Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think many, if not most, of us living here in Australia would consider ourselves lucky either to have been born here or to have come and built a new life within Australia. This nation of ours is one whose citizens expect to be free, safe and peaceful. Australia has those elements that allow a person to feel secure and that they will not be targeted for unusual treatment, penalties or restrictions on one’s life. Freedom is one of our defining Australian characteristics. It is what makes this place Australia and it is what our Diggers went to war and died for. Naturally, anything that undermines this freedom is an acute worry.

We have heard over time of problems within the immigration system, problems that led to bizarre situations such as those resulting in the outrageous injustice inflicted on Cornelia Rau, Ms Alvarez and others. These really were breathtaking revelations. They were then, and they have not lost their punch. As such, interest in the treatment of these individuals within the community has increased, the system that caused their circumstances to fall away to such a lowly, degraded and miserable level and the political backing of the system that resulted in such offences. In support of my concerns and those of many electors within Hindmarsh, I put a question to the responsible minister last year—in fact on 1 November, to be precise—concerning wrongful detention within immigration facilities:

How many incidents of wrongful immigration detention of persons legally in Australia is the Government aware?

You would think that such matters would be monitored very closely by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs or the Attorney-General, but it took seven whole months for a response to be given. On 31 May 2006 I received an answer to my question. The answer, in part, is as follows:

Of the 220 cases bearing the descriptor “released not unlawful”, the department has identified 26 cases involving Australian citizens.

The Attorney-General also wrote that the Reconnecting People Assistance Package:

... provides for ex gratia assistance to Australian citizens and permanent residents who may have been “adversely affected by inappropriate detention”.

So we have 220 cases described as ‘released not unlawful’, 26 of those 220 cases being Australian citizens being detained, and the government simply tells them that they can make some sort of claim through this assistance package. The media took an interest of course but, from what I read and heard, were unsuccessful in their attempts to get a comment or quote from the minister. So I put a follow-up question on the Notice Paper last week:

... regarding the 220 persons categorised as “released not unlawful” and released from detention, how many were (a) suspected of suffering from a mental illness, (b) assessed for mental illness, (c) diagnosed as having a mental illness, and (d) detained after the release of the Palmer Report.

I know from experience that I cannot realistically expect those responsible for providing an answer to want to reply this calendar year—as previously demonstrated by the last questions I put on notice—and maybe some time in the year 2007 I will get an answer. That would be most regrettable, but history shows that answers to such questions are not a priority of this government. So I also put questions to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. I asked whether the parliamentary secretary could give us a detailed report on any internal investigation the government has conducted after finding out that there were 220 cases bearing the description ‘released not unlawful’. If you want to put it another way, that description means that people were detained unlawfully. I wanted to know how the 26 Australian citizens detained under our immigration laws had come to be so detained—and we are talking about Australian citizens like all of us in this chamber.

I am sure the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs has been asked these questions by the government—and if not, why not? These are the questions that have to be asked and answered. I am sure that the minister has received answers as to how the heck a government department responsible for immigration can go around locking up Australian citizens. I am also sure the minister has received numerous briefings as to how the department, the minister and the government can prevent the recurrence of such events which have caused this government a whole lot of trouble. We need to know what is being done to make sure this serial abuse of people—of Australian citizens like all of us in this chamber—does not continue to happen. I look forward to a reply to this question. I pray that it will be made available before the next election. (Time expired)