Amanda Vanstone (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I can add something that might be of relevance to the senator in relation to this. In relation to the Ombudsman’s suggestion that the department has a responsibility in terms of people who are no longer in detention, the department does accept that we have some responsibility. We do not simply put people outside the gate and leave it at that. We are in the process of arranging and, in some cases, have arranged with various non-government bodies and some state health arrangements for people to be put in touch with the appropriate assistance.

Often people who come to us in detention—that is not the case, I think, with the person you are talking about—already have a mental health problem. They have not been able to identify where they ought to go for health, probably because of their mental health issues, and we take that seriously; we are doing that. We are also screening people for mental health problems on the way into detention because, while there is a debate about the degree to which detention or, more particularly, the doubt about one’s visa status, can cause trouble, there is no doubt that some people come—(Time expired)