Government must come clean with unlawful detention details 2nd May 05 Senator Kerry Nettle today called on the government to publicly release information about the detention and deportation of Australian citizens and lawful visa holders.
"During the February 2005 Senate Estimates Committee hearings I asked for information on unlawful detentions. I asked for the number of people unlawfully detained, their nationalities, and the periods of detention, as well as the amount the government has spent compensating people for their unlawful detention," said Senator Kerry Nettle.
"The government obviously now knows the answers to these questions, yet it refuses to make this information public. The answer was due on the 8th of April and is now seriously overdue. The public has a right to know.
"It is through parliamentary mechanisms such as Questions on Notice that the government must be held accountable to the public. I have made a request for the facts about unlawful detention, yet the government continues to hide behind the Palmer Inquiry.
"The Greens have repeatedly called for a Royal Commission into mandatory detention and we repeat the call after these latest revelations. Too many seriously negligent activities by the Department of Immigration have been exposed for anything but a full judicial inquiry to suffice."
The relevant question is no.75 Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs Portfolio, Legal and Constitutional Committee 15-18 February 2005.
Contact: Max Phillips (02) 9690 2038 or 0414 338 526
*  Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs




Australian Prime Minister John Howard has made a qualified apology to an Australian citizen who was deported to the Philippines in 2001. The woman, who was born in the Philippines, is yet to be located. 

"I am very sorry if anything unfair has happened in relation to that and on the face of it that does appear to be the case," Mr Howard said.

The woman had come into contact with New South Wales police after a car accident. Speaking but little English, she was then sent to the Philippines consulate in Brisbane, Queensland. She was then deported by immigration officials, in 2001. In 2003 they became aware that she was listed in Queensland as a missing person. 

A marriage to an Australian man had broken down, and the lady was believed to be suffering from a mental illness.  According to the National Survey of Mental Health and Well Being (1997), one in five Australian adults meet at least one criteria for mental disorder.

Parallels have been drawn between this incident and the case of Cornelia Rau, an Australian citizen who spent 10 months in immigration detention, including 3 months in solitary confinement at Baxter Detention Centre, before her identity was revealed.

The Department of Immigration Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), responsible for both cases, has left unanswered a question raised in Parliament in February, concerning the number who had been wrongfully detained within its system of mandatory detention. The answer was due on April 8, according to Greens Senator Kerry Nettle.

DIMIA indicated in February last year, that over the previous year (2003—2004), 33 people who were lawfully in Australia, had been detained and then released.