a spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Mr Ruddock, confirmed Mr Dawood's isolation. "The fellow you're talking about has probably been in an observation room for pretty much that period of time [eight months] in Woomera and Maribyrnong.

"[He is] a persistent self-harmer so they have to keep him under persistent observation ... He broke a fluorescent tube and started eating the glass."

But one of Mr Dawood's two visitors, the chairman of the Palestinian Refugee and Exile Awareness Association, Mr Asem Judeh, said yesterday: "He's become mentally ill and he doesn't know what he is doing."

Mr Dawood has been in detention for 13 months after arriving by boat. He was put in solitary confinement for three months at Woomera after going on a hunger strike last year, and has spent the past five months in isolation at Maribyrnong in Victoria. The minister's spokesman said Mr Dawood had undergone psychiatric assessment and been found not to need medication. A NSW Justice Department spokesman said that in NSW jails, segregation orders were only issued for 14 days at a time after violence was committed and, in that time, people were allowed out for exercise.

Mr Dawood will be kept alone until he is either deported or Mr Ruddock decides to issue him with a temporary protection visa. After the Refugee Review Tribunal refused Mr Dawood's appeal for refugee status, his representatives have appealed to the minister. The only visitors Mr Dawood has had in his time in solitary have been Mr Judeh and another representative from his association, who began visiting him after they heard of his plight in February.

"He keeps saying that they're treating him like a dog," Mr Judeh said. "He became suspicious from any noises, any actions, even the sounds of birds [outside].

"He is in high depression and he said many times: 'I'm not a criminal' ... He tried to suicide twice last week."

Mr Judeh said Mr Dawood was originally in a room without a window but now had one. His room was furnished only with a bed. A guard delivered three meals a day, but Mr Dawood had told Mr Judeh he saw a doctor only once every three weeks.

The Opposition's justice spokesman, Mr Duncan Kerr, said he had written to Mr Ruddock, asking for an explanation for Mr Dawood's long period in isolation.

Migrants face a life spent in jail

Vilperit Betkhoshabeh is sitting in Melbourne's Port Phillip Prison with no hope of immediate release, even though his 18-month sentence ended more than two years ago.

Mr Betkhoshabeh arrived in Australia from Iran in 1992. Although he had visited Australia before, to stay with his brother and sister-in-law in Melbourne, immigration officials took him straight to Maribyrnong Detention Centre. He had a one-way ticket and officials feared he planned to overstay his tourist visa.

Mr Betkhoshabeh had no history of crime or mental illness but, in detention, he became psychotic, forcing authorities to release him into the care of his brother.

In 1995 Mr Betkhoshabeh, a member of a persecuted group of Iranian Christians, was granted refugee status here. But, six months later, he broke into a woman's home after making threats to kill her. He was convicted and spent 18 months in jail.

His term finished, the government ordered his deportation but his lawyers appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. While the committee considers his case, Mr Betkhoshabeh stays in jail.

The Federal Court and Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock have rejected pleas to have the deportation order overturned, despite evidence that Mr Betkhoshabeh's mental condition has been successfully treated and that his Australian family wants to take him in.

Mr Betkhoshabeh is now entitled to prison leave to visit his brother but, in the nine years since his arrival, he has spent only 18 months as a free man.

Up to 70 overseas-born Australian permanent residents are in prison indefinitely, despite having served their sentences. The prisoners, all convicted of crimes with sentences of 12 months or more, are awaiting deportation.

The government's decision to keep these people in jail is indefensible, said Chris Maxwell, president of Civil Liberties Victoria. "It is contrary to basic human rights for people to be kept in indeterminate detention". Mr Maxwell said it also contravened United Nations covenants that Australia has signed.

"It's a total travesty," said Professor Patrick McGorry, Mr Betkhoshabeh's psychiatrist, of his patient's case. "The minister (Mr Ruddock) rejected all the psychiatric evidence that he was not responsible for his actions at the time of the offences. Now he's well, he's not a threat to anybody and quite happy to continue with treatment. He's a mild mannered and gentle person.

"I met Ruddock over the case and told him I'd be quite happy to look after him clinically, and give him the best public sector backup. But the minister refused to do anything and has recently written to confirm the deportation order."

The government has agreed not to deport Mr Betkhoshabeh until the UN committee makes a finding. Yet Mr Ruddock is not bound by the decision, and can still deport Mr Betkhoshabeh if he sees fit.

Luu Minh Dung, a Vietnamese immigrant, was sentenced to three years and nine months' jail in July, 1996, for charges relating to assault and causing bodily harm. In May, 1997, Mr Ruddock ordered his deportation to Vietnam. In June he was paroled but since then has been held in the high-security Port Phillip Prison, awaiting travel arrangements for deportation.

Luu's solicitor, Gabriel Kuek, said his client had cooperated fully with the Immigration Department over his deportation yet, because the government has no deportation arrangement with Vietnam, the minister cannot deport him. Mr Kuek said it was traumatic for Luu to be kept in prison with convicted felons for nearly four years.

Under immigration laws, people who commit a serious crime are deemed to have broken the terms under which they gained permanent residency. As a result they are usually deported.

But most of these 70 people are in jail because their countries of origin are unwilling to take them. Attempts by the Australian Government to negotiate deportation arrangements with Vietnam, for example, have so far proved fruitless.

In Sydney alone, about 40 people, mostly Vietnamese nationals, are in jail awaiting deportation having served their sentences. In Melbourne the figure is at least six people, most of them from Indochina. Three committed crimes of violence and three were convicted of drug offences, two of whom were trafficking heroin.

Marie Tehan, a former Victorian health minister, has taken up Mr Betkhoshabeh's case. "It's unjust that a man who has completed his sentence and has received refugee status should be maintained in a prison," she said. "I have grave reservations about our whole policy in this area." Opposition immigration spokesman Con Sciacca does not oppose deportation for criminals. But he said locking up people indefinitely while they awaited deportation was crazy. "It's costing the taxpayer $70,000 every year per person." In some cases "It's punishing them twice; incarcerating them for longer periods again than their sentence ... There's got to be a better way."

He proposes expediting bureaucratic processes blocking deportation or, if offenders are not dangerous, releasing them under some sort of reporting regime.

A spokesman for Mr Ruddock said the law was clear: permanent residents sentenced to jail for 12 months or more are "automatically looked at (for deportation); the law requires that to happen".

The spokesman said the minister was concerned by "the tendency of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to overturn some of these deportation cases and he has, in quite a few cases, taken the decision to prevent them going to the AAT so they're not appealable. In some cases people with serious criminal backgrounds have had cases overturned".

The spokesman blamed bureaucratic inaction in the deportees' countries of origin. But he said some detainees made the delays longer by not signing travel documents and generally refusing to co-operate. "Therefore, it's their decision how long they remain in jail till they are removed."

Not all those liable for deportation are deported. Each case is examined and factors such as character, whether they have a relationship with an Australian, whether there are children involved and any history of recidivism, are taken into account.

Nevertheless, Mr McGorry said the deportation policy should be reconsidered. "A lot of refugees have had their lives turned upside down and may offend in the early years. It's a very punitive attitude to turf them out again if they commit offences."

Mr Kuek said although some Vietnamese had been badly harmed by their experience as refugees, "we're quick to condemn them when they do something wrong. If an Australian were to be kept in these conditions overseas we would be up in arms."

The 78 inmates enclosed by wire fences and barbed wire were prevented from speaking to the journalists.

The tour was the third of a series of "open days" at Australia's immigration centres, home to asylum-seekers and people incarcerated for breaking immigration laws.

Regular visitors to the centre said it had undergone a makeover for the media tour and a visit today by a parliamentary committee investigating humn rights.

New chairs had been installed in the visitors' area, the carpets steam-cleaned and a children's play area installed, said Andrea Maksimovic, from the refugee lobby group No One Is Illegal.

Immigration officials confirmed that Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock inspected the centre on Monday, but a detainee later told The Age by phone that he did not speak to any inmates.

From the ABC 10 Feb:

Woomera Detention Centre seeks new manager

A search has begun for a new manager of the Woomera Detention Centre in South Australia. Australian Correctional Management has advertised nationally for the position today but it is unclear why the position has become vacant. In December, the centre's manager, Jim Meakins, was moved to Sydney to prepare for an inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse at Woomera last year. At the time, the Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, denied Mr Meakins would be replaced. A spokesman for Mr Ruddock this morning said it would be fair to assume the situation had changed but he refused to speculate on the reasons.

Britain, France agree to cooperate on illegal migrants

Britain and France have agreed to cooperate to try to stem the flow of illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel. Immigration officers will now be put on the cross-channel Eurostar train service. The annual Anglo-French summit this year was dominated by the issue of illegal immigration. Britain claims to have the largest number of asylum seekers in Europe and many of them make their way from France across the channel either in the backs of trucks on ferries or on the popular Eurostar train service. About 400 people a month claim asylum at the Eurostar hub at London's Waterloo Station. British immigration officials will now be allowed to check passengers at the Gare Du Nord in Paris as they board the train French officials will be given similar rights at the British end of the line.But a British proposal that would have seen illegal immigrants automatically sent back to France has been rejected by the French.

From THE AGE

Britain acts to stem a human tide

A new epidemic, people trafficking, is sweeping Europe. Last year, half a million people arrived uninvited, an estimated 50,000 of them passing through Bosnia en route to the West. Many of those streaming across the borders, fleeing oppressive regimes in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, are paying handsome sums to criminal gangs for their safe passage. Thousands are being concealed in the back of trucks, on boats and in trains, some parting with as much as $10,000 to cross the continent to Calais, in northern France, before making their way on through the English port of Dover where they are seeking political asylum or simply melting into ethnic communities.

Organised crime is involved in almost all of the illegal traffic. Many of those involved also deal in drugs, prostitution, slavery and pornography.

"Everybody has to realise that the system has drifted out of the control of governments into the hands of criminal gangs," said Jack Straw, Britain's Home Secretary.

Never at any time since World War II has the call for a "Fortress Europe" approach to immigration policy been louder, as Western Europeans, fearing for their jobs and prosperity, grow increasingly resentful of the arriving masses. Racist attacks are also on the rise, especially in Germany, where a new survey suggests that almost every second young East German believes the Nazi regime "had its good side".

The survey also found that 46per cent of East Germans and 40per cent of West Germans think there are too many foreigners in the country. The sentiments are shared across Europe and the deluge of asylum seekers, many without genuine claims, are weighing heavily on the minds of British voters in the lead-up to this year's general election.

Next week, immigration officials from at least 10 countries will meet in London after a European Union ministers' meeting in Stockholm yesterday agreed to tackle the asylum issue head-on. The move follows a call by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Italian counterpart, Giuliano Amato, for teams of European Union police and immigration officers to work with the western Balkans border authorities to stem the human trade.

Speaking after the Stockholm meeting, Mr Straw said a common EU policy would lead to a reduction in "asylum shopping". But it was not clear whether he would win consensus for his earlier call for a revamp of the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, which Mr Straw believes is out of date and no longer serving the purpose for which it was originally established, or for a system of "safe countries" from which refugee applications would be either disregarded or pushed through accelerated procedures.

Similar sentiments were expressed last year by Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock although Australia's refugee troubles appear miniscule against the global movement of illegal migrants. The scale of the problem is such that the UN estimates that people smuggling is a $10-billion-a-year industry, affecting the lives of more than 200million people.

Mr Straw said yesterday: "It is Britain which has been in the lead in trying to deal with the (large percentage) of migrants, often unfounded asylum seekers, coming into Europe who enter through the funnel of the Western Balkans ... "There are more than 120 separate police services in Europe. It makes sense to find better ways of cooperating," he said.

A Balkan conduit for illegal migrants is the Bosnian capital itself. UN records show that in the first 10 months of last year 24,880 suspected illegal migrants - mostly Iranian and Turkish nationals - arrived at Sarajevo airport. Fewer than 6000 flew out again, raising suspicions that most simply take advantage of Bosnia's lax visa requirements to continue their journey onward. Calls are growing for Western aid to be tied to demands for the Balkan countries to tighten visa regulations to stop the illegal human traffic. A year ago, Germany was the most sought-after destination, especially for migrants from eastern Europe. But new border fences and more guards, and purpose-built camps to house asylum seekers, have deterred much of the traffic, although last year 65,000 people still managed to arrive in Germany, second only to Britain, which processed a record 76,000 arrivals. Belgium, France and the Netherlands each received about 40,000 asylum-seekers last year. Increasing numbers have also been crossing the Straits of Gibraltar, although last month Spain signalled a crackdown by giving police powers to deport illegal immigrants within 72 hours of their arriving.

Britain's frustration in handling the sheer volume of people has been exacerbated by the ambivalence of its nearest neighbor, France, which seems to be making little effort to stop illegal migrants from passing through its ports. Mr Blair was expected to tell French President Jacques Chirac last night that British officials would simply start sending these migrants back across the channel.

The Blair-Amato initiatives, meanwhile, which were disclosed in a letter to London's The Observer newspaper, also contain a further proposal - a rethink of almost three decades of "zero immigration" policies in Europe in a bid to encourage the legal migration of skilled workers to help tackle Europe's demographic crisis and increasing labor shortage. "The debate should focus, not only on the repression of criminal activity connected with immigration, but also on supporting appropriate opportunities, where in the economic and national interest, for legal migration into a diverse and tolerant society," wrote the two leaders.

The demand for unskilled labor to stoke the economies of Europe is certain to grow but projections suggest that the number of Europeans of working age will actually fall within the next 25 years. Europe's welcome mat, chimed The Observer, should not be put out "just to computer technicians and nurses that the developing world can ill afford, but to unskilled workers as well, on a temporary permit system similar to America's green card system".

Not everyone, however, is warmly embracing Britain's proposals. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, has been appalled at what he claims is the creation of a "climate of accusation" surrounding refugee issues. Although he agreed on the need to combat people smuggling, Mr Lubbers criticised Britain for using language that suggested that almost all asylum seekers were frauds.

His ticking off did not deter the opposition Conservatives from calling for swift action against the illegals and the Tory-leaning The Daily Telegraph from offering its opinion: "Asylum seekers must be stopped as they arrive (in the ports), dealt with quickly and efficiently under an expedited system, and a way found of returning those who fail to their countries of origin. We have been debating this for years. What we need now is action, and fast."

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/news/2001/02/10/FFXCWPQQYIC.html

More from the ABC

News re: Asylum Seekers and ALP call for imquiry

Opposition calls for judicial inquiry into treatment of asylum seekers

The Federal Opposition has called for a judicial inquiry into the treatment of asylum seekers held in detention.

Shadow Immigration Minister Con Sciacca was speaking after the company operating the Woomera Detention Centre, Australasian Correctional Management, advertised for a new manager for the Woomera centre. The centre's current manager, Jim Meakins, was called to Sydney in December to prepare for an inquiry into allegations of child sexual abuse at Woomera. Mr Sciacca says the Government should be forced to come clean about the reasons behind the decision to replace Mr Meakins.

"We have so many problems so many stories that are coming out virtually on a daily basis about what is going on in these detention centres that we do need to find out exactly what is happening," he said.

"How do we do it? We do it by way of a full independent judicial inquiry."

Ruddock quiet on replacing detention centre manager

The Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, has refused to comment on moves to replace the manager of the Woomera Detention Centre.

Jim Meakins was transferred to Sydney in December to prepare for an inquiry into allegations of child sexual abuse at the Woomera Detention Centre. It followed a controversial year for centre management with riots in August and a mass breakout of asylum seekers in June last year. Today, advertisements appeared in major newspapers seeking a new centre manager. Mr Ruddock says the removal of Mr Meakins is an operational issue for Australasian Correctional Management which runs the facility. But Shadow Immigration Minister Con Sciacca has called on the Government to reveal the reasons for the managerial change. "I guess one has to have a question mark over what's happening at Woomera when first they denied that he was going to be replaced or that he was being removed, now he is being removed," he said.

Govt to crack down on illegal workers

The Federal Government will take action against the employment of illegal immigrants with the introduction of new laws later this year. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has raised concerns about illegal immigrants from Korea in the building industry. New South Wales CFMEU secretary Andrew Ferguson says there are contractors in the industry bringing in illegal immigrants in connection with crime syndicates in Asia. He says the workers are paid half the normal rates and wants the matter investigated. However, a spokesman for the Federal Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, says it is a matter raised by the union in the past which has led to people being deported. He says legislation planned this year will make it illegal for an employer to employ someone who does not have the right to work in Australia. He says if the union passes on the information it has, it will be investigated.

UN's Robinson warns Britain on refugee intolerance Source: REUTERS, by Evelyn Leopoldc UNITED NATIONS

"It's an extremely important instrument," she said. "I think for for many countries, issues of migration and the status of refugees and asylum seekers are becoming election issues in a worrying way."

Robinson emphasized there was a very serious problem of criminal trafficking, especially of women and children, through countries like Bosnia, that had open borders, and agreed with measures to stop this. But she said this issue should not dominate the debate.

"I am concerned about an increasing tendency towards a 'Fortress Europe' at a time when it doesn't make any economic sense" in view of aging populations and the need for skilled and unskilled labor," she said.

"We have seen terrible ethnic cleansing. We can see the rise of Nazi-like movements, among particularly youth in many European countries, which if not addressed can, be very worrying trends for the future," Robinson said. "So the real political leadership that is needed is to create an environment that supports the acceptance of greater numbers from outside Europe in furtherance of European economic and social development and also has particular regard for the vulnerable asylum seekers."

U.N. population figures, released a year ago, show Europe facing shrinking populations and a tight labor market that eventually could force them to lower bars to immigration. Some countries, such as Italy, are expected to lose a quarter of their current populations by the year 2050. But the analysis said that even skilled workers shied away from European countries with a marked anti-foreigner atmosphere. In recent years, EU nations have toughened their asylum rules in an attempt to stem the number of refugees seeking shelter within their borders. In 1999 alone, more than 250,000 applied for asylum. Immigration policies, however, are slip shod with the number of foreigners able to live in a European country very limited.

Robinson spoke at the news conference to promote a world conference against racism, xenophobia and intolerance, to be held in Durban, South Africa, from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2. Among the many topics will be Europe's migration policies, ethnic conflicts in Africa, discrimination against indigenous people in Latin America and elsewhere as well as intolerance towards minorities in Asia. Calling the conference a "Magna Carta for Victims," Robinson said racism, discrimination, xenophobia and bigotry were worldwide phenomena, more deep-rooted and virulent than most people thought.

Guard at Port Hedland charged with assault

More on the subject of the Port Hedland assault -

Ruddock failed to reveal alleged attack the day before riots at Port Hedland

A WA police spokesman said he was not sure about the nature or seriousness of the injury suffered by the detainee.

"You can't have an assault occasioning bodily harm without there being some sort of injury," he said.

A spokesman for Mr Ruddock was not prepared to confirm or deny that the incident was a catalyst for the riots the next day. "I don't think that's the link at all," he said. "There's been a number of incidents there."

He defended the Government's decision not to make the matter public at the time: "The minister was informed there was an investigation in the hands of police and it was a police matter and we wouldn't do anything to jeopardise a police investigation of the matter".

The spokesman said he could not comment further because the matter was before the courts.

The Opposition immigration spokesman, Mr Con Sciacca, had said he would back proposed legislation from Mr Ruddock which would make rioting at detention centres a serious offence and simplify procedures for deporting rioters. He said yesterday the alleged incident showed another example of the "litany of concerning stories from detention centres".

"The Government has got to come clean on all of these incidents. "Obviously I don't know whether that was the incident that sparked the riot the next day, but why didn't the Government say anything about it?" Mr Sciacca demanded.

"Why wasn't the public told?"

Ruddock hits out at refugee plan

The Melbourne Times for Feb 7 carries articles by Alison Dean on the plight of recently-released refugees arriving in Melbourne.

Refugees battle for basic needs

By CHLOE SALTAU  SOCIAL POLICY REPORTER  Wednesday 7 February 2001

The Federal Government was denying basic levels of support to hundreds of refugees living in Victoria after their release from the nation's troubled immigration centres, the State Government said yesterday.

Announcing a one-off $100,000 grant for the Victorian-based refugees, state Community Services Minister Christine Campbell conceded the money - to pay for basic accommodation, settlement and language services - was unlikely to stretch far enough.

Ms Campbell said the grant was necessary because Canberra had neglected to provide basic support for the burgeoning number of refugees granted temporary protection visas and released into the community. Their numbers are expected to swell to more than 1000 in Victoria by the middle of this year.

Local and ethnic councils will distribute the extra money to help pay for emergency aid for refugees trying to settle in the Darebin, Dandenong, Mildura and Shepparton areas, where welfare groups are battling to meet their needs.

Figures produced yesterday by the State Government suggest the Commonwealth has saved $5million through its refusal to provide Victoria's 563 temporary protection visa refugees basic services such as English lessons, job-seeking aid, settlement support and accommodation.

Until yesterday the state and local governments and community groups had spent $625,000 on similar services for temporary protection visa holders, Ms Campbell said.

"They have languished in detention centres and then, when they have received their TPV status, they have been released into the community with minimal support from the Commonwealth," she said. "TPV holders are now legally in Australia, they are included in our immigration figures but they are denied basic levels of support provided to other newly arrived residents."

Twenty more refugees were released from detention and arrived in Victoria this week.

In 1999 the Federal Government introduced temporary protection visas - which preclude refugees from language lessons,settlement support, family reunion rights and Migrant Resource Centre support - to deter more boat people from illegally entering the country.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said such privileges were reserved for migrants who had "come through the system lawfully".

Refugees with temporary protection visas were entitled to the same payment, called a special benefit, as other Australians who were destitute and ineligible for other social security payments.

They could also apply for rent assistance and family allowance, and had access to torture and trauma counselling if they needed it, he said.

A minister from the Islamic Society of Victoria, Sheikh Fehmi Naji El Imam am, said he believed Australians were beginning to understand why refugees had fled dangerous situations countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan and had come to Australia illegally.

"We expected more from Mr Ruddock. He has a responsibility to these people," he said.

Of the 563 refugees released on temporary protection visas in Victoria, 100 have been under the age of 18, including 27 unattached minors.

Victorian Government assists refugees

PM - Tuesday, February 6, 2001 6:34

COMPERE: The Victorian Government is giving
humanitarian aid to 500 refugees left to
fend for themselves in Melbourne over the last six
months.

The Federal Government says refugees on temporary
protection visas are queue
jumpers, they are not entitled to language classes,
access to migrant resource centres
or accommodation.

The volunteers helping to resettle the refugees say
Canberra has deliberately left them
in poverty. Giulia Baggio reports.

GIULIA BAGGIO: Last year the Federal Government gave
hundreds of so-called queue
jumping illegal immigrants temporary protection visas.
The plight of these people was
judged to be so shocking even Immigration Minister
Phil Ruddock was persuaded to let
them stay.

Busloads were dropped off at hostels and backpackers
in most of the capital cities. With
$50 in their pocket and barely a word of English
between them, they were left to fend for
themselves.

Community volunteers like Nazirah Ibrahim from the
Islamic Society of Victoria stepped
in to help. Six months down the track she says most
refugees have found basic
accommodation but daily life is very tough.

NAZIRAH IBRAHIM: A lot of people have come with no
English at all so it makes it very
hard even for them to go and make shopping for
themselves and the money also is a
problem because they're not aware of the currency at
the moment.

GIULIA BAGGIO: What sort of jobs are they doing?

NAZIRAH IBRAHIM: At the moment we have a few who are
picking fruit in the Shepparton
area. Most of the rest are either doing schooling or
virtually nothing because actually
TAFEs are not funding them this year for classes any
more.

GIULIA BAGGIO: What do you see their future as?

NAZIRAH IBRAHIM: Very bleak and there's no direction
in their life. At the moment they're just sitting and
waiting and doing nothing.

GIULIA BAGGIO: Yesterday 20 more refugees were set
free into the community and in
just a few months another 500 with the barest of
support will be released.

Their temporary visas allow them to live in Australia
for two to three years but after that
there are no guarantees they can stay and make a life
here.

Christine Campbell, Community Services Minister with
the Bracks Government, today
handed over $100,000 to help ease the transition and
accused the Federal Government
of behaving despicably.

CHRISTINE CAMPBELL: They are living without the
appropriate supports for English
language classes, assistance with employment and
accommodation assistance and
what is happening is the under-resourced and stretched
charities are picking up the
Federal Government's responsibility.

GIULIA BAGGIO: A spokesman for Mr Ruddock says the
handout will encourage illegal
immigrants to head for Victoria. He says the Bracks
Government is effectively giving
more money to them than it does to destitute citizens
of Australian origin.

CAMPBELL: Victorians have a heart and we don't like to
see people treated inhumanely. 

GIULIA BAGGIO: Haider Aljuboory from the Australia
Iraqi Association says the families
he visits each day are demoralised. 

HAIDER ALJUBOORY: A lot of them are confused and also
confused about what's going
to happen to them after three years because they are
not sure what will be their
situation.

GIULIA BAGGIO: Do you think that the Government is
deliberately trying to make them
feel uncomfortable?

HAIDER ALJUBOORY: Actually, I asked the Minister, Mr
Ruddock. I asked him, do you
want those people to be successful in Australia? He
said no. 

GIULIA BAGGIO: Did you ask him why he didn't want them
to be successful in Australia?

HAIDER ALJUBOORY: Yes, the message was clear, just to
discourage the others to do
the same thing. 

GIULIA BAGGIO: Discourage their other family from
coming out here? 

HAIDER ALJUBOORY: Yes, discourage them to come in the
same way they came in by,
accused to call them queue jumpers.

GIULIA BAGGIO: He says for many of the refugees in his
care the alternative to queue
jumping was to face death in their own country.

About 100 of the temporary visa refugees are under 18.
Most have started going to
school but after many months in detention centres
Nazirah Ibrahim says their lives have
been badly disrupted.

NAZIRAH IBRAHIM: A lot of them are going to school but
how they're coping is another
issue because we have a lot of parents who are telling
the kids are not coping.

GIULIA BAGGIO: In the long term, what sort of problems
do you think this will bring about?

NAZIRAH IBRAHIM: It makes them very vulnerable, even
if they're here for 15, 20 years. 

GIULIA BAGGIO: It makes them feel like second class
citizens?

NAZIRAH IBRAHIM: A lot of times, yes. 

Radio National AM - Wednesday, February 7, 2001 8:17

  


COMPERE: Federal Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock,
has crossed swords with the
Bracks Government in Victoria. The Victorians are
putting more money into the care of
refugees on temporary visas, describing their
treatment under the Federal assistance
regime as inhumane.

But Mr Ruddock claims that the Bracks' measures will
undermine his efforts to keep
illegal immigrants out and actively encourage the
people smugglers to tout Australia as
the most lucrative destination to go on welfare.
Louisa Saccotelli reports.

LOUISA SACCOTELLI: The Bracks Government is making a
one-off payment of
$100,000 to help refugees out in the community under
temporary protection visas. State
Minister, Christine Campbell, says many new arrivals
find themselves deposited in
cheap hotels and backpacker hostels with little
language.

CHRISTINE CAMPBELL: They are living without the
appropriate supports for English
language classes, assistance with employment and
accommodation assistance. And
what is happening is the under-resourced and stretched
charities are picking up the
Federal Government's responsibility. Victorians have a
heart and we don't like to see
people treated inhumanely.

LOUISA SACCOTELLI: But the contrary is true, according
to Federal Immigration
Minister, Philip Ruddock, who says Australia honours
its international obligations and in
a sign of the wedged politics coming to dominate this
debate, Philip Ruddock asks
whether illegal immigrants should get more welfare
than needy Australians.

PHILIP RUDDOCK: They are receiving - if they meet the
income test, the same income
test that any Australian meets - special benefits.
They're receiving access to rent
allowance. They're receiving family payments in
addition if they have children and they
are the same level of benefits that any Australian
would receive. Now that is more than
generous.

LOUISA SACCOTELLI: Philip Ruddock goes further,
claiming the Victorian initiative will
be seized on by the people smugglers in their
marketing drive to make Australia the
destination of choice for illegal entrants.

PHILIP RUDDOCK: It serves to reinforce a message that
the smugglers, the people
who are exploiting the vulnerability of those people
who come unlawfully, that 'Look, just
sit tight, eventually the decisions taken by
government will unwind. You'll be able to stay
permanently and you'll be able to receive a wider
range of benefits than you now
receive.'

In other words, it would be counted by the smugglers
as a sign that our determination to
defeat this unlawful entry to Australia is unwinding.

LOUISA SACCOTELLI: The Minister has his critics in
Victoria who fail to see how a small
change one off funding package is a single State could
possibly do all that. In any case
the money goes to people on temporary visas, those Mr
Ruddock's own Department
has assessed as the most genuine asylum seekers, those
most likely to be able to
resettle.

Does the Minister's misgivings mean he doubts even his
own Department can tell the
difference between queue jumpers and genuine refugees?

COMPERE: Louisa Saccotelli reporting from Melbourne. 

17-year-old Iraqui boy attempts suicide at Maribyrnong

A report in The Age today, January 9th, quotes a spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration and Migrant Affairs as saying that the case of Ali Kadem would be dealt with "in due course", and the family would not be released on a bridging visa. Ali slashed his throat inside the Maribyrnong camp on Saturday 6th January after staff at the centre insisted that his father could only be taken to visit a dentist if he was restrained by a leather harness and handcuffs. The family of eight has been waiting 14 months for a decision on their application for refugee status. Ali has threatened further drastic action if no reply is forthcoming by January 8th (this date has now passed, but we have not heard of any response). Martin Clutterbuck, coordinator of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre has called for the Immigration Department to release Ali into the community immediately. The provisions are there in the legislation, but it is up to the Department to exercise them. According to Mr Clutterbuck, the family could also be eligible for release via bridging visas on the grounds they have already been waiting more than six months for a decision on their application. He also says there have been more than ten attempted suicides at Maribyrnong in the last three years ... For a fuller account, visit The Age web site.

Go home, 90-year-old great-grandmother told

The Herald Sun for 13 January carried the front-page story of a 90-year-old great-grandmother, Marianayaki Saverimuttu, who lives in a Melbourne nursing home and has now been ordered to leave Australia, the authorities having decided that she does not qualify for refugee status. She has lived in Australia for about three years since her family succeeded in bringing her out here. They have since paid all her costs. She has an extended family of more than 60 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in Australi, but nothing to go back to in Sri Lanka. Her sons there have been killed in the civil war, her home destroyed by government troops, and as a Tamil she fears persecution if she returns. But the Refugee Review Tribunal has rejected her application for refugee status, and it now rests with Minister Ruddock to decide whether to overturn that decision. According to the paper, a spokeswoman for the minister said he received 8000 submissions a year, and Mrs Saverimuttu could not expect to jump the queue. The wait might be eight months to a year ...

Long-term detainess from Woomera blamed for riot at Port Hedland

Minister Ruddock is quoted as follows in The ABC, January 22:

"We are faced with groups of people who are unsuccessful asylum seekers in detention and are waiting removal," he said. "People who believe they've got little to lose sometimes think that if they behave inappropriately they may achieve different outcomes."

The Age, January 22 has an even more revealing statement:

Mr Ruddock said you could never be confident that such incidents would not occur. "It's symptomatic that when people are denied their freedom, no matter what sort of environment you create for them to make the amenity as good as possible, people still behave inappropriately," he said.

Briefly, about 180 detainees armed with rocks, iron bars, chairs and makeshift weapons drove ACM staff out of the compound at Port Hedland around 6.00 PM local time on Sunday. The authorities claim it is not known "what caused the detainees to turn against the staff", but admit it came "less than a fortnight after a guard was assaulted at the centre." Ruddock blames it on detainees shifted from Woomera, where there were riots last year. "I guess [the cause] was the fact that we had shifted a number of longer-term detainees from Woomera to Port Hedland because we were accomodating a large number of new arrivals," Mr Ruddock told ABC Radio.

It took police in riot gear an hour to bring the situation "under control"; capsicum spray was used on 20 detainees.

Chemical restraints

In The Australian 23 January, Mr Ruddock is further quoted as telling ABC radio that the laws relating to detainees are inadequate and need to be "upgraded"-

There is a series of issues that needs to be addressed in relation to the way in which you manage centres ... the extent to which you are able to administer anti-depressants and use other forms of restraint, chemical and otherwise," he said.

Independent Council for Refugee Advocacy president Marion Le argues that the Department does not seem to know what goes on in these centres -

"People are already heavily sedated, illegally in my opinion, and who knows whether that kind of sedation is not part of the problem ...
"People are being put on drugs and not properly monitored and there should be an inquiry into that."

Opposition immigration spokesman Con Sciacca doesn't seem to have got the message yet either, according to The Age:

Opposition immigration spokesman Con Sciacca said the riot leaders appeared to be hard-core criminals who should be shipped out immediately. "They are probably more than protagonists. If it is the same group of people (as at Woomera) I'm surprised that they're still here in Australia," he told ABC Radio. "They're acting criminally, they're people who have not it seems got genuine refugee claims." Mr Sciacca said detention centres obviously needed reform, but criminals within them had set back the reform cause.

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Ruddock admits there may be something to learn from Sweden

According to The Age 23 January, Mr Ruddock is considering following the example of the Swedish authorities and releasing mothers and children into the community - the fathers would remain in custody, however. The article points out that Sweden has more than 16,000 asylum seekers every year, far more than Australia, but its detention centres house only about 200 at any one time. Swedish laws make it illegal to detain a child for more than three days. But Ruddock is determined to keep up the pressure on refugees -

"I have certainly come to the view that the more you unwind the system, it's likely to contribute to the number of people who come ..."

There is a full report on the ABC web site for 18 January.

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More misinformation from Minister Ruddock

An article by Benjamin Haslem in The Australian for 10th January quotes from a so-called "information kit" being distributed by Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock to governments and journalists in five Middle-Eastern and three European countries during his present overseas tour aimed at deterring asylum seekers from trying to reach Australia.

Refugee groups and the Federal Opposition have expressed outrage at claims such as that paying people smugglers could leave prospective immigrants "in debt to criminals who will demand you work for them selling drugs or force you and your family into prostitution to pay off your debt", and that illegal immigrants "face racial hatred and violence because citizens are angry at having to support them".

Particularly shocking is the claim that 163 boatpeople drowned last month when two boats sank near Indonesia: the Minister himself announced last week that these people had been accounted for.

In reply to protests from the Federal Opposition and others, a spokeswoman for Mr Ruddock apparently stated: "It's a global information campaign; it's about dissuading illegal immigration, period."

This latest attempt to deter asylum seekers is of a piece with the bizarre video produced last year, portraying Australia as a dangerous place infested with snakes and crocodiles - this was in the run-up to the Sydney Olympics ...

A report on the ABC later carried denials from the minister that his information kit contained the above material - it had been withdrawn ...

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RADIO NATIONAL - ENCOUNTER - SUNDAY 29 JULY
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/enc/stories/s336731.htm

Lauris Kidd: I felt almost afraid of these people. They were people I hadn�t seen before, I felt they looked very much like the Palestinians who I�d seen blowing things up, and I was afraid these people were going to come into my country and disturb the peace and cause all sorts of problems.

Bill Bunbury: But your views changed?

Lauris Kidd: Yes, yes, definitely. As I watch them arriving by the boatloads on television, which was of course the only way I could see it, on one particular occasion I saw a busload being sent to detention, and one man looked out of one bus window, and his eyes looked right into mine, and I think a change was happening in me by then, but for the first time I began to think �What if it was me?� And from then on, there was no going back really, for me.

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Mike Watson: Yes, somewhere cheap to stay that they can afford while they get on their feet. Yes, normally the families go straight to the hotel, and if you�ve got several kids, that�s like $45 a night, it�s just not affordable. Within a few days you run out of money, so we provide houses that they can stay cheaply.

Bill Bunbury: How do you manage to get houses like this?

Mike Watson: It�s all through sympathetic people that will offer the houses to us either free of charge or at a low rental.<.p>

Bill Bunbury: So these are people, what? not CARAD people, just people in the community?

Mike Watson: Yes, just community people that are willing to offer support, and are concerned about the way things are done. When I heard that these people were literally released from detention, dropped off at a hotel by Immigration that they couldn�t afford to stay at, and then that was the last contact that Immigration had with them. They�re from another country, they don�t know the culture, they�re extremely traumatised and they�re automatically in a situation of crisis where they cannot afford to stay at this place where they�ve been placed. So after a few nights, they will literally run out of money and have nowhere to live.

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Jasmine Zahedi: I�m Jasmine Zahedi and this is my Mum, Jamilla Zahedi. Mum says it was really hard when my Dad told us that he�s going away, and it was really hard for my Mum because she couldn�t manage to keep five children on her own, and it was really hard for her. She was really upset and she was really worried about that, because my Dad was going away and my brother also couldn�t get out of the house, because he couldn�t just go out of the house.

Bill Bunbury: Your brother couldn�t go out of the house, what? because the Taliban might take him and make him a soldier? Was that the worry?

Jasmine Zahedi: Yes, of course, because my brother, the young people in there, the Talibans took them and wanted them to be with them, they actually wanted the young boys to be different, yes. Because my Dad was in trouble, my Mum just wanted my Dad to get out of there, because it was hard for him, he couldn�t stay there anymore, and she just wanted my Dad�s safety. After that, we couldn�t stay longer there as well because there was a hard time for us, and then we decided to leave as well.

It was hard to get out of Afghanistan. I was about 10 when we got out of there. We came from our village to Mokur and from there we went to Karachi, which is in Pakistan. After that, we got in aeroplane, I think we went to Dubai, and from there to Jakarta and from Jakarta to Bali, and then from Bali we got in a boat and from boat we came to Australia.

Bill Bunbury: That last part I imagine would have been the most difficult part of the whole journey, is that right?

Jasmine Zahedi: Yes, of course, because that was our first time travelling on the boat. We had a hard time in there because aunties and uncles, there were all children, ten families and other single men, all of them were 58 people, and the boat was quite small for that. And we didn�t quite have enough mineral water or food, yes it was hard for us, really hard.

Bill Bunbury: Was the sea calm when you made the journey, or did you have any storms?

Jasmine Zahedi: We had storms. For the two days when we were on our way, the first thing was that the driver lost the way, he didn�t know the way to Australia, he lost the way and I think we had a compass that failed when we were going in the boat, the compass fall down and he broke it. Then he couldn�t find the way, and a fishing boat got us and we signalled them and then they called the police and they came and took us to a small island. After that we came to Port Hedland.

Bill Bunbury: Did you ever think that you might not get to Australia on that journey?

Jasmine Zahedi: Oh, some people did, some people did, but we really hoped, we really prayed that God, please, for our safety, keep us in your safety and take us to Australia.

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Mike Watson: Some of the stories that we�ve heard from the refugees are just absolutely horrific. We have sometimes taken them on outings and if we go to the beach, some will not go anywhere near the water because they are so traumatised by their boat trip. I mean you hear the stories on the News about the condition of the boats and the way some of them are just left by the smugglers, it�s absolutely awful. The idea that these people are coming here because they�re economic refugees and they just want a better life is just flawed. I mean they literally risk their lives to get away from the situation in their country to start again.

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Immigrant: My relatives do not tell me everything, they hide things from me because they know it will only worry me. But I heard that some Taliban people came into my house and gave a toy to my children. After they had gone, the children fought amongst themselves for the toy, and one of them threw it and it exploded. Fortunately no-one was hurt, at least I hope so.

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Margaret Watson: With the family we have next door, and the wife yesterday showed me this photo of the husband�s brother who had been shot by the Taliban, they speak very little English but there�s a strong emotional connection there. I say to her, �It is not good where you are�, her eyes fill with tears, she say No, and she looks at the little boy who is two, and the little baby under 12 months old.

Now if you�ve been shot and you have a little family like that, how can you join a queue, you just have to run, however you get here. She can�t explain to me, all I know is that it�s full of emotion for her and for both of us really, so I don�t know how a little person like that, wanting to protect their family, could join a queue.

Mike Watson: Well I think one of the big myths is that the refugees choose to come to Australia. For many of the refugees they pay a smuggler to get out of the country. Often their lives are in danger, we had one situation with an Afghan family where the son was being taken away by the Taliban, the husband then went out to try and stop what was happening, was shot and killed, and then the rest of the family then paid a smuggler to get out. Now they did not pay a smuggler to go to Australia, they paid a smuggler to get out of the country and the smuggler then decides which is the best place they can get them to.

Lauris Kidd: Many of them don�t really know anything about Australia, and a lot of them would have preferred to have gone to Europe because they know they are not held in detention there. But a lot of them didn�t have the money to go there. Some of them tell me when they set off they didn�t know where they were going, they were just in the hands of an agent, as they call them. They call these agents their angels, because they�ve rescued them from a probable death.

Bill Bunbury: Although they�re paying huge sums of money, of course, to use the angels, aren�t they?

Lauris Kidd: Some seem to have paid a lot, others not so much. Most of them, they will have had family who�ve given up everything. I can think of one young man whose father sold his whole flock of sheep in Afghanistan, his whole almond orchard, and his house to get one lone son out; his others had already been killed by the Taliban, and now this young man hasn�t seen them again, he�s no idea if they�re alive or dead, but as they had nowhere to live, they have probably died of the cold.

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Bill Bunbury: Lauris, I wonder if I could just chat to you about the sort of atmosphere of things today. This is a warehouse in an industrial suburb of Perth where you�re collecting all kinds of things for the refugees. How did this get going, this project?

Lauris Kidd: We were always being called on for these kind of goods, and I was getting perhaps a dozen calls a day from people who wanted to donate things specifically for refugees. So we find a kind donor who gives us this rent-free, and that�s how it began.

Bill Bunbury: And who comes in and helps here?

Lauris Kidd: Mostly church people who live nearby, but the goods come from all over Perth and many from non-church people. The large majority from non-church people.

Bill Bunbury: What do you think makes people turn up in such numbers? I mean there are what? thirty people here today doing this aren�t there?

Lauris Kidd: Yes. The goodwill is astonishing really. Most are people who have a great capacity to love and to care, and a great amount of sympathy towards these refugees. The core people of CARAD have built up a very good relationship with these people and a lot of them I know are here today out of love for the poor people, it�s a real support for say myself and Mike, and see they�ve brought tea and biscuits, it�s a real feel of Keep the people propped up who are doing a lot of the extra work. So it�s a very loving, you may have felt this today, an enormous loving atmosphere between us all.

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Bill Bunbury: Dr Peter Carnley, Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia and Archbishop of Perth. Does he think the Christian church in Australia should become involved in the issue of �illegal immigrants�?

Peter Carnley: Yes, it certainly should. Jewish-Christian tradition upholds values such as hospitality, and care and concern and justice, so we�re motivated by those values. But Christian people have a right equal to that of any other citizen of the nation to become involved in this kind of issue so there�s no difference.

Bill Bunbury: There�s a sense, isn�t there, at the moment in which it seems that it�s politically incorrect for the church to become involved in these issues. There�s a sense of separating those issues out, the government�s almost saying, �Look we can handle this, it�s a secular matter.� What�s your response to that?

Peter Carnley: Well I think that�s a recurrent issue isn�t it? that the church should keep out of politics. I think I just reject that out of hand, I think it�s an absurd idea. On the other hand I think Christian churches have to become involved because they become involved in welfare issues generally in picking up the pieces. I mean we have to raise the money, we have to do the hard yakka to find finance to help people and we automatically become involved, there�s no way we cannot become involved.

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One of the many tasks CARAD has set itself is to provide classes in English for the newcomers. Unlike other migrants, adult Temporary Visa holders are not given any government help in this area.

Immigrant: There are no English courses for us and there are no loans for us to start a business, no help with housing, there is nothing except the special benefit which is only enough to pay for rent and food, nothing else. They do not even help us to find a job.

Bill Bunbury: Have you tried to find jobs here?

Immigrant: A lot, but I am not an assisted migrant, and my English is not fluent enough to work in my own field, geology. There is only manual labour available and I am about 48, 49, and companies do not give work to people my age.

Jenny Burns: Oh, it�s devastating for the men. They desperately want to work and it�s very difficult for them really to sit in English classes when they know they should be out there looking for work. And in their heads they�ve been convinced that they have to learn English in order to get jobs, but their instinct is to go out and look for work and knock on doors and ask people to employ them.

Bill Bunbury: CARAD volunteer from the Uniting Church, Jenny Burns.

Jenny Burns: Work is much more than just getting money, it�s occupying their time gainfully, it�s being part of the community and giving to the community I never yet met a refugee who said �Yes it�s great, giving me all the Centrelink money�, they all want to work.

They all want to work. And would work hard and the devastating things for refugees who come in is that they say, �Oh I will work, I will work hard for this country which has been good enough to take us in� and particularly if they�re over 50 you know perfectly well the chances of their ever working are very, very slim, and it�s frustrating because it affects their self image as a worthwhile, productive person. And particularly if they�re going to have to save money to bring families out. It�s really a very, very difficult and depressing situation that they�re in.

Mike Watson: There is a very broad range of talents. Some people come from farming villages and have lived a very subsistence way of living, but a lot of others that are coming are doctors, mechanical engineers, highly qualified people who of course find it very difficult because often their qualifications aren�t recognised in Australia, and therefore they have to do a considerable amount of training before they can then get employment here.

Lauris Kidd: They cannot use the full resources of Centrelink to find work; language is a problem. To get to some of the courses are expensive, and so these things are all very difficult. They have been going down doing things like fruit picking, but one of the problems for them is on their special benefit, it�s a dollar for dollar arrangement; so for every cent they earn it comes off their Centrelink payments.

Neville Watson: Now this is almost setting up these people to fail insofar as if they get a job which takes them to the point of the allowance, then they immediately lose their health card. This isn�t the case with other allowances by the government.

So it�s almost a subterfuge I think, setting them up to fail and we�re just starting to see the first signs of this in what�s happened down the south west as they try and cope with this by getting temporary employment, and then comes the question about the health card, whether it�s worth working or whether it�s not. It�s a very difficult situation that they�re in.

Bill Bunbury: Can you understand however the argument that the government mounts that these people, the government says, are jumping the queue, that they�re ahead of that so-called orderly process by which people can come into the country legally?

Mike Watson: Well I don�t actually know that there is a queue. I mean in Iraq and Afghanistan there�s no Australian Embassy, and there�s no way of applying for asylum in Australia from those countries, so the idea that if your life is in danger you can apply to a country, get accepted and then go is really not true at all. These people are desperate, they are fleeing for their lives and they are doing whatever they can to get out, and we should not punish them for that. I�m sure we would do exactly the same.

Bill Bunbury: What about the argument that if this process is condoned and every assistance is given to them, that we will become a kind of open door for refugees, we�ll be flooded with people from all over the place.

Mike Watson: Well I think often the numbers of refugees that arrive on our shores without papers is taken totally out of context. Just in the last 12 months there has been close to 50,000 people that have overstayed their visas, and I would call them the true illegal immigrants, yet there isn�t a hue and cry about all those people.

However in the last 12 months we�re looking at probably 4,000 people that have arrived on our shores as refugees. So it needs to be put into context. Also Australia is very isolated, so when you look at the other countries and the number of refugees that they receive, we actually receive a very small number, and I think that for these people that are quite desperate, I don�t think it�s going to destroy our country or our way of life to offer the hand of friendship and to really help these people.

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Bill Bunbury: And when you got to the detention centre, how were you treated there by the people who ran the detention centre?

Immigrant: It wasn�t like Australia. I thought maybe I had come to a very backward country, because the people, the staff, insulted us, saying �Why did you come to this country? This country is poor.� We were put inside a block which was locked all the time. We were only allowed out for ten minutes at a time to smoke a cigarette. Most of the time the detainees were fighting each other just for food. There was not enough food. There was nothing to do, no open area for exercise, just a block inside a block.

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Peter Carnley: It is a complex picture, there�s no doubt about that, but I think we�re all aware of other countries in the world that do accept refugees and asylum seekers in a more open and hospitable way than we do. For example Canada and Holland, and they have devised strategies for ensuring that those people are kept under a kind of surveillance and all that kind of thing until their cases are heard. If we�re going to talk about the whole picture I think we need to look at the whole world and see how other places are doing it.

Neville Watson: One of the things that is very clear is that we are the only country in the world that involves itself in indiscriminate and indeterminate detention which is against Habeas Corpus and against every other principle on which our law is founded. So that is the starting point of comparison that we are doing something which is different to the rest of the world. We are a signatory to the Refugee Convention, and as such, people have the right to apply for asylum, and this is what Mr Ruddock misrepresents, and the media certainly hasn�t been able to understand, that these people are not illegals, they have a right under international law to apply for asylum at any country which is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention.

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Lauris Kidd: It�s a time bomb in two says: I think Australians will wake up one day and see this as a very dark part of our history that we�ve treated people like this. But I think it could be a time bomb because if you don�t treat people well, if they feel alienated from the rest of society, it�s got to have some effect in the future, and this is why we as CARAD work so hard to get them to become useful citizens and independent as quickly as possible.

Mike Watson: It actually amazes me that despite the numbers of refugees that have been released on temporary protection visas that we haven�t heard about any that have got in trouble with the police or the law, and I�m sure if they were the media would be the first to be there, that despite the fact that they are being treated so badly and put in such vulnerable positions, they are still doing their best to struggle along without breaking any laws or causing any trouble.

But the real fear that I would have is how far can you push people? I mean we can see what can happen in the detention centres when you lock people up for long periods of time, don�t tell them when or if they will be released. You know, I just think that it�s very risky to treat people like that, we could really end up with an underclass and all the consequences that come with that. You know there�s all this publicity about the negative things and the violence that�s happened in the detention centres, but no-one says Good on the refugees for being such good citizens when they�re released. They don�t get that sort of publicity.

Neville Watson: I think it�ll become as clear as day that it will be impossible to deport people when the TPVs expire, and what happens then, well most of the ones that we have met wouldn�t be able to go back, it would just be impossible. They have fled for their lives, and not even Mr Ruddock says that they should be sent back to certain death. Because some of the parallels here are frightening too.

I�m old enough to go back to the days when the Jews were trying to escape persecution in Germany and they chartered the s.s.�St Louis� and sailed around the world trying to find refuge and all they got was �Send them back home� and they went back home and many of them died in the Holocaust. And we still don�t seem to have learnt that lesson. It�s taken us 60 years to learn that one, and here we are creating a position which I would think in 60 years time, people will look back and say �How could they have acted in that way?�

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Immigrant: I think I have put in jail for three years because I could not go back to look for my family or to know where they are. I�ve not been able to make contact with them for a long time because they�ve moved around. All the time I think I�m losing my life, my family, my children.

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Extracts from Radio National's Law Report of 2 October: Leveling the Playing Field or Curbing Fundamental Rights?

For the full transcript, go to the RN website

Man: What an extraordinary turnaround of self-interest, of turn toadying �

Man: A dark day for democracy in our country, and I think it�s a dark day in the history of this Parliament.

Man: I was deported from South Africa because I refused to accept that people should be banned.

Man: I will be supporting them because that�s what my party has determined, but I�m not doing it with any great deal of comfort.

Man: Prime Minister John Howard is playing short-term political advantage to try and win the election, and he will use any device �

Damien Carrick: Labor, Green and Democrat Senators in Parliament last week, debating the package of legislation, which was largely overshadowed in the media by significant national and international events, including of course the Ansett collapse; the continuing fallout from the terrorist attacks in the USA; speculation over the timing of an upcoming Federal election; and of course, Grand Finals fever.

Although events in Nauru have put the issue back on the agenda, with the UN High Commission for Refugees advising Nauru that it won�t be processing any more asylum seekers after it deals with those who�ve made it there on board the Manoora.

Spokesperson for the UNHCR in Canberra, Ellen Hanson.
Ellen Hanson: It is inappropriate for countries such as Australia, which has very sophisticated and very well-developed refugee status determination procedures, to ask UNHCR to undertake such processing of people who�ve come within Australian territory and then are intercepted at sea and taken elsewhere.

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Damien Carrick: The legislation also retrospectively shores up the government�s legal position with respect to the recent m.v. Tampa debacle.

Now until last week, all asylum seekers could appeal an unsuccessful determination by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to the Refugee Review Tribunal, which is an independent merits review forum. And if they had the grounds, they could then appeal an unsuccessful Tribunal determination to the Federal Court.

But that system is now out the window. And the options of asylum seekers who arrive by boat in the so-called �Excised Zone� are particularly limited.

As Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock explains, the legislation excises Cocos Island, Christmas Island and Ashmore Reef from the Australian Migration Zone.

Philip Ruddock: What it means is that if you come to Christmas Island or the Ashmore Reef and you�re an unauthorised border arrival, you don�t access the migration zone. In not accessing the migration zone you can�t lodge a protection visa application in the same way that you might if you were on the Australian mainland. But we still honour our obligations in relation to refugees, and what we�ve said is that if you are on one of those territories, the only system for dealing with refugee claims will be via my Department considering those claims and either accepting or rejecting them, or if your claim is rejected, an internal administrative review of those decisions. And we�ve also taken the view and the legislation provides that if we wish to remove people from those territories to another country where they can be processed, and the processing can be undertaken by the UNHCR, that will be possible as well. Why have we done that? The reason is very clear. What we�ve sought to do is to ensure that nobody gets a better outcome or has their claims determined any differently if they reach those territories clandestinely, unauthorised, than they would get if their claims were being considered in Indonesia by the UNHCR or considered in Pakistan by the UNHCR or considered in Malaysia. And the reason we�ve taken that decision is because numbers of people took the view that they would be dealt with differently and at different outcomes, if they arrived in Australia clandestinely. It was part of the pull factors that were operating and that we needed to address.

Damien Carrick: So you�re saying that people who arrive on these territories will not be able to get review of the decision by your Department in the Refugee Review Tribunal, there will be no administrative review of whatever somebody in your Department decides?

Philip Ruddock: No the review will be internal in exactly the same way that the UNHCR provides for internal reviews.

Damien Carrick: There�ll be no external administrative review?

Philip Ruddock: No, that�s how those decisions are dealt with if you�re in Indonesia, but dealing with the UNHCR. What we�re saying is, the system will be identical, and that is in keeping with our international obligations and there is no obligation upon us to give people access to an independent merits review tribunal in the form that the Refugee Review Tribunal is, no obligation to give people access to judicial review of those decisions. I mean this is a myth that has developed over time that because we use these sorts of procedures to deal with matters for our own population, that in relation to those who come unlawfully, and seek to engage our protection obligations, that they�re entitled to the same sorts of access to administrative review and judicial review, that we give our own citizens, and that�s not an obligation that we�ve signed up to.

Damien Carrick: Will these people have access to independent legal advice?

Philip Ruddock: Well, if somebody wants to advise them, that�s fine. But they won�t get independent legal advice provided for by the Australian taxpayer.

Damien Carrick: Does that include refugee legal services funded by the government?

Philip Ruddock: Of course. I mean a view we�ve taken is that they will get exactly the same consideration of their claims on exactly the same basis as they�re considered if somebody is in Indonesia.

Damien Carrick: If they are found to be a refugee under the now limited refugee determination process which you�re saying will operate in these places, and if they�re not taken to a third country and processed there, they will get a different class of visa, won�t they?

Philip Ruddock: That�s right. It�s a hierarchy, and the best outcome is to apply from a situation of first asylum. The second best outcome is to apply in a country which might be en route, where you are able and secure enough to be able to do so. The third best outcome is if you come to Australia, and that�s a very deliberate hierarchy in policy terms. What we�ve determined is that if you�re prepared to bypass situations of safety and security where you can in fact put your claims for a resettlement place in Australia, if you can bypass those places and get to Australia, then you ought not to be treated as generously as those people who essentially are prepared to take their turn in the queue.

Damien Carrick: So we�re talking about people will receive ongoing rolling temporary visas who will never normalise their status here in Australia, will never be able to have family join them out here. That�s going to mean a permanent population of people who are second class citizens.

Philip Ruddock: It might well do that.

Damien Carrick: But Minister, we�re making, as you say, second-class citizens out of these people.

Philip Ruddock: That�s right.

Damien Carrick: That�s out of people who are bona fide refugees, even under the very proscribed system which you�re allowing them.

Philip Ruddock: That�s right. On the basis that because somebody may have a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country, if they�ve bypassed other places where they would be safe and secure in order to put their claims in Australia, they are essentially taking places from people who have a more urgent need for a resettlement outcome.

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David Manne: One of the main problems with this new successive temporary protection visa is that at no point, that is, say six, nine years, or twelve years down the track, will the person who has been granted the visa, be able to for instance, seek family reunion, that is, bring their husband or wife or children over to Australia, to be with them. Arguably that is in contravention of a number of international obligations to which Australia is a party, and beyond that, it actually creates a new class of person who has no entitlement to family reunion unless the Minister and his personal discretion allows that person to in effect, avail themselves of family reunion.

Damien Carrick: Philip Ruddock acknowledges that. He says it�s legitimate to create a second-class form of citizenship or a second-class form of refugee visa because it�s legitimate to acknowledge the different ways by which people have become refugees in Australia. There are those who have waited patiently in refugee camps to be part of our offshore refugee program; and those who�ve paid people smugglers to arrive on our shores.

David Manne: Well the creation of a successive temporary protection regime is arguably inconsistent with Australia�s international obligations. The new visa regime essentially draws a distinction on the basis of mode of arrival, how someone�s actually got to Australia. Amongst other things, Australia is signatory to a convention which actually requires Australia to apply human rights equally in a non-discriminatory way. It�s clear that this new visa regime in fact does the opposite, and will also have terrible, terrible consequences for many of the types of people that we act for.

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Radio National's Perspective 31 October - Mick Dodson

Transcript:http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/perspective/stories/s404771.htm
Audio: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/perspective/

Good evening
There is a not so silent aspect to this Federal election campaign that causes me deep concern. Both major political parties led by Mr Howard�s Coalition are exploiting fear and ignorance. There seems to be a deliberate appeal to the worst of the prejudices, bigotry and ignorance of some. This is the politics of difference and intolerance. The contest of ideas is nowhere to be seen.

It is a campaign that is elusive, almost sneeky on the question of race. Xenophobic fear of the other is being invoked in the most despicable way as a rallying call to security of national borders and nationalism itself.

Asylum seekers in boats have replaced indigenous Australians as the scapegoats for this fear and hate. Prejudice takes over from reason; humanity gives way to hysteria.

Our poorest Pacific neighbours are called upon to return or accept favours in a makeshift solution to the desperation of the desperate. Compassion and humanity take a back seat, for we are told we have already been far too generous and enough is enough. Small Pacific nations now need that money and more to act as surrogates for our humanity � our compassion � our concern.

We pass laws that alter our borders. We send in the navy and the SAS, we spend more money, we talk tough, we lambast the people smugglers, we heighten the fears, but still the boats with their desperate human cargo come and Megawati refuses to answer John�s calls.

One Nation must scarcely believe their luck.

It is not just the call to xenophobic and racist sentiment that deeply concerns me about John Howard�s campaign (particularly) and the deep inhumanity it represents, but it is no solution. It will have a cost to us as a nation. This will be a heavy cost, not only in terms of dollars but also in how people elsewhere perceive us. It has already done us damage and will continue to do so.

What truly bewilders me is when and why did the Australian Labor Party turn. John Howard�s attitude can be explained; he has the track record. We heard his views on Asian immigration loud and clear in the 1980�s. We Indigenous Australians live with his racially discriminatory Native Title law. We are witnesses to his incapacity to say sorry to the stolen generations. We well know his wishy washy commitment to Reconciliation. But what of Kim Beazley and Labor? When it comes to race issues in this campaign forgive me if I cannot spot the difference. Also please forgive me if I think I have no choice in the major parties. It presents a difficult decision for me when it comes to marking my ballot paper. It is not only GST being rolled back here, its solid national leadership and vision, multiculturalism and reconciliation as well.

Perhaps I should have cause for relief because the campaign is not attacking indigenous Australians for a change - but attacking those scary 'others'. So, where I ask, does my vote seek asylum?

And what of after the election? Can the damage be undone? Will the winner account to us the electors?

Regardless of whoever wins the election there are many things that will stay the same. We will still have the GST. The education and health problems will not have magically vanished. Indigenous Australians will still be massively over-represented in our prisons and our kids will still be dying at 3 to 6 times the national rate. The bombs will still be raining down on Afghanistan and terrified people on leaky boats will still be arriving.

Thank you
I hope your vote is a happy one!

Radio National's Perspective 7 November - Dr John Yu

Transcript:http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/perspective/stories/s410231.htm
Audio: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/perspective/

Good evening.

An election is a time for reassessment and questioning.

For me, essential Australian values have always been about caring. Caring about each other, especially for children and those not able to protect or to provide for themselves, and caring about our country, our custodianship of the land, its waters and its future.

What makes me most proud of Australia and of being Australian is the fact that the provision of health care has depended on clinical need and that education has been determined by capability and the wish to learn. The ability to pay was a secondary concern. I fear that this is now threatened by a different value system based almost entirely on cost, without the balancing considerations of national gain and the rights of ordinary Australians.

But most strikingly, this loss of communal caring is seen in the lack of humanity and the heartless, xenophobic extremes used to exclude those seeking to escape the oppressive regimes and the hopelessness of Afghanistan and Iraq. Contrary to popular opinion, Australia's past assessments of Afghani asylum seekers have found 80 to 85 percent of them to be genuine in their claims for refugee status.

This matters to me because as a 2-year-older I was a war refugee with my mother and sister in the last months of 1937, when the Japanese invaded China and raped Nanking. I sailed through Sydney heads on the day Nanking fell. I hope I have repaid Australia for the humanity it showed me, as it has shown to so many others over the years.

My mother's father had come to the goldfields of Ballarat in 1867, and after being ordained as a Presbyterian minister came to Sydney. My uncle was the first Chinese graduate in Medicine from Sydney University, where a class mate was Earl Page - who later became Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and the founder of the Country Party. When the ship I arrived in landed, Sir Earl Page carried me ashore in his arms, unchallenged and undocumented by Customs and Immigration. I guess I might even have been technically an illegal entrant. I tell this story to ask what will "queue jumpers" or "illegal" really mean when today's history is written in the future, distant from the emotion and political distortions of the present?

I was Head of Medicine at the Children's Hospital - then at Camperdown - when Saigon fell at the end of the Vietnam War. I had been warned that about 30 sick babies and children were being evacuated on a refugee flight. In the event, over 130 babies and children were brought to the hospital for care. Many staff came back to work to help in whatever way they could. We were proud to be able to share in the comforting and healing of these innocent victims of war. Some babies were only a few days old, but no-one criticised their mothers. We understood that overwhelming love drove them to yield up their babies in a hope that they may have a better future.

That's no different to throwing your child, in a life jacket, into the sea, when faced with a gunboat.

Many of you will recognise what I mean by concern for each other and compassion, irrespective of your religious belief. Am I being too idealistic, or just battle weary, when I ask that we think again when we are deciding next Saturday what sort of Australia we want for tomorrow?

Thank-you and good evening.

Dr John Yu is Chancellor of the University of New South Wales. He was Chief Executive of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Sydney from 1978 to 1997. He chairs the Australia-China Council of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and he is Chairman of VisAsia, an organisation promoting appreciation of Asian visual arts and culture. Dr Yu was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1996, and a Companion of the Order in 2001. He was named Australian of the Year in 1996.

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Radio National's Perspective 8 November - Michael O'Connor

Transcript:http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/perspective/stories/s411582.htm
Audio: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/perspective/

Good evening.
Twenty five years ago Australian sailors were rescuing Vietnamese asylum seekers who have since contributed much to our peaceful and tolerant multicultural society.

I personally have vivid memories of burly Australian sailors hoisting Vietnamese babies into HMAS Swan.

For anyone with an understanding of a new generation of Australian military personnel, claims by navy doctor Duncan Wallace that naval personnel involved in intercepting asylum seekers were increasingly demoralised are perfectly understandable.

Young Australians who join the navy know that their primary tasks are to fight wars in the defence of their country or to help those in peril on the seas. In recent years, they have been increasingly employed as policemen.

But arresting lawbreakers and bringing them to trial in Australian courts is one thing. Here they are being directed to enforce a law of dubious validity and constitutionality.

The current policy of attempting to force asylum seekers in their leaking, overcrowded and decrepit vessels back into the open ocean and away from Australian territory is contrary to both their personal training and naval tradition. They know - far better than theri comfortable shore-bound fellow citizens - that the sea is a dangerous and hostile environment, one not lightly risked by the asylum seekers.

They also know that they did not join the navy to man prison ships, as happened with the Manoora and Tobruk.

Despite government propaganda that the asylum seekers transported to Nauru and elsewhere were not imprisoned, the sailors know otehrwise.

They also know that they are bound to comply with the law, which is currently uncertain. They know that they may be imprisoning or detaining people unlawfully. They know they will not be protected by the fact that they were following orders if those orders are later shown to be unlawful.

When those orders also conflict with their normal humanitarian instincts, Dr Wallace's claims of harmful effects on their psychological health and moral development are understandable.

Of course, the navy will do what the government orders it to do. If there were a serious threat to Australia's security, there would be no hesitation. But to see the typical asylum seeker as a threat who must not be allowed to land on Australian soil is stretching credulity for the sailors who actually deal with them.

Their resentment will manifest itself in a number of ways, one of which will be an increased rate of departures from a service already at cripplingly low staffing levels.

Another manifestation of their concern which may already be in evidence is the seeming difficulty of repairing broken down engines on the refugee boats. Given the technical expertise of our sailors, one is entitled to wonder whether their resentment is not being displayed in a degree of constructive incompetence.

At this moment, around three quarters of the Australian navy is committed in operations in one sphere or another. This is a navy kept short of ships by successive penny-pinching governments. The navy is supposed to have 14 frigates. Currently it has 9, and 7 of these are committed to a range of continuing tasks including intercepting asylum seekers, the war on terrorism, and peacekeeping.

Overcommitting this diminutive fleet threatens the navy's ability to meet its commitments for the next decade. Maintenance and modernisation programs will be delayed, crew training will be set back, and training of our submarine force will also be crippled.

The present government is not unique in using the armed forced as some sort of response force to do its political dirty work. But it should not be surprised if the troops themselves rebel in whatever ways are legally open to them, either now or in the future.

The navy, indeed the whole defence force, is characterised not merely by its competence but by its loyalty. But that loyalty is a sensitive plant which has to be nurtured rather than exploited.

Thankyou and good night.
Michael O'Connor is Executive Director of the Australia Defence Association.

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