Cornelia Rau
Encyclopedia
Cornelia Rau is a German
citizen and Australian permanent resident who was unlawfully detained for a period of ten months in 2004 and 2005 as part of the Australian Government's mandatory detention program.
She disappeared from Manly Hospital
on 17 March 2004, and, in February 2005, it was revealed that she had been unlawfully detained at Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre
, a prison, and later at Baxter Detention Centre
, after being classified as a suspected illegal immigrant or non-citizen by the Immigration Department when she refused to reveal her true identity.
and once again to Australia in 1983, where they remain. Although Rau is still a German
citizen, and spoke some German
at home, at school and elsewhere, she spoke English
.
Rau attended an art school and worked in hospitality before taking a job as a flight attendant
with Qantas
. In April 1998, Rau joined Kenja Communication
, a quasi-religious self help group, but was apparently expelled from the organisation following a Kenja event in Melbourne.
, but doctors later diagnosed her with schizophrenia
. At one point, doctors believed that Rau had schizoaffective bipolar.
Between January 1999 and March 2004, Rau was hospitalised several more times after further incidents of unstable behaviour. On several occasions, she disappeared for a few days, and sometimes she travelled overseas, but she had always returned or made contact with her family, usually with her sister, Chris Rau. On 1 December 2003, Rau disappeared, and was reported missing to the police by her family; however, she soon returned. Rau was prescribed medication for her condition and was often re-admitted to hospital, but she did not like to take treatment because she disliked the side effects. Eventually Rau's doctors and her family scheduled a community treatment order hearing for 18 March 2004, which would have compelled Rau to take her medication.
as a "missing patient", although they did not consider her to be in any serious danger.
On 29 March 2004 Rau arrived at the Hann River Roadhouse in North Queensland
. She was hitchhiking
and travelling alone. Since it was the wet season, and she did not have a consistent plan for travel, the locals were concerned for her safety. On 30 March, locals took her from the Roadhouse to the nearby town of Coen
, on the Cape York Peninsula
. She was taken to the Exchange Hotel in Coen, where locals called the Queensland Police
. There Rau gave several versions of her story, identifying herself as Anna Brotmeyer and Anna Schmidt, and spoke both English and German. She said that she was a tourist from Munich
, Germany, and that she was planning to continue north as far as Weipa
. However, she could not provide any documentation and said there was no-one else in Australia who would know she was missing.
On 31 March, Queensland Police contacted the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
(DIMIA) and gave it the details that Rau had provided. DIMIA said that it had no records of the arrival of any person called Anna Brotmeyer. The police returned to the Exchange Hotel, but Rau had left, and they later found her about fifteen kilometres north of the town, where they ordered her back to the Coen police station. There she gave several different stories about how and when she entered the country, none of them consistent. The police again contacted DIMIA, which advised them to detain Rau as a suspected unlawful non-citizen under the provisions of the Migration Act 1958. Rau was searched, and had a Norwegian
passport
, a book with two names (both different from Anna and Cornelia) on it, and A$
2,413 in her possession. Later that day she was driven from Coen to Cairns
.
in Cairns. Rau communicated with her in German, because officials did not know at the time that Rau could speak English, and it was presumed that she was a lost German citizen. Indorato said that her command of the language was fluent but "child-like" in terms of vocabulary, and that Rau could not remember basic information such as her parents' names, and where she had been born.
On 5 April, Rau was transferred to Brisbane
, and to the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre
(BWCC), where she would remain for the next six months. There she was placed among the general prison population, because there are no immigration detention facilities in Queensland. Rau was technically in the custody of DIMIA, although she was in reality being cared for by BWCC and Queensland Corrective Services.
While in prison, Rau was met by Debbie Kilroy, who ran an organisation called Sisters Inside, to support women in prison. Kilroy first met her in early May, when Rau had been without medication for two months. Rau identified herself to Kilroy as Anna, but spoke to her in fluent English with an Australian accent. On several occasions, Rau asked Kilroy to contact DIMIA for her, to ask when she would be released from prison, since she "had done nothing wrong". Other prisoners stated to the media that Anna would try to phone DIMIA but was unable to, because she could not remember who she was. DIMIA's position was that it was Rau's responsibility to identify herself, not theirs.
On 29 April, a DIMIA officer contacted the Missing Persons Unit of the Queensland Police, and sent them the information they had collected about Anna. The Unit said that they had no records matching the descriptions provided. On 11 May, Rau asked if she could apply for a German passport, and DIMIA officials prepared a form filled in with her details, giving her name as Anna Schmidt. Four days later, the German Consulate in Sydney
rejected the passport application, because it contained insufficient or inadequate information. On 17 June DIMIA contacted the Australian Embassy in Berlin
for assistance in identifying Rau.
Throughout June 2004, as Rau's condition deteriorated, other prisoners began to suspect that she was ill, because she would pace all day and would slam doors. Kilroy said that she attempted to raise the matter with BWCC officials, but they said that it was a DIMIA responsibility. On 5 July, Anna was one of 25 prisoners interviewed by an Ethical Standards Unit from the Government of Queensland
, which was investigating claims of abuse within the prison system. During the taped interview, Anna recalled an incident in which she was sent to solitary confinement
in the Detention Unit, or DU, for attempting to obtain a newspaper from another room in the prison. During Rau's six months in BWCC, she spent five weeks in solitary confinement in the DU.
On 30 July, after several BWCC inmates and staff expressed concerns about Anna's welfare, the prison's psychologist
recommended that she have a psychiatric evaluation, so that her mental health could be assessed. One week later, on 6 August, a BWCC officer also asked for an evaluation, to determine whether Anna could be placed in the community, rather than remain in the prison. Eventually, on 10 August, the prison psychiatrist recommended that she be taken to a hospital for a full assessment, to determine her mental health. Her report noted that Anna's behaviour was unusual, and she had poor hygiene and would behave inappropriately towards the guards, particularly the male ones. Anna was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital
in Brisbane on 20 August, where doctors spent six days assessing her. She was returned to BWCC on 26 August, after doctors failed to diagnose her schizophrenia.
Meanwhile, on 11 August, Rau's family officially reported her as a missing person to the New South Wales Police. The police launched a public appeal, advertising in newspapers and placing posters nearby. On 12 August, NSW police contacted DIMIA, to search their records for information about Rau. The search revealed nothing, and there was no further interstate cooperation. The police contacted DIMIA again six weeks later, on 24 September, in an attempt to discover whether Rau had left or tried to leave Australia. DIMIA replied that she had not left, and was still in the country.
By the end of September 2004, DIMIA officials were planning to move Rau to the Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre
(commonly known as the Baxter Detention Centre), a DIMIA facility (operated by Global Solutions Limited, or GSL) near the town of Port Augusta
in South Australia
. Rau refused to sign the transfer forms, but, on 6 October, she was transferred to Baxter anyway. She had to be sedated and placed in restraints in order to get her on the plane.
in Sydney
, which had a female-only area which would be more suitable for Anna. DIMIA did not think this was appropriate, however, and did not transfer Anna, in spite of the fact that the BWCC psychiatrist had noted her inappropriate behaviour around men.
Instead, Rau was sent to the Management Unit, known simply as Management, which the Baxter psychologist had specifically warned was not a suitable long-term solution. Management consisted of solitary-confinement cells, with both the bed and the toilet visible to Baxter staff through the windows. Rau was entitled to four hours each day outside her cell (although not in the company of other detainees), and, whenever she had to be returned to her cell, GSL officers wearing riot gear
would forcibly put her into the cell, according to Sister Claudette Cusack.
On 3 November, Rau refused to talk to the psychologist and, on 6 November, was scheduled for an assessment by a psychiatrist, Dr Andrew Fruckacz, who recommended that she be taken to a hospital. He could not make a certain diagnosis, but he believed that schizophrenia was a possibility, along with a personality disorder. A psychiatrist from Glenside Mental Health Service, a campus of the Royal Adelaide Hospital
, was told about Anna's behaviour, and said that her problems were behavioural, and not mental-health related. The Rural and Remote Mental Health Service (RRMHS) offered a videoconference, but Baxter officials instead wanted Anna to be admitted to a hospital, because they believed that she would not cooperate with a video assessment. On 17 November, the RRMHS took Anna off the waiting list for hospital treatment, without informing officials at Baxter, who believed that their request was still being considered.
Despite Dr Fruckacz's recommendations, Rau was put into Management for a second time. Later, she was moved to the Red 1 compound, specially built to prevent riots and to hold rowdy detainees. There they are separated from the general population, isolated and held indoors for eighteen hours a day.
At a Management Unit meeting on 24 November, Anna's case manager said that she thought that Anna was not German at all but an Australian with German parents. Other staff at Baxter, as well as DIMIA staff in Canberra, were informed of this opinion. Previously, on 12 November, the German Consulate in Melbourne
had decided to try to identify Anna. They contacted an officer of the Victoria Police
, who, in turn, contacted the DIMIA headquarters
in Canberra
. DIMIA contacted the Consulate on 6 December, but neither had made any progress. Meanwhile, on 22 December, police in Manly, New South Wales
contacted DIMIA, without providing photographs or other information, to see if Rau had used her Australian passport to leave the country.
In late December, a group of Christian
ministers, including Sister Claudette Cusack, who worked at Baxter, wrote to DIMIA about Anna and other detainees who appeared to have mental-health issues. Father Arno Vermeeren, who also works at Baxter, raised his concerns about Anna and the Red 1 compound with the Immigration Detention Advisory Group (IDAG), shortly before a scheduled inspection. None of these concerns were addressed.
On 5 January 2005, the German Consulate in Melbourne told DIMIA that without information such as fingerprint
s, they would not be able to identify Anna and, on 14 January, said that officials in Germany had also made no progress. Rau herself contacted the Consulate on 20 January, still identifying herself as Anna Schmidt, but staff told her that they still required more information. Consular staff later told Anna's case manager at Baxter that Anna's "child-like" command of the German language was consistent with Anna being an Australian of German background, corroborating the case manager's suspicion from the 24 November meeting. It was noted in the Palmer Inquiry that, at times, Anna would speak English with an Australian accent and, at other times, with a German accent, alongside also speaking German.
Meanwhile, on 4 January, psychologists at Baxter contacted RRMHS again, and Glenside officials finally investigated the information sent to them in November 2004. On 7 January, a doctor from International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), a DIMIA sub-contractor
, examined Anna again and suggested that she might have schizophrenia, or at least a schizophrenia-related condition. On 24 January, DIMIA officials in Canberra discussed with Glenside doctors the possibility of committing
Anna. The IHMS doctor again tried to assess Anna on 31 January, but he could not get her to cooperate, and, on 2 February, the doctor contacted a psychiatrist at Glenside, who said that Anna should be assessed under the South Australian Mental Health Act 1993 for possible committal. The doctor assessed Anna on the next day and, after consulting with the Glenside doctor, committed Anna.
newspaper in Melbourne published a story by Andra Jackson, entitled "Mystery woman at Baxter may be ill". The story was seen by friends of the Rau family, who thought that the woman the article referred to could be Cornelia Rau, so they contacted the family. The family, in turn, contacted the New South Wales Police, who emailed DIMIA officials at Baxter with details and photographs of Rau. Soon, DIMIA staff officially identified Anna as Cornelia Rau. Later that night, South Australia Police
officers entered Baxter and removed Rau. She was transported to the nearby Port Augusta Hospital and, on the morning of 4 February, committed to the Glenside Hospital mental health facility.
, announced that former Australian Federal Police
commissioner Mick Palmer
would be conducting an inquiry into the circumstances around the detention of Rau. This would become known as the Palmer Inquiry. On 2 May the terms of reference were expanded to allow Palmer to investigate the wrongful deportation of Vivian Solon
to the Philippines
in 2001.
The report of the Palmer Inquiry was released on 14 July 2005. Senator Vanstone tabled the report in Parliament
and held a press conference along with Prime Minister
John Howard
, in which they apologised to Rau and Solon. Labor
Immigration spokesperson Tony Burke
criticised the Inquiry, saying that only a Royal Commission
would have the necessary powers to investigate the situation properly. Cornelia Rau herself said that she wanted Senator Vanstone to be replaced as Immigration Minister by someone from an ethnic background. In July 2005, and again later in the year, the government promised that Rau would be compensated. In February 2008, lawyers for Rau accepted an increased offer of compensation on her behalf later confirmed at A$2.6 million.
Rau was arrested while behaving erratically in the city of Tafila, Jordan
in February 2009. Local officials say she was taken into custody for failing to pay hotel and taxi bills. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs says Australian authorities will continue to provide aid to Ms Rau.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
citizen and Australian permanent resident who was unlawfully detained for a period of ten months in 2004 and 2005 as part of the Australian Government's mandatory detention program.
Overview
Her detention became the subject of a government inquiry which was later expanded to investigate over 200 other cases of suspected unlawful detention by the Australian government's Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).She disappeared from Manly Hospital
Manly Hospital
Manly Hospital provides medical services to the Northern Beaches area of Sydney, Australia.The official homepage contains a brief history of the hospital from 1810 until the present day.The is responsible for the management of Manly Hospital....
on 17 March 2004, and, in February 2005, it was revealed that she had been unlawfully detained at Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre
Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre
Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre is an Australian prison, located at Wacol, Brisbane. It was commissioned on 28 May 1999.Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre replaced the old Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre, located at Woolloongabba. The centre has a capacity of 264 cells and is divided...
, a prison, and later at Baxter Detention Centre
Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre
Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre or commonly just Baxter Detention Centre, was an Australian immigration detention facility near the town of Port Augusta in South Australia. It was the focus of much of the controversy concerning the mandatory detention of asylum seekers in Australia...
, after being classified as a suspected illegal immigrant or non-citizen by the Immigration Department when she refused to reveal her true identity.
Life in Australia
Rau arrived in Australia from Germany in 1967, aged eighteen months. Her family lived in Australia until 1980, when they returned to Germany. They lived there for two years, then moved to AsiaAsia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and once again to Australia in 1983, where they remain. Although Rau is still a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
citizen, and spoke some German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
at home, at school and elsewhere, she spoke English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Rau attended an art school and worked in hospitality before taking a job as a flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
with Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
. In April 1998, Rau joined Kenja Communication
Kenja Communication
Kenja Communication, or simply Kenja, is an Australian organisation. It was founded by the late Kenneth Emmanuel Dyers and his partner Jan Hamilton in 1982...
, a quasi-religious self help group, but was apparently expelled from the organisation following a Kenja event in Melbourne.
Mental illness
In October 1998, Rau was hospitalised for three months, after her unstable behaviour probably brought on by a Kenja "Eisteddfod". At the time, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorderBipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
, but doctors later diagnosed her with schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
. At one point, doctors believed that Rau had schizoaffective bipolar.
Between January 1999 and March 2004, Rau was hospitalised several more times after further incidents of unstable behaviour. On several occasions, she disappeared for a few days, and sometimes she travelled overseas, but she had always returned or made contact with her family, usually with her sister, Chris Rau. On 1 December 2003, Rau disappeared, and was reported missing to the police by her family; however, she soon returned. Rau was prescribed medication for her condition and was often re-admitted to hospital, but she did not like to take treatment because she disliked the side effects. Eventually Rau's doctors and her family scheduled a community treatment order hearing for 18 March 2004, which would have compelled Rau to take her medication.
Disappearance
On 17 March 2004, Rau discharged herself from Manly Hospital and disappeared. The following day, Manly Hospital reported Rau to the New South Wales PoliceNew South Wales Police
The New South Wales Police Force is the primary law enforcement agency in the State of New South Wales, Australia. It is an agency of the Government of New South Wales within the New South Wales Ministry for Police...
as a "missing patient", although they did not consider her to be in any serious danger.
On 29 March 2004 Rau arrived at the Hann River Roadhouse in North Queensland
North Queensland
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the state of Queensland in Australia. Queensland is a massive state, larger than most countries, and the tropical northern part of it has been historically remote and undeveloped, resulting in a distinctive regional character and...
. She was hitchhiking
Hitchhiking
Hitchhiking is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long...
and travelling alone. Since it was the wet season, and she did not have a consistent plan for travel, the locals were concerned for her safety. On 30 March, locals took her from the Roadhouse to the nearby town of Coen
Coen, Queensland
Coen is a small inland town on the main road heading up the Cape York Peninsula in far northern Queensland, Australia. It is in the Cook Shire Local Government Area. At the 2006 census, Coen had a population of 253....
, on the Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...
. She was taken to the Exchange Hotel in Coen, where locals called the Queensland Police
Queensland Police
The Queensland Police Service is the law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto of "Firmness with Courtesy" was changed to "With Honour We Serve"...
. There Rau gave several versions of her story, identifying herself as Anna Brotmeyer and Anna Schmidt, and spoke both English and German. She said that she was a tourist from Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany, and that she was planning to continue north as far as Weipa
Weipa, Queensland
Weipa is the largest town on the Gulf of Carpentaria coast of the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Weipa had a population of 2,830; the largest community on Cape York Peninsula. It exists because of the enormous bauxite deposits along the coast...
. However, she could not provide any documentation and said there was no-one else in Australia who would know she was missing.
On 31 March, Queensland Police contacted the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (Australia)
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship is an Australian Government department. It is responsible for immigration arrangements, border control, citizenship, ethnic affairs, multicultural affairs. For the 2008-09 financial year, DIAC had an annual operating budget of A$1.7...
(DIMIA) and gave it the details that Rau had provided. DIMIA said that it had no records of the arrival of any person called Anna Brotmeyer. The police returned to the Exchange Hotel, but Rau had left, and they later found her about fifteen kilometres north of the town, where they ordered her back to the Coen police station. There she gave several different stories about how and when she entered the country, none of them consistent. The police again contacted DIMIA, which advised them to detain Rau as a suspected unlawful non-citizen under the provisions of the Migration Act 1958. Rau was searched, and had a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
, a book with two names (both different from Anna and Cornelia) on it, and A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
2,413 in her possession. Later that day she was driven from Coen to Cairns
Cairns, Queensland
Cairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia, founded 1876. The city was named after William Wellington Cairns, then-current Governor of Queensland. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was...
.
Queensland
On 2 April, Rau was visited by Iris Indorato, the honorary consul for Germany and FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in Cairns. Rau communicated with her in German, because officials did not know at the time that Rau could speak English, and it was presumed that she was a lost German citizen. Indorato said that her command of the language was fluent but "child-like" in terms of vocabulary, and that Rau could not remember basic information such as her parents' names, and where she had been born.
On 5 April, Rau was transferred to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, and to the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre
Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre
Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre is an Australian prison, located at Wacol, Brisbane. It was commissioned on 28 May 1999.Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre replaced the old Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre, located at Woolloongabba. The centre has a capacity of 264 cells and is divided...
(BWCC), where she would remain for the next six months. There she was placed among the general prison population, because there are no immigration detention facilities in Queensland. Rau was technically in the custody of DIMIA, although she was in reality being cared for by BWCC and Queensland Corrective Services.
While in prison, Rau was met by Debbie Kilroy, who ran an organisation called Sisters Inside, to support women in prison. Kilroy first met her in early May, when Rau had been without medication for two months. Rau identified herself to Kilroy as Anna, but spoke to her in fluent English with an Australian accent. On several occasions, Rau asked Kilroy to contact DIMIA for her, to ask when she would be released from prison, since she "had done nothing wrong". Other prisoners stated to the media that Anna would try to phone DIMIA but was unable to, because she could not remember who she was. DIMIA's position was that it was Rau's responsibility to identify herself, not theirs.
On 29 April, a DIMIA officer contacted the Missing Persons Unit of the Queensland Police, and sent them the information they had collected about Anna. The Unit said that they had no records matching the descriptions provided. On 11 May, Rau asked if she could apply for a German passport, and DIMIA officials prepared a form filled in with her details, giving her name as Anna Schmidt. Four days later, the German Consulate in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
rejected the passport application, because it contained insufficient or inadequate information. On 17 June DIMIA contacted the Australian Embassy in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
for assistance in identifying Rau.
Throughout June 2004, as Rau's condition deteriorated, other prisoners began to suspect that she was ill, because she would pace all day and would slam doors. Kilroy said that she attempted to raise the matter with BWCC officials, but they said that it was a DIMIA responsibility. On 5 July, Anna was one of 25 prisoners interviewed by an Ethical Standards Unit from the Government of Queensland
Government of Queensland
The Government of Queensland is commonly known as the "Queensland Government".The form of the Government of Queensland is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1859, although it has been amended many times since then...
, which was investigating claims of abuse within the prison system. During the taped interview, Anna recalled an incident in which she was sent to solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
in the Detention Unit, or DU, for attempting to obtain a newspaper from another room in the prison. During Rau's six months in BWCC, she spent five weeks in solitary confinement in the DU.
On 30 July, after several BWCC inmates and staff expressed concerns about Anna's welfare, the prison's psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
recommended that she have a psychiatric evaluation, so that her mental health could be assessed. One week later, on 6 August, a BWCC officer also asked for an evaluation, to determine whether Anna could be placed in the community, rather than remain in the prison. Eventually, on 10 August, the prison psychiatrist recommended that she be taken to a hospital for a full assessment, to determine her mental health. Her report noted that Anna's behaviour was unusual, and she had poor hygiene and would behave inappropriately towards the guards, particularly the male ones. Anna was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital
Princess Alexandra Hospital
The Princess Alexandra Hospital , is located on Ipswich Road in Woolloongabba, Australia. It is one of the major hospitals in Brisbane and is a teaching hospital of the University of Queensland. It is a tertiary level teaching hospital with all major medical and surgical specialities onsite except...
in Brisbane on 20 August, where doctors spent six days assessing her. She was returned to BWCC on 26 August, after doctors failed to diagnose her schizophrenia.
Meanwhile, on 11 August, Rau's family officially reported her as a missing person to the New South Wales Police. The police launched a public appeal, advertising in newspapers and placing posters nearby. On 12 August, NSW police contacted DIMIA, to search their records for information about Rau. The search revealed nothing, and there was no further interstate cooperation. The police contacted DIMIA again six weeks later, on 24 September, in an attempt to discover whether Rau had left or tried to leave Australia. DIMIA replied that she had not left, and was still in the country.
By the end of September 2004, DIMIA officials were planning to move Rau to the Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre
Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre
Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre or commonly just Baxter Detention Centre, was an Australian immigration detention facility near the town of Port Augusta in South Australia. It was the focus of much of the controversy concerning the mandatory detention of asylum seekers in Australia...
(commonly known as the Baxter Detention Centre), a DIMIA facility (operated by Global Solutions Limited, or GSL) near the town of Port Augusta
Port Augusta, South Australia
-Electricity generation:Electricity is generated at the Playford B and Northern power stations from brown coal mined at Leigh Creek, 250 km to the north...
in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. Rau refused to sign the transfer forms, but, on 6 October, she was transferred to Baxter anyway. She had to be sedated and placed in restraints in order to get her on the plane.
Baxter
Rau arrived at Baxter later that day and was referred to a psychologist there. The psychologist assessed Rau on 7 October but was unable to diagnose schizophrenia, declaring instead that she had behavioural problems. After she would not communicate with DIMIA officials at her induction interview on 8 October, she was again referred to the psychologist, who assessed her again on 12 October. On 14 October, the psychologist reported that medication would be useless, and that Anna should be transferred to a facility such as the Villawood Immigration Detention CentreVillawood Immigration Detention Centre
Villawood Immigration Detention Centre is an Australian immigration detention facility located in the suburb of Villawood in Sydney, Australia...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, which had a female-only area which would be more suitable for Anna. DIMIA did not think this was appropriate, however, and did not transfer Anna, in spite of the fact that the BWCC psychiatrist had noted her inappropriate behaviour around men.
Instead, Rau was sent to the Management Unit, known simply as Management, which the Baxter psychologist had specifically warned was not a suitable long-term solution. Management consisted of solitary-confinement cells, with both the bed and the toilet visible to Baxter staff through the windows. Rau was entitled to four hours each day outside her cell (although not in the company of other detainees), and, whenever she had to be returned to her cell, GSL officers wearing riot gear
Riot control
Riot control refers to the measures used by police, military, or other security forces to control, disperse, and arrest civilians who are involved in a riot, demonstration, or protest. Law enforcement officers or soldiers have long used non-lethal weapons such as batons and whips to disperse crowds...
would forcibly put her into the cell, according to Sister Claudette Cusack.
On 3 November, Rau refused to talk to the psychologist and, on 6 November, was scheduled for an assessment by a psychiatrist, Dr Andrew Fruckacz, who recommended that she be taken to a hospital. He could not make a certain diagnosis, but he believed that schizophrenia was a possibility, along with a personality disorder. A psychiatrist from Glenside Mental Health Service, a campus of the Royal Adelaide Hospital
Royal Adelaide Hospital
The Royal Adelaide Hospital is Adelaide's largest hospital, with 680 beds. Founded in 1840, the Royal Adelaide provides tertiary health care services for South Australia and provides secondary care clinical services to residents of Adelaide's city centre and inner suburbs.The hospital is situated...
, was told about Anna's behaviour, and said that her problems were behavioural, and not mental-health related. The Rural and Remote Mental Health Service (RRMHS) offered a videoconference, but Baxter officials instead wanted Anna to be admitted to a hospital, because they believed that she would not cooperate with a video assessment. On 17 November, the RRMHS took Anna off the waiting list for hospital treatment, without informing officials at Baxter, who believed that their request was still being considered.
Despite Dr Fruckacz's recommendations, Rau was put into Management for a second time. Later, she was moved to the Red 1 compound, specially built to prevent riots and to hold rowdy detainees. There they are separated from the general population, isolated and held indoors for eighteen hours a day.
At a Management Unit meeting on 24 November, Anna's case manager said that she thought that Anna was not German at all but an Australian with German parents. Other staff at Baxter, as well as DIMIA staff in Canberra, were informed of this opinion. Previously, on 12 November, the German Consulate in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
had decided to try to identify Anna. They contacted an officer of the Victoria Police
Victoria Police
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of Victoria, Australia. , the Victoria Police has over 12,190 sworn members, along with over 400 recruits, reservists and Protective Service Officers, and over 2,900 civilian staff across 393 police stations.-Early history:The Victoria Police...
, who, in turn, contacted the DIMIA headquarters
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. DIMIA contacted the Consulate on 6 December, but neither had made any progress. Meanwhile, on 22 December, police in Manly, New South Wales
Manly, New South Wales
Manly is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Manly is located 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of Manly Council, in the Northern Beaches region.-History:Manly was named...
contacted DIMIA, without providing photographs or other information, to see if Rau had used her Australian passport to leave the country.
In late December, a group of Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
ministers, including Sister Claudette Cusack, who worked at Baxter, wrote to DIMIA about Anna and other detainees who appeared to have mental-health issues. Father Arno Vermeeren, who also works at Baxter, raised his concerns about Anna and the Red 1 compound with the Immigration Detention Advisory Group (IDAG), shortly before a scheduled inspection. None of these concerns were addressed.
On 5 January 2005, the German Consulate in Melbourne told DIMIA that without information such as fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
s, they would not be able to identify Anna and, on 14 January, said that officials in Germany had also made no progress. Rau herself contacted the Consulate on 20 January, still identifying herself as Anna Schmidt, but staff told her that they still required more information. Consular staff later told Anna's case manager at Baxter that Anna's "child-like" command of the German language was consistent with Anna being an Australian of German background, corroborating the case manager's suspicion from the 24 November meeting. It was noted in the Palmer Inquiry that, at times, Anna would speak English with an Australian accent and, at other times, with a German accent, alongside also speaking German.
Meanwhile, on 4 January, psychologists at Baxter contacted RRMHS again, and Glenside officials finally investigated the information sent to them in November 2004. On 7 January, a doctor from International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), a DIMIA sub-contractor
Subcontractor
A subcontractor is an individual or in many cases a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract....
, examined Anna again and suggested that she might have schizophrenia, or at least a schizophrenia-related condition. On 24 January, DIMIA officials in Canberra discussed with Glenside doctors the possibility of committing
Involuntary commitment
Involuntary commitment or civil commitment is a legal process through which an individual with symptoms of severe mental illness is court-ordered into treatment in a hospital or in the community ....
Anna. The IHMS doctor again tried to assess Anna on 31 January, but he could not get her to cooperate, and, on 2 February, the doctor contacted a psychiatrist at Glenside, who said that Anna should be assessed under the South Australian Mental Health Act 1993 for possible committal. The doctor assessed Anna on the next day and, after consulting with the Glenside doctor, committed Anna.
Discovery
On 31 January 2005 The AgeThe Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
newspaper in Melbourne published a story by Andra Jackson, entitled "Mystery woman at Baxter may be ill". The story was seen by friends of the Rau family, who thought that the woman the article referred to could be Cornelia Rau, so they contacted the family. The family, in turn, contacted the New South Wales Police, who emailed DIMIA officials at Baxter with details and photographs of Rau. Soon, DIMIA staff officially identified Anna as Cornelia Rau. Later that night, South Australia Police
South Australia Police
The South Australia Police is the police force of the Australian state of South Australia. It is an agency of the Government of South Australia within the South Australian Department of Justice.-History:...
officers entered Baxter and removed Rau. She was transported to the nearby Port Augusta Hospital and, on the morning of 4 February, committed to the Glenside Hospital mental health facility.
Inquiry
On 9 February 2005, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Senator Hon. Amanda VanstoneAmanda Vanstone
Amanda Eloise Vanstone is a former Australian politician and a former Ambassador to Italy. She was a Liberal Senator for South Australia from 1984 to 2007, and held several ministerial portfolios in the Howard Government. After her resignation from the Senate in 2007, she served as the Australian...
, announced that former Australian Federal Police
Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
commissioner Mick Palmer
Mick Palmer
Michael James "Mick" Palmer is a former Australian politician. He was a Country Liberal Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1983 to 2001, representing Leanyer until 1987 and Karama thereafter.-References:...
would be conducting an inquiry into the circumstances around the detention of Rau. This would become known as the Palmer Inquiry. On 2 May the terms of reference were expanded to allow Palmer to investigate the wrongful deportation of Vivian Solon
Vivian Solon
Vivian Alvarez Solon is an Australian who was unlawfully removed to the Philippines by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs in July 2001. In May 2005, it became public knowledge that she had been deported, although DIMIA knew of its mistake in 2003...
to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
in 2001.
The report of the Palmer Inquiry was released on 14 July 2005. Senator Vanstone tabled the report in Parliament
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
and held a press conference along with Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
, in which they apologised to Rau and Solon. Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
Immigration spokesperson Tony Burke
Tony Burke
Anthony Stephen 'Tony' Burke is an Australian politician representing the Labor Party, and the current Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities . He first entered public office in 2003 as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council...
criticised the Inquiry, saying that only a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
would have the necessary powers to investigate the situation properly. Cornelia Rau herself said that she wanted Senator Vanstone to be replaced as Immigration Minister by someone from an ethnic background. In July 2005, and again later in the year, the government promised that Rau would be compensated. In February 2008, lawyers for Rau accepted an increased offer of compensation on her behalf later confirmed at A$2.6 million.
Current life
Cornelia Rau is currently doing a degree in Indonesian Studies and French at Flinders University.Rau was arrested while behaving erratically in the city of Tafila, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
in February 2009. Local officials say she was taken into custody for failing to pay hotel and taxi bills. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs says Australian authorities will continue to provide aid to Ms Rau.
See also
Other prominent immigration cases in Australia:- Vivian SolonVivian SolonVivian Alvarez Solon is an Australian who was unlawfully removed to the Philippines by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs in July 2001. In May 2005, it became public knowledge that she had been deported, although DIMIA knew of its mistake in 2003...
- Robert JovicicRobert JovicicRobert Jovicic was a long-time resident of Australia who was deported to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia where he became destitute in 2005.Jovicic was born on December 4, 1966 in France of Serbian parents...
- Stefan NystromStefan NystromStefan Nystrom was a long-time resident of Australia who was deported to Sweden in controversial circumstances in 2006.- Life :Nystrom was born on 31 December 1973 in Sweden. His mother was an Australian resident but was visiting her parents in Sweden in the late stages of her pregnancy. She...
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