This story has legs. It appears the Minister is hedging badly trying to avoid an admission of responsibility for the deportation of Vivian Alvarez almost 4 years ago, and thus pushing her into having to take the matter to court for just compensation, after all they put her in a Hospice for the Dying, for goodness sake! The Sisters of Charity are hardly set up to deal with a psychotic patient, they think poverty is a good thing.
"I think this is a very, very, very regrettable situation,"(1) Senator Vanstone said. Yes, regrettable indeed!
"Specialist immigration solicitor Christopher Livingstone predicted Ms Alvarez would be eligible for millions of dollars in compensation given the standard compensation rate for unlawful detention was $1,500 a day."(1). We'll see what happens, I think she will be just put on a pension, again, we will have to wait and see if the immigration solicitor will succeed in representing her against the Minister and the Government.
Zev Ozdowski, Australian human Rights Commissioner has stepped into the debate as of yesterday, he said:
""When there is no provision for an independent individual assessment of each and every person and no requirement for judicial oversight, the risk of serious mistakes becomes unacceptably high,""
"And mistakes like those revealed from immigration department officers over the past weeks and months become unsurprising."(4)
Now we will see a proper enquiry, maybe to replace the Palmer ones which was set up by the Ministry, it needs to be set up by parliament, that can lead to a Royal Commission if there is too much obfuscation by the government before the hand over to the new Senate, or will we see the new Senate steam roller through ignoring the main issues, because the government can not make mistakes, everything they do is true. We shall see, or maybe another alternative that relies on the good will of our politicians towards the truth of mandatory detention for anyone without their papers. It all sound like we are on the path to a fascist government with populist policies to cover a controlling interest in our lives.
If the ID card comes in, although opposed by a majority of Australians fro many years, after all this is the government that introduced the GST after promising not to, indeed accusing the Labor Government of the time that they would do it. Then anyone without an ID (Show me your papers!) will be the first thing a policeman is required to say.
The local Filipino community is anxious that compensation for the 4 years incarceration in a hospice for the dying, illegal detention, false arrest, etc., etc., so she will get appropriate compensation and care when she gets home to Queensland. We all need to support this to send an unmistakable signal to John Howard MP, PM.
Given that Amanda Vanstone is on the back foot, the facts seem to be moving too fast. She denies there was poor management in the late search for Vivian Solon. It appears like the enquiry is seeking out someone in the Overseas Women's Association,, are they trying to push the responsibility off shore to someone in the Phillipines? There is either no official record or it is terminated in Manila. What an unsatisfactory record, Father Mullins himself says that he saw an Australian hand Mrs Solono over to the nuns. So which is it Amanda Vanstone. Hopefully it is poor record keeping and it won't repeat itself.
To put this in perspective I have copied Arnold Zable's commentary at number 17 below, the only person in the debate I have met at Chisholm Institute's Frankston TAFE at what is called Industry Overview, part of the Professional Writing Course. A good man, and an advocate for immigration and minorities, being one himself.
1. The federal government has admitted the wrongful deportation of a sick Australian woman is regretful and tragic, but it has stopped short of saying sorry amid the threat of a multi-million dollar law suit. continued at : http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Govt-admits-deportation-is-regretfuls/2005/05/12/1115843308867.html
2. Prime Minister John Howard has offered another qualified apology for the wrongful deportation of an Australian citizen to the Philippines four years ago. cont. at http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200505/s1367192.htm
3. Brother eager to see deportee http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15262589-29277,00.html
4. Human rights boss seeks detention review http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Human-rights-boss-seeks-detention-review/2005/05/12/1115843294219.html
5. Alvarez could be home now, Vanstone says http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Alvarez-could-be-home-now-Vanstone-says/2005/05/12/1115843285280.html
6. Vivian Solon Young http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200505/s1366960.htm and http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200505/s1366545.htm
7. Vivian Solon found in hospice for the dying http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1366934.htm
8. Vanstone denies poor management of search for Vivian Solon http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1366936.htm
9. What would it take to make a Liberal member sick?
10. No record of deportee's convent stay, Vanstone says http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200505/s1366848.htm
11. Royal commission call renewed after deportee found http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200505/s1366960.htm
12. Government should offer compensation to Vivian Solon
13. Greens Media: Govt can not ignore plea for public inquiry
14. Labor wants royal commission http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15261468-29277,00.html
15. Greens, Dems slam Alvarez handling http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15261314-29277,00.html
16. Removal of Failed Asylum Seekers http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/lawrpt/stories/s1362869.htm
17.The Age By Arnold Zable May 13, 2005
It's time to end the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers and give an amnesty to all detainees.
When Iranian asylum seeker Ardeshir Gholipour stepped out of Baxter detention centre last Friday week after five years of incarceration, his first thoughts were of how so many years of life could have been taken away from him and his fellow detainees.
Gholipour had not committed a crime. Indeed, he had fled in fear for his life after years as a pro-democracy activist in Iran. This included 27 months in a tiny cell in Tehran's Evin prison for distributing pamphlets on behalf of the Iranian Freedom movement.
As he tasted his first minutes of freedom, Gholipour thought of the long-term detainees he had left behind. He says he cannot rest until they too have been set free. He knows that each passing day of incarceration is an agony.
The evidence is overwhelming. Indefinite detention creates a progressive deterioration in mental and physical health.
This was most recently acknowledged last Thursday in a historic judgement by Justice Paul Finn of the Federal Court who found the Department of Immigration had breached its duty of care by failing to provide adequate treatment for two severely disturbed Baxter detainees.
Finn quotes psychiatrist Dr Jon Jureidini who, in reference to one of the detainees, asserts: "The Baxter environment, along with the hopelessness about his future, are the primary causes of his mental illness."
This has also been obvious to those who have visited detention centres in recent years. The first asylum seeker I met in Maribyrnong detention centre, in January 2001, said that detained asylum seekers are worse off than criminals.
At least the criminal knows the length of his sentence, he pointed out. "We do not know when, if ever, we will get out." I have heard this repeated many times since.
Indefinite detention is a gross breach of human rights and almost impossible to bear. In mid-January this year, when his final plea for a visa on humanitarian grounds was rejected, Gholipour took an overdose of tablets.
He knew that he could be deported at any time. Two Iranians had been bundled out of Baxter in previous months, and summarily returned to their country of origin.
Gholipour knows of more than 20 suicide attempts by detainees. Fortunately, due to information supplied by International PEN's London office, Gholipour's case was re-opened and he was finally released, but it was a close call.
Gholipour's plight also highlights the malaise within the Department of Immigration, and the development of a culture of suspicion towards asylum seekers.
There are exceptions. Asylum seekers have acknowledged those immigration officials who have treated them with respect and empathy.
There are still some who reflect the attitude of postwar officials who were sympathetic to the plight of millions of displaced peoples in Europe, seeking refuge far from the horrors of their recent past.
The events of World War II inspired the creation of 1951 UN conventions that asserted the rights of refugees to seek asylum due to a fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
It was an era when people chose to work for the Immigration Department because of a desire to help traumatised people find new homes.
This no longer appears to be the case. Too often the department has treated asylum seekers with a presumption of guilt.
This culture of suspicion bordering on contempt is the underlying reason for the wrongful detention of at least 33 Australians that have recently come to light, and for the deportation of Australian citizen, Vivian Alvarez Solon, to the Philippines.
The brief for the Palmer inquiry into the Cornelia Rau affair may have been expanded because of these cases, but if it does not examine the system as a whole, it will not achieve anything of substance.
What is needed is a royal commission on aspects of immigration detention, the department, its contractors and the fate of deportees. Meanwhile, long-term detainees should be granted an immediate amnesty.
Some advocates have called it an act of grace, others an act of humanity, or an act of compassion. Whatever the name, the time has come to end the nightmare for about 90 long-term asylum seekers still left in Baxter, the 54 incarcerated on Nauru, those still imprisoned in Villawood, Perth and Maribyrnong detention centres, and 35 Vietnamese asylum seekers who remain on Christmas Island. These include children, some of whom have been born in detention.
In recent days, the Spanish Government has declared an amnesty for 700,000 unauthorised immigrants.
In Australia there are just several hundred in detention, and about 7000 on temporary protection or bridging visas. They have lived in limbo long enough.
There are humane alternatives, variations of the Swedish system, for example, where, after initial checks, all asylum seekers, except those considered to be a threat to national security, are released into the community pending a decision on their cases.
Advocates such as Grant Mitchell of the Hotham Mission, who worked with refugees in Sweden, have provided detailed alternatives to long-term detention.
The scars of incarceration will remain with Ardeshir Gholipour. We cannot return his years of despair and wrongful detention.
But we can honour his wish to help the men, women and children who are still imprisoned. Their only crime was to seek a new life for themselves and their families free of oppression. They have only done what our own immigrant forebears did, give or take a few generations.
Arnold Zable is an author and refugee spokesman for the writers' association International PEN.
