Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

This Private Senator’s Bill is one in a series of Migration Bills which I will seek to introduce over the course of this parliamentary year.

The aim of these bills is to provide a roadmap for what needs to be done to reverse the many negative provisions that have been introduced into the Migration Act over the last fifteen years which have undermined the rule of law and restricted or removed the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.

It also seeks to counter-balance the regressive, backward looking momentum created by the government’s latest Migration Amendment (Designated Unauthorised Arrivals) Bill 2006, which seeks to ensure all persons arriving at mainland Australia unlawfully by sea are taken outside the reach of Australian law and public scrutiny.

The purpose of this first Bill specifically aims to repeal the provisions introduced by the Migration Legislation Amendment (Immigration Detainees) Act 2001. That law effectively increased the maximum penalty for the offence of escaping from detention from two years imprisonment to five years imprisonment, bringing that penalty into line for the same offences in the Crimes Act. It introduced a new criminal offence for detainees who manufacture, possess, use or distribute weapons or who are found to be in possession of anything that may resemble a weapon and introduced additional security and screening measures for visitors to immigration detention centres.

The Democrats were fundamentally opposed to the introduction of the Migration Legislation Amendment (Immigration Detainees) Act 2001 when it was debated as we had serious reservations about giving guards extra powers in detention centres. We believed it had major implications in terms of basic human rights and also in regard to the powers that should be provided to people who are managing, running and operating detention centres. While there is some merit in ensuring there are adequate powers for the safety of staff and detainees, we believed that there was already clear evidence of widespread problems and criticisms about how detention centres were being run.

The Democrats believed then that the legislation was unacceptable because of the level of scrutiny and accountability for what happens in our detention centres was clearly inadequate, and to pass any legislation which increases the powers in any way of people running detention centres or increases penalties for detainees was completely inappropriate at a time when our system of mandatory detention is shown to be clearly not functioning.

Secondly, we were opposed to any legislation that reinforces the presumption that people who are in immigration detention are criminals. The mere act of bringing in offences in line with offences in the Criminal Code and in the Crimes Act only reinforces and equates detainees with convicted criminals. These people are not convicted criminals, nor have they been charged with any crimes.

I believe that this Private Senators Bill is especially timely, given reports that occurred over last weekend, the 10th and 11th of June 2006, about alleged rapes and assaults of a female detainee at Villawood detention centre by guards and other detainees over a period of 6 months, as it relates directly to the issue of mismanagement of detention centres and the welfare and safety of detainees.

Reports indicated that the female detainee in Villawood had been unable to keep the perpetrators out of her room as there were no locks on her door. As a response to this the Department of Immigration are holding an inquiry into the issue, instead of reporting the matter to the police. This shows once again that the whole system is neither accountable nor transparent. It is a shambles and provides inadequate protection for detainees who may be vulnerable.

The issue of mistreatment and assault by detention centre staff and guards are not new by any means. The fact that concerns such as these are still being raised shows that the system of mandatory detention is not working.

There have been numerous reports and inquiries into detention centres and the operation of the Migration Act and while some change is happening on the ground, it is important to understand that real change will not be possible until mandatory detention is abolished. The Government has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars keeping innocent people locked up indefinitely in a cruel and inhumane system.

I would like to again place on record the opposition of the Democrats to the practice of compulsory mandatory, indefinite on going detention of unauthorized arrivals and commend this bill to the Senate.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.