Annette Hurley (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Can the minister confirm that the Ombudsman highlighted in a report yesterday the case of a person who was wrongly detained between March 2001 and September 2005 because the minister’s department failed to approach the Afghan government to confirm his identity until June 2005? Doesn’t the Ombudsman note that on the basis of medical evidence Mr X has suffered a ‘major depressive illness solely due to his lengthy detention’ and is now receiving psychiatric treatment? Didn’t the Ombudsman go on to recommend that Mr X be granted a permanent resident visa? Can the minister explain why her department took over four years to simply ask the Afghan government to confirm his identity? Can the Minister also advise whether Mr X, identified in report 101, will be granted a permanent visa?