Spokesman Dale West says the regular problems at centres like those at Woomera and Port Hedland prove it is time for a policy review.
"This will in 20 years time be Australia's shame, and we'll look back in 20 years time and say why didn't we take the opportunity to make things different," he said.
"We're not taking those opportunities at the moment because of Government policy, so in that context, it's the Government that needs to carry the can for the sort of activities and behaviours that have been occurring in our detention centres over the last 12 to 18 months."
Also from ABC online comes the news that Philip Ruddock is returning to the overseas campaign trail in his mission to discourage refugees from seeking asylum in Australia.
Mr Ruddock will visit Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam for discussions with government ministers and officials.
The Minister is in Darwin this morning for a forum with young people on the future of Australian immigration policy.
Meanwhile, he has rejected Catholic welfare agency Centacare's call for a judicial inquiry into the handling of Australia's asylum seekers.
The issue resurfaced, following last week's disturbances at the Woomera Detention Centre and the weekend escape of seven detainees.
Mr Ruddock says a judicial inquiry would be a waste of time, because escape details are easily determined and inquiries are only necessary when unanswered questions exist.
"People who are about arguing for a judicial inquiry hope, but if you had a judicial inquiry, some well meaning judge who might be asked to turn his mind to these matters might say 'oh look get rid of detention' that that's a good idea, and they're still hopeful that mandatory detention will be unwound and they're asking for a judicial review thinking that it might achieve that outcome," he said.
"I'm not prepared to accommodate that."
AND: Another good one from Mr RuddockMr Ruddock made a surprise visit to a supposedly public meeting held to allow Port Hedland residents to discuss concerns relating to the detention centre. But for some reason he made journalists leave before he would agree to speak:
Mr Ruddock made an unannounced appearance at the so-called public meeting then told journalists to leave or he would not front the gathering.
[As ABC radio reported it, he 'didn't want the media giving their version of events']He refused to close down the centre, and said in 10 years of detention, asylum seekers had never harmed the community.
"The reason detainees make weapons and the reason we see riots in detention is because people are endeavouring to put me and the system under duress," he said.
However, he said the construction of a large barbed wire and galvanised fence would continue, although in a different colour to appease neighbouring residents concerned about declining property values.
This is becoming surreal ...
In case anybody has missed the news, seven detainees are reported to have escaped from Woomera overnight, taking advantage of soil softened by recent rains to burrow under the wire. They are still at large. See the Age for details.
The report of the escape in ABC online quotes Minister Ruddock's response:
Federal Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock says he has no fears for the safety of Woomera residents, even if seven people who broke out of the Woomera Detention Centre last night are still at large.
...Mr Ruddock says he does not expect the escapees to pose a threat to the local community.
"We had had a sweep through Woomera recently," he said.
"We certainly found a number of items that do enable people to either harm others or harm themselves that were a concern to us.
"But our experience hasn't been in the past that people who have escaped from immigration detention have sought to harm people in the community."
A follow-up to this story quotes Terry O'Gorman, President of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, as calling on the government to "establish an Inspector-General position to monitor detention centres on a weekly basis and report to Parliament.
"It is clearly high time that there be an outside body that not only monitors what happens in detention centres, but can go there regularly with no notice and get in and see independently what is going on," he said.
Lawyers claim there is growing opposition to the planned release of women and children from the Woomera Detention Centre into the community.
Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock says the plans will not be hindered by violence at the centre this week that put seven people in hospital.
Jeremy Moore, an Adelaide lawyer who has represented detainees from the centre, says no-one there wants to be a part of the trial.
"I don't think it will be very successful at all," he said.
"I've spoken to people that have been at Woomera and been released and they tell me that the trauma of the family being split up will be too much and families won't agree to that proposal."
Could it be that the Department of Immigation and Multicultural Affairs is setting this scheme up to fail?ABC online 9th June reports that the Shadow Minister for Immigration has promised a Labor Government would review the compulsory detention of all unauthorised asylum seekers.
Senator Con Sciacca says while mandatory detention would continue under Labor, he would review the processes.
He says it is unfair especially for women and children to be detained indefinitely. Mr Sciacca says a Labor Government would want to speed up the process of determining who is, or who is not, a refugee.
A review is not enough. A future Labour government must END mandatory detention... a Perth magistrate has questioned why the children of two asylum seekers have been detained at the Port Hedland Detention Centre.
The Iraqi nationals, aged 15 and 17, have pleaded guilty to using violence against a person carrying out a duty on behalf of the Commonwealth.
The charge relates to a riot at the centre in May.
Children's court magistrate Stephen Vose told the court he had to ask himself why Australia as a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child could detain children.
Mr Vose said he believed that if any teenage boys were kept in detention under stressful circumstances, violence would be inevitable.
The magistrate is deciding what sentence to impose on the youths.
However, he said if the boys were sent to a juvenile remand centre he would be doing them a favour and they would be living in much better conditions than those at the Port Hedland Detention Centre.
"We are opening the centre today in style! Come along at midday to 211 Nicholson Street Footscray for a vege/vegan feast along with music and speakers."
Address: 211 Nicholson Street Footscray.Check out the website at http://home.vicnet.net.au/~asrc/
The Refugee Action Collective Statement is due to be presented in Parliament today (June 4). It carries over 7000 signatures.
At least three thousand people rallied in Melbourne today as part of the Refugee Action Collective National Day of Action. Speaker after speaker,including former detainees as well as community leaders, trade unionists, and activist/comedian Rod Quantock, who was MC, condemned the government's racist and inhumne policies, callng for the closure of the detention centres and an end to mandatory detention. FREE THE REFUGEES! (Photos)
"Spokeswoman ... Marion Le says clearly violence cannot be tolerated, but she says the Government must investigate exactly what is going on in the detention centres.
"There are a lot of questions here and I think obviously it has to be investigated," she said.
is kind of rioting in these outback places can't continue, and obviously you know, the Minister has to look at this and do it with independent people I think, listening to what is happening."
For some reason minister Ruddock is against the idea.
"Once a leader and key supporter of international human rights standards, Australia has retreated towards a position of selective and discriminate human rights protection".See The Age 31 May
"[the report] said the arbitrary detention of at least 3,000 refugee applicants had triggered riots and mass breakouts but Australia had refused to allow a UN group to visit, making it look like it had something to hide." See full story
Shahraz Kayani, who set himself alight outside Parliament House in Canberra last month in protest at the Immigration Department's refusal to allow his family to join him in Australia, has died from complications arising from his burns.
Minister Philip Ruddock is reported to have expressed "deep regret" at Mr Kayani's death. But can we guess what he will be doing now with Mr Kayani's application?
(The Age on May 30th carried a statement from the family of Mr Kayani calling on the governemnt "to show more compassion when assessing similar cases in the future." The article also quotes Philip Ruddock's attempts to blame Mr Kayani for the situation he found himself in:
"Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock expressed sorrow at Mr Kayani's death, but said there would be no policy changes due to the incident.
"I think the way in which the matter was dealt with was conditioned by the applications in which Mr Kayani applied," Mr Ruddock told ABC radio.
"The timing would have been very different if he had applied in the categories in which he would have accepted some responsibility for expenses associated with his family's entry.")
It is claimed that all detainees at the Port Hedland Detention Centre in Western Australia's north-west are now on a hunger strike.
Asem Judeh from the Palestinian Refugee and Exile Awareness Association says he has had word from the centre that even the children are refusing to eat until 22 detainees taken in dawn raids on Saturday morning are released and charges against them are dropped.
The 22 were charged yesterday with offences relating to a riot at the centre several weeks ago.
They will appear in the South Hedland Magistrates Court today.
Mr Judeh says he has heard the protest is now widespread throughout the centre.
"The detainee told me that all of the detainees now agreed to go on a full hunger strike and the children refuse to go to the school today," he said.
A meeting of RAC-Vic yesterday (22 May) agreed to support the planned action by No-One Is Illegal in the run-up to the June 3 National Day of Action: the mobile detention centre will be set up outside the State Library at 12 pm on Saturday and a number of volunteers will be locked up in it until the rally starts on the Sunday. There will be a press conference and leafletting campaign, followed by a candlelight vigil starting at 6 pm. Helpers are needed - to put your name on the roster please call Jen on 9481 2471 or 9365 2903.
Flyers, posters and factsheets for distribution are available now from Trades Hall: 54 Victoria St, Carlton South
Flyers in 8 community languages will be available at Trades Hall from Monday 21 May 2001 evening
(See also June 3 page and Downloads on this site)
Dear RAC,
I am writing to let you know that an Asylum Seeker
Resource Centre (ASRC) is opening in Footscray at 211
Nicholson Street at the beginning of June 2001.
This Centre will provide free material aid (eg. food,
clothes, toys and blankets) to aslyum seekers and
information, support and referrals on legal, housing,
health, counselling issues. The Centre will be a non -
profit, non government funded, volunteer run, free
service.
The Centre will be auspiced by the Human Rights Centre for Mental Health which provides extensive free counselling and advocacy services to aslyum seekers and works closely with the Red Cross and Uniting Church in assisting asylum seekers.
I am also writing to ask for donations of material aid. Could you please let all your members know that this centre is starting up and that we desperately need donations of food, clothes (men's, women, children, babies), blankets, toys etc it would be greatly appreciated.
Donations can be dropped of at Grasslands Grocery and Info Shop or arranged to be picked up by calling 9689 5075.
Regards
Kon Karapanagiotidis
Director
Human Rights Centre for Mental Health
[email protected]
See the posting by Chris Chaplin in miscellaneous.
See the posting from Asem Judeh in miscellaneous
Just a reminder that day-to-day reports are to be found on the RAC News List. To go to this list click here.
As advertised, Amnesty hosted this week's vigil at the Maribyrnong Detention Centre, and a total of up to 150 people, including many children, brought flowers to send in to the mothers inside. At first the response from the ACM management was not very forthcoming, but in the end it was agreed the police would collect flowers left at the gate and take them back into the centre for distribution. No-one was actually allowed to enter the place, of course. Early arrivals were amazed to see a convoy of police reinforcements arrive, including horses. Apparently alarm bells had rung somewhere. Still, the animals got a bit of exercise in the back yard, and it was a beautiful day.
The organisers got people to arrange flowers on and in front of the wire fence, and this formed a backdrop to the speakers. Then some of the children headed a procession to the main gate, where the flowers were pushed under the wire, and Dr Andrew Theophanous addressed the crowd.while he was speaking, three police officers came up and loaded the flowers into a car.
To round things off, many of those present then walked round to the back of the compound and let loose a few rousing choruses of "It's Mother's Day today, Let them put to play!" and "Lock up Ruddock, Free the refugees!" Hopefully the volume was enough to carry over into the detainees' quarters.
Photos and quotes click hereRAC leafletters will be :
Leaflets to be left at Trades Hall just inside the double doors near the bookshop.-- enter via Victoria St, from Friday.
There'll be posters there too from about Monday
About 100 people turned out for the non-blockade, some because they hadn't heard the news, others because they had and wanted to mark the occasion. They were rewarded with a succession of inspiring speakers and an opportunity to buy RAC-Vic t-shirts and collect various leaflets, sign the statement, add their names to the lists, and generally become a closer part of the movement to FREE THE REFUGEES.
... compulsory mandatory detention is - and not reviewable - is not practised in any other country in the world for such people. Now why do you need compulsory mandatory detention for people from Afghanistan and Iraq when over 90% of the people from these two countries are ultimately given refugee status? (Malcolm Fraser replying to Philip Ruddock's attack on him as 'ill-informed and naive' on the refugee issue. See the transcript in Miscellaneous
Rac-Vic activists were amongst the earliest to join the M1 rally in Melbourne, and the mobile detention centre was set up soon after 7 am. The first photos are already in the gallery. By 8.30 at least 1500 people had assembled around the Stock Exchange area, with thousands more expected, and RAC was prominent in the middle of it all. Thanks to all who contributed, and to Giselle, Kylie, Pamela, Patrick, Kate and No One Is Illegal for help with the construction, materials, cost and transport of the detention centre. Please remember that there are now RAC t-shirts available, costing only $15, with proceeds running to the statement fund. Contact RAC-Vic on the usual numbers if you want one - 0418 347 374 0r 9836 4815.
Meanwhile Minister Ruddock is still taking his time over deciding whether Shahraz Kayani should be allowed to bring his family to Australia, now attacking the family for running a public campaign to try and pressure him into granting the application. The Age today also quotes him as reaffirming the present government's policy on mandatory detention:
I want to make it very clear, that there will be no change to our commitment to the mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals," he said.
What sort of government would abandon its position ... simply because some people are particularly adept at having their views published," he said.
The Australian today (28 April) reports that a guard at the Port Hedland detention centre "convicted of the bashing of a bound and defenceless asylum-seeker" has been sacked. "The Immigration Department said that Graeme Hindmarsh was no longer employed as operations manager. It is not known whether the victim, Saleh Al-Zafiry, 47, has been deported."
A refugee, who has been through the process and was a detainee in Woomera detention centre, will be speaking at a public meeting in Brunswick tomorrow night, Thursday 26 April.
Public Meeting details: "Our World is Not for Sale": 7.30pm Thursday 26 April
Brunswick Town Hall, cnr Dawson St and Sydney Rd, Brunswick.
Mohammed was in Woomera at the time of the break-out last year, and spent two days in the Woomera township. He previously had spent ten years attempting to find some country to find asylum before coming to Australia. While he has won refugee status here, it is only for a short period of 30 months�he is on a Temporary Protection Visa (TPV).
Refugee Action Collective is campaigning to end mandatory detention of refugees and end the horrific hell-holes, as well as win full permanent visa rights for all refugees, and abolish the TPVs.
CONTACT REFUGEE ACTION COLLECTIVE � phone Judy McVey 0418 347 374
For details of the public meeting, contact Kristalo Hrysicos on 9386 9096, or 9384 0225.
Note - The Age today (Thursday) reports that Amnesty International has called on the Federal Government 'to stop linking its inshore and offshore refugee programs, warning it led to misconceptions that some asylum seekers were worthier than others'. See the first item below.
Any comment would be superfluous ... but if you'd like to let the minister know what you think of his nasty little racist policies, don't forget the protest on May 7. And May 1. And June 3 ...
The Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, says Australia's offshore refugee intake will be halved if the number of illegal entrants arriving by boat continues at the current rate.
Mr Ruddock says Australia's humanitarian program accepts 12,000 overseas refugees each year.
But he says the number of boat people arriving in recent times have eaten into the allocated places.
Mr Ruddock says of those who arrived in the last financial year, more than 4,000 have been found to be refugees, which is added to more than 1,000 others who have mostly overstayed visas.
"What it means is, we have less places for those who are in a far more vulnerable situation abroad," he said.
"We are having to reduce our intake in the refugee and special humanitarian program by about half," he said.
RAC Protest Announcement
Philip Ruddock speaking in Melbourne
7 May at 5pm
Level Two,
234 Queensberry St (cnr Leicester St), Carlton
The University of Melbourne Centre for Public Policy is having a forum, titled Refugees in Australia : Key Ethical and Practical Issues. Philip Ruddock is giving "The Government View : Ethics and Current Policy Issue"
The Refugee Action Collective is organising a protest to display our disgust with the treatment of refugees by the current government, in particular the mandatory detention regime and the use of temporary visas with limited rights, and Philip Ruddock's scapegoating of refugees.
Police have started laying charges against asylum seekers allegedly involved in a riot at a detention centre in Western Australia's north earlier this month.
About 200 people were involved in the April 4 disturbance at the Curtin facility in the Kimberley in which buildings were burnt to the ground and fences torn down, prompting guards to use tear gas to subdue the crowd.
The Federal Customs and Justice Minister Chris Ellison says damage is estimated at a quarter of a million dollars.
Senator Ellison says it is alleged the lives of staff were threatened.
Three people have been charged and are expected to appear in the Broome Magistrates Court on Monday.
"The Australian Federal Police are still continuing investigations and they have advised me they anticipate laying further charges against other people later during the week," the Minister said.
He says other charges are likely to follow.
"It is quite open to Australian authorities to charge anyone who commits an offence on Australian soil whether they be an Australian resident or a visitor," he said.
Burned man's daughter at his bedside
By John Ellicott
23apr01
"WHO is responsible for this?" asked young Asma Kayani after her first hospital visit to see her immigrant Pakistani father Shahraz since he self-immolated outside Parliament House.
If you think you know the answer, we'll be hoping to see you on May 1 and May 7 ...
The conditions outside the camp were pretty unpleasant, but at least the 30 or so refugee supporters who turned out for the weekly vigil, hosted this time by The Greens, were able to leave at the end of proceedings. There was no way of knowing for sure whether the calls of "Free the Refugees!" were getting through the barriers of wind and rain as well as the walls, but hopefully the detainees were reassured once more that they had not been forgotten. Chris Chaplin and Pamela Curr spoke about the issues and a few case histories, and urged everyone to take the message away and spread it as widely as possible, not forgetting the upcoming events of M1, the Ruddock visit of May 7, and the nation-wide day of action on June 3.
The weekly vigils are known to be a great moral support to the detainees - the more depressing the weather outside, the more important to keep up the good work.
Hi ALL RAC SUPPORTERS
Enjoy a night out with RAC members and supporters
The RAC weekly meeting this week has moved...
Instead of meeting in Trades Hall on Tuesday 24 April (the night before Anzac public holiday), we are going to a great restaurant and have great food together.
Kate has confirmed the booking with Nyala African Restaurant (131 brunswick St) for Tuesday (24th April) at 6:30.
Currently we have booked for 30 people @ $15 per head, there will be vegetarian options included in the menu. It would be good to get some feedback re numbers but they can give us some flexibility.
Obviously the campaign that eats together, stays together.
Pls all of you, come along and join in a great night.
you can RSVP, do so by emailing back to [email protected]
(PS: Brunswick West ALP branch just endorsed the statement and our motion-Giselle and Mohammed gave great speeches) [Judy]
A counter-rally in Melbourne's Caulfield, hastily arranged in response to a neo-Nazi leaflet announcing a rally outside a Jewish Family and Community Centre, was attended by over 200 anti-racists and refugee supporters. There were no sightings of the authors of the leaflet, a piece of anti-Semitic trash.
77. Labor will review the current asylum seekers� appeal mechanism to ensure that its decision making and operation is both cost efficient, fair and consistent. While the rights of asylum seekers to seek judicial review must be maintained, it is important that a streamlined and more formal system of appeal is instituted to provide a better filter and alleviate the higher courts� immigration caseload burden.
78. Labor will review the operation of the Temporary Protection Visa arrangements with a view to providing appropriate settlement support to the refugees upon their release and alleviating the financial and organisational burden borne by States, Territories, welfare and volunteer organisations.
This Conference supports Australia honouring its constitutional obligations (s 51) and its international responsibilities under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
This conference recognises that Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) holders are lawfully entitled to remain in Australia and should receive humane and compassionate treatment through:
As TPVs are counted as part of Australia�s refugee and humanitarian intake, the full financial responsibility for the provision of settlement services should be met by the federal government, not cost shifted to the States, Territories, welfare and volunteer organisations.
In order to allow for adequate planning of settlement support, the federal government provides States and Territories a minimum of one week�s notice before releasing any TPV holders from detention.
The federal government is reminded of its legal responsibilities for the care and protection of unaccompanied minors and the need to closely liaise with the appropriate State and Territory child protection authorities to ensure appropriate support is in place prior to the minors� release from detention centres.
See the whole document hereRAC-Vic set up a stall outside the GPO in Melbourne this evening to protest at the detention of Suranga Tennakoon and demand an end to his imprisonment without charge in Port Phillip Prison. Activists addressed passers-by while others distributed leaflets and engaged people in conversation to spread the word about what is being done in prisons and detention centres around the country - in the name of the Australian people.
PhotosAn article in The Age Wednesday 14 March by Chloe Saltau describes the Maribyrnong Detention Centre from the inside, a grim place even after a hasty makeover in preparation for the media visit.
See miscellaneous.(11 March) The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has endorsed the rally called for 3 June.
According to The Age today (8 March), the Victorian Minister for Corrections, Andre Haermeyer, has called for a report on the case of Suranga Tennakoon. The Correctional Services Commissioner, Penny Armytage "would also examine the wider repercussions of transferring inmates of Australia's immigration detention centres to maximum security state and territory jails."
The Age today (March 7) carries an article by CHLOE SALTAU on the case of Seranga Tennakoon, still being held without charge in Port Phillip Prison.
Click here for RAC-Vic's reaction to the Flood report on Woomera.
At very short notice, about a dozen RAC supporters assembled outside the Refugee Review Tribunal in Bourke Street, Melbourne, this morning, 27 Feb, to show support for Suranga Tennakoon and increase public awareness of what is going on in Maribyrnong and elsewhere. Suranga Tennakoon is a refugee from Sri Lanka who was a witness to the suicide of his friend Viliami Tanginoa on 22 Dec 2000. DIMA are now holding Suranga in Port Phillip Prison, although the police have investigated the claims of "unacceptable behaviour" made by ACM against him and have declined to charge him with any offence. It is obvious that DIMA and ACM don't want the truth to come out about what happened last December - eight of those who witnessed Viliami's death have already been deported.
A spokesperson for the Tribunal, citing the paramount importance of safeguarding claimants' privacy, refused either to confirm or deny that a person of that name[Suranga] was present at the Tribunal this morning, and insisted that it was only possible to attend the hearing at the express request of the person concerned. When she maintained that to take a message to Suranga to tell him supporters were outside and anxious to come in would be tantamount to an admission that he was present, the shade of Kafka could be heard laughing sardonically in the background. In the end she did, however, agree to take a message on the understanding that she would not confirm whether or not she had delivered it, and would only arrange for it to be returned by mail...
Please keep an eye open for further action to be announced on behalf of Suranga in the coming days.
PhotosThe inaugural Sunday vigil at Maribyrnong Detention Centre was a rewarding experience for the hundred or more people of all ages who came to show their support for the refugees in detention there. Speakers introduced by Pamela Curr representing RAC-Vic included Bishop Hilton Deakin, the Reverend David Pargeter, Leigh Hubbard, and Mohammed Taba. The management of the centre, ACM, responded to this public display of support for their charges by denying access to the detainees, but those inside obviously knew what was going on, and they made themselves heard in response to the chants of "Free the Refugees" and "No-one is illegal". Towards the end of the rally people were encouraged to write messages of support on postcards and attach them to the wire fence in the hope that at least some would be read by inmates.Photos.
The public meeting this evening, 20th February, attracted a marvellous attendance of about 270 people, who heard speaker after speaker condemn the government's shameful treatment of asylum seekers, with vivid and harrowing accounts of individual refugees' experiences. The meeting ended with the launch of the RAC statement by George Lekakis from the Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria, followed by a performance by the Melbourne Workers' Theatre Rapid Response Team, featuring Immigration Minister Ruddock himself in the hot seat. Photos.