Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have almost got used to the government at question time leaning across and screaming abuse at the opposition, calling them people who locked up children, who continued to lock up children until there was a change of government. Tampa is referred to. This is such a hypocritical business that I felt I should use this time to set some of the record straight. At the moment, there is the interception of a vessel in a zone near Indonesia at the request of the Australian government. The 255 people, including women and children, from Sri Lanka are still on board the boat in Indonesia with very little hope of being processed as asylum seekers any time soon. They have been on hunger strikes and the children are in distress, but they still remain there. I wonder what this government would have said if it were a coalition issue some years ago.

Also, we recently had the so-called Indonesian solution announced, which suggests that this government can wash its hands of any responsibility for those being lured down to Australia with the new softened policies in relation to border security. The government simply says, ‘Indonesia, you put your foot out the door, try and trip these smugglers coming down and detain the people in your detention centres. We’ll pay you a lot to do that,’ knowing full well that the standards in the detention centres in Indonesia are not anything like the accepted standards of proper detention in Australian facilities, in terms of access to education, information, nutritional standards, outdoor space and even the security of those centres, yet this government is more than pleased to pass the buck.

I draw the chamber’s attention to an Australian Human Rights Commission report which has come out only in the last couple of days. It is called 2009 Immigration detention and offshore processing on Christmas Island. The Human Rights Commission details a number of areas of major concern. Amongst those is the detention of unaccompanied minors and families with children. It says:

Some children (including unaccompanied children) are detained in a closed immigration detention facility on Christmas Island–the ‘construction camp’. The Commission considers this a concerning regression from the 2005 changes to the Migration Act which affirmed the principle that children should only be detained as a last resort.

Of course it was the coalition who brought in the 2005 changes. This is a ‘regression’ from those changes.

There is a conflict of interest created by having the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship or DIAC officers acting as a legal guardian for unaccompanied minors—

the report continues—

detained on Christmas Island. There is also a lack of clarity about responsibilities and procedures relating to child welfare and protection for children in immigration detention on the island.

The commission goes on to say:

On arrival on Christmas Island, families and unaccompanied minors are placed into detention at the construction camp. According to DIAC, as soon as health, security and identity checks are completed, the Minister is asked to consider placing them into community detention. However, while some are moved after an initial period in the camp, others are not. In the Commission’s view, the shortage of community-based accommodation on Christmas Island is likely to be a key factor delaying or preventing a move to community detention for some families and unaccompanied minors.

We have to ask from the coalition’s point of view: why is there a shortage of community based accommodation. Quite simply, it is because this government is failing to deal with the numbers pouring on down now through the people-smugglers’ routes and this government is refusing to deal properly with those in detention now on Christmas Island, in particular the children. The report continues:

During the Commission’s visit—

and I am talking about the Human Rights Commission—

of the 82 children in immigration detention on the island, only 29 were in community detention. The other 53 were detained in the construction camp. Of the 53 children in the camp, the majority were 16 or 17 years old, but a significant proportion were younger—including 11 children aged between zero and five years. Thirty six of the children in the camp were unaccompanied.

It goes on to say:

… the construction camp is not an appropriate environment for children. It is a claustrophobic facility consisting of demountables linked by covered walkways. There is little open space, there are virtually no trees, and there is no open grassy area for children to play. The bedrooms are very small, with beds that are not appropriate for babies or young toddlers:

I need to echo the Human Rights Commission’s concerns about what is said publicly by this government and what is actually going on. I need to repeat what the Human Rights Commission says. It says:

The Commission is concerned that, on occasions, Australian Government statements about detention arrangements for children do not accurately reflect the current reality for children on Christmas Island. For example, an August 2009 press release stated:

It is Rudd Government policy that no child be held in an immigration detention centre and there are no children detained in the Christmas Island facility or any other detention centre. Children and where possible their families are housed in community accommodation.

As a further example, the DIAC website states:

Detention policy is administered with flexibility, fairness and in a timely manner. Arrangements introduced in 2005 provide for these requirements—

and of course 2005 was under the coalition. The report continues:

• the detention of families with children is to take place in the community under community detention rather than in immigration detention centres…

The Human Rights Commission goes on to say:

Statements such as these convey the impression that children are not held in closed immigration detention facilities, but are accommodated in community detention in community-based accommodation. They may have also contributed to recent media reports which wrongly state that children are no longer held in immigration detention. For many children on Christmas Island, that is not the case.

As discussed in section 11.3 above, many children are detained in a closed detention facility—the construction camp. DIAC’s classification of the construction camp as ‘alternative temporary detention in the community’ is misleading. The camp is not community-based accommodation. It is a closed facility from which detainees are not free to come and go.

So I need to repeat that this government is incredibly hypocritical, misleading and inhumane. With its policies, it has unravelled border security in this country. It has changed so many of the watertight secure arrangements and immigration policies which had stopped the people smugglers coming on down to Australia.

You will recall that today in question time I held up a chart that showed that there was virtually no people smuggling for the last five years in Australia. This government has unravelled those very important immigration strategies. Under those strategies, if you wished to come to Australia as a general skilled migrant there were pathways. There were pathways for families to have reunion access. There were also 13,500 humanitarian and refugee places for those who the UNHCR assists us to identify as the most in need, such as women and children out of Africa, Congolese families with eight, nine or children who would never be able to raise the American dollars to buy their way out of horrendous situations. This government has allowed that unravelling to occur. It has brought enormous distress to those who are in the queues and who are being bumped from coming through the front door.

But at the same time it is refusing to acknowledge or look after those asylum seekers who make it through to Christmas Island. I have read to you from the Australian Human Rights Commission report that was published just days ago. They are most concerned at the wrong statements that are being made publicly about children in detention on Christmas Island. They are very right to make those observations. They are sincere in their comments that there has in fact been—and I repeat—a regression from the 2005 changes to the Migration Act which affirmed that children should only be detained as a last resort. I am afraid that this is a disgraceful situation. I call upon this government to again address the pull factors that are bringing the people smugglers and their human cargo, people who are desperate and who are prepared to risk their lives. But I am concerned that the hypocrisy will continue. This government must deal with the facts, take responsibility for its actions and take actions to stop people smuggling.