Mandatory detention in Australia
Encyclopedia
Mandatory detention in Australia concerns the Australian federal government
's policy and system of mandatory immigration detention
active from 1992 to date, pursuant to which all persons entering the country without a valid visa
are compulsorily detained and sometimes subject to deportation
.
In the early 2000s, the mandatory detention of people seeking political asylum in Australia attracted considerable controversy. Between 1999 and 2003, over 2000 children, mostly with family members, were held inside immigration detention centers commissioned by the Australian government. Mandatory detention remains a very controversial aspect of Australian immigration
policy.
Immigration detainees were incarcerated in one of the Australian immigration detention facilities
on the Australian mainland, or on Manus Island
or Nauru
as part of the Pacific Solution
. The detention facilities were managed by the private company, Global Solutions Limited.
In July 2008, the Australian government announced it was ending its policy of automatic detention for asylum seekers who arrive in the country without visas. While it remained committed to the policy of mandatory detention as an "essential component of strong border control", the Rudd Government
announced that detention would now be restricted to unlawful non-citizens who pose a threat to the community, those who refuse to comply with visa conditions, or those who need to be detained for the period of conducting health, identity and security checks. At present this policy has only been implemented in the form of departmental policy directions.
Labor government, with bipartisan support, in 1992. The legislation was proposed as a result of an influx of Vietnamese
, Chinese
, and Cambodian
refugee
s over the previous few years. The legislation specifically disallowed judicial review
, but did impose a 273 day limit on detention.
In 1994, the Keating
government introduced new legislation called the Migration Reform Act 1992, broadening the application of mandatory detention to all who did not hold a valid visa, and removing the 273 day limit. This extension laid the foundation for indefinite detention
.
Following the Tampa affair
in 2001, the Howard government
developed a policy known as the Pacific Solution
, which was implemented by then Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock
. Under this policy, many islands were excised from Australia’s migration zone
, and asylum seeker were removed to third countries in order to determine their refugee status, namely at detention camps on small island nations in the Pacific Ocean
.
Also in 2001, the Border Protection Bill was introduced into the Parliament of Australia
, which provided the government with the power to remove any ship in the territorial waters of Australia, use reasonable force to do so, provide that any person who was on the ship be forcibly returned to the ship, and guaranteed that no asylum applications may be made by people on board the ship. The Migration Amendment (Excision from Migration Zone) (Consequential Provisions) Act 2001 reinforced the practice of mandatory detention, providing for the indefinite detention of asylum seekers.
Many of those detained in Australia's detention centres between 1999-2006 have been asylum seekers from Iraq
and Afghanistan
who sought protection or asylum under Australia's obligations to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
. Over 80 percent of these were found to be refugees by the Immigration Department, with some decisions taking more than 8 months. Few asylum seekers were able to be repatriated.
On 6 August 2004, the High Court of Australia
handed down its decision in the case of Behrooz v Secretary Of The Department Of Immigration And Multicultural And Indigenous Affairs and held that the harsh conditions of detention did not render the detention unlawful. On the same day, the High Court also handed down its decision in Al-Kateb v Godwin
which held that unsuccessful asylum seekers who could not be removed to another country, despite their wish to leave Australia, could continue to be held in immigration detention indefinitely.
Mandatory detention of asylum seekers was popular with sections of the Australian electorate. Some commentators argue that it helped John Howard
win the 2001 federal election. While the Australian Labor Party supported the policy as Opposition, in June 2005 a small backbench revolt in Howard's own party led by Petro Georgiou
and Judith Moylan resulted in some concessions to humanitarian concerns, including the promised release of long-term detainees and review of future cases by an ombudsman. The Palmer Inquiry was introduced in 2005 after the wrongful detention of mentally ill Cornelia Rau, a German citizen holding Australian permanent residency who had been detained for 11 months. The inquiry also found 33 people to have been wrongful detained with another 200 cases being referred.
Australia's longest-serving detainee Peter Qasim
was detained for over 7 years before being released in 2005. From September 2001, the vast majority of asylum seekers who were eventually found to be refugees were issued with a temporary protection visa
which forms a parallel plank of the government's refugee policy.
In 2006 the federal government made a $400,000 compensation payout to an 11-year-old Iranian boy for the psychological harm he suffered while being detained in Woomera and Villawood detention centres between 2000 and 2002.
The Pacific Solution was terminated in February 2008 with Nauru and Manus Island centres being closed.
(HREOC) held an inquiry into mandatory detention of children who arrived without a valid visa over the period 1999-2002 (with updates where possible - the report was completed in April 2004) . The vast majority of children arrived and were put into mandatory detention facilities with their families for indefinite periods of time with no real opportunity to argue their case before independent tribunal or court. The inquiry found that between 1 July 1999 and 30 June 2003, 2184 children were detained after arriving in Australia seeking asylum without a visa. Approximately 14 % of those children came to Australia alone (unaccompanied children). Most of them came from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Almost 98 percent of the Iraqi children were recognised as refugees;
The inquiry found that children detained for long periods of time were at a high risk of suffering mental illness. Mental health professionals had repeatedly recommended that children and their parents be removed from immigration detention. The inquiry found that the Australian government's refusal to implement these recommendations amounted to “..cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of those children in detention”.
The inquiry also found that many basic rights outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child
were denied to children living in immigration detention.
The key recommendations of the Inquiry were that children with their parents be released immediately into the community and that detention laws should be amended to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Howard government released the children and introduced limited changes to Migration Act 1958 as a result of the report.
sent a letter to Australian Prime Minister John Howard
regarding new legislation, The Migration Amendment (Excision from Migration Zone) (Consequential Provisions) Act 2001. The new act further strengthened the practice of mandatory detention, allowing for indefinite detention of unauthorised arrivals. The letter said:
The system of mandatory detention has been the subject of controversy. Opposition to the system on humanitarian grounds came from a range of religious, community and political groups including the National Council of Churches, Amnesty International
, Australian Democrats
, Australian Greens
and Rural Australians for Refugees. Among the intellectual opponents of the system has been Professor Robert Manne
, whose Quarterly Essay "Sending Them Home: Refugees and the New Politics of Indifference" (2004) called for an end to both mandatory detention and the temporary protection visa
system on humanitarian grounds.
Throughout the controversy, Prime Minister John Howard and successive immigration ministers maintained that their actions were justified in the interests of protecting Australias borders and ensuring that immigration law was enforced. A 2004 Liberal Party election policy document stated:
, had been held in detention as an unauthorised immigrant for ten months, after identifying herself as a backpacker from Munich
under the name of Anna Brotmeyer. In May, it was revealed that a total of 33 cases of people being wrongfully detained under the Migration Act were known, including one case of a woman forcibly deported and subsequently missing. As of May, it was not known how many actually spent time in an immigration detention facility. By late May, over 200 cases of possible wrongful immigration detention had been referred to the Palmer Inquiry. In October 2005, the Commonwealth Ombudsman revealed that more than half of those cases were held for a week or less and 23 people were held for more than a year and two of them were detained for more than five years.
federal Labor
government announced in July 2008 that it was ending its policy of automatic detention for asylum seekers who arrive in the country without visas.
Aspects of the original detention system in Australia will remain, but asylum seekers will be released more quickly. They will only be detained for lengthier time periods if they are deemed to pose a risk to the wider community or have repeatedly breached their visa conditions. "Boat people
" in excised areas will still be subject to mandatory detention and processed offshore, but the Government will move to hasten the process. Boat people will also be able to access legal advice and apply for an independent review of adverse decisions. Each detainee's circumstances and justification for ongoing detention will be scrutinised by the Immigration Ombudsman every six months. Some of the changes may require amendments to the Migration Act 1958. The Migration Amendment (Immigration Detention Reform) Bill 2009 makes these amendments, but is yet to be passed. This would require a Senate
majority of 39 votes. Australian Greens
and independent Nick Xenophon
appear to be in general agreement with the changes. The remaining vote would have to come from Family First Party
's Steve Fielding
or a Coalition Senator.
The Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt) Act 2009 was passed by the Australian House of Representatives
with several Liberal MPs threatening to 'cross the floor' and vote with Labor, and then passed into law on 8 September when the Senate passed the bill with the support of Senator Nick Xenophon
, The Australian Greens
, Liberal Senator Judith Troeth and at the last minute Steve Fielding. This act abolishes the Howard-era policy whereby the government attempted to reclaim the costs of immigration detention from the detainee upon release.
As of 29 March 2010, 100 asylum seeker boats had been intercepted within Australian waters during the life of the Rudd government.
announced that changes would be made to Australia's mandatory detention policy, and that more children and families would be moved out of immigration detention centres into community-based accommodation, such as centres run by churches and charities.
To accommodate the reduction in detainees, the federal government announced that they would open two new detention centres – one in Northam, 80 kilometres north-east of Perth, and another at Inverbrackie, 37 kilometres north of Adelaide. Northam will house up to 1,500 single men and Inverbrackie will house up to 400 family members.
In a press conference, Prime Minister Gillard told media "when we came to government we issued detention values about not having children in high security, behind razor wire, and obviously we have worked to deliver on those detention values." She went on to say, "obviously we want to see kids in school. I understand that in some particular cases the Minister will work through this case by case, there may be some reasons why this may not always be possible, but in the ordinary course of things I want to see kids getting a good education."
According to the Immigration Department, as of February 2011, there are currently 5,061 men, 571 women and 1,027 children under 18 living in detention. The Sydney Morning Herald
reports that 382 of those under 18 arrived without their parents.
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
's policy and system of mandatory immigration detention
Immigration detention
Immigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorised arrival, and those subject to deportation and removal in detention until a decision is made by immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to...
active from 1992 to date, pursuant to which all persons entering the country without a valid visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
are compulsorily detained and sometimes subject to deportation
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
.
In the early 2000s, the mandatory detention of people seeking political asylum in Australia attracted considerable controversy. Between 1999 and 2003, over 2000 children, mostly with family members, were held inside immigration detention centers commissioned by the Australian government. Mandatory detention remains a very controversial aspect of Australian immigration
Immigration to Australia
Immigration to Australia is estimated to have begun around 51,000 years ago when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived on the continent via the islands of the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea. Europeans first landed in the 17th and 18th Centuries, but colonisation only started in 1788. The...
policy.
Immigration detainees were incarcerated in one of the Australian immigration detention facilities
Australian immigration detention facilities
Australian immigration detention facilities comprise a number of different facilities throughout Australia and one on the Australian territory of Christmas Island. They are used to house people who are detained under Australia’s policy of mandatory detention and previously under the now defunct...
on the Australian mainland, or on Manus Island
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
or Nauru
Nauru
Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
as part of the Pacific Solution
Pacific Solution
The Pacific Solution was the name given to the Australian government policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention camps on small island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland...
. The detention facilities were managed by the private company, Global Solutions Limited.
In July 2008, the Australian government announced it was ending its policy of automatic detention for asylum seekers who arrive in the country without visas. While it remained committed to the policy of mandatory detention as an "essential component of strong border control", the Rudd Government
Rudd Government
The Rudd Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia of the Australian Labor Party from 2007 to 2010, led by Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister. The Rudd Government commenced on 3 December 2007, when Rudd was sworn in along with his ministry...
announced that detention would now be restricted to unlawful non-citizens who pose a threat to the community, those who refuse to comply with visa conditions, or those who need to be detained for the period of conducting health, identity and security checks. At present this policy has only been implemented in the form of departmental policy directions.
History of mandatory detention
Mandatory detention laws were introduced in Australia by the KeatingPaul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
Labor government, with bipartisan support, in 1992. The legislation was proposed as a result of an influx of Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
, Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and Cambodian
Khmer people
Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s over the previous few years. The legislation specifically disallowed judicial review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
, but did impose a 273 day limit on detention.
In 1994, the Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
government introduced new legislation called the Migration Reform Act 1992, broadening the application of mandatory detention to all who did not hold a valid visa, and removing the 273 day limit. This extension laid the foundation for indefinite detention
Indefinite detention
Indefinite detention is the incarceration of an arrested person by a national government or law enforcement agency without a trial. It is a controversial practice on the part of any government or agency that is in violation of many national and international laws, including human rights laws...
.
Following the Tampa affair
Tampa affair
In August 2001, the Howard Government of Australia refused permission for the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa, carrying 438 rescued Afghans from a distressed fishing vessel in international waters, to enter Australian waters...
in 2001, the Howard government
Howard Government
The Howard Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard. It was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition, which won a majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives at four successive elections. The Howard Government...
developed a policy known as the Pacific Solution
Pacific Solution
The Pacific Solution was the name given to the Australian government policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention camps on small island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland...
, which was implemented by then Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock
Philip Ruddock
Philip Maxwell Ruddock is an Australian politician who is currently a member of the House of Representatives representing the Division of Berowra, New South Wales, for the Liberal Party of Australia...
. Under this policy, many islands were excised from Australia’s migration zone
Australian migration zone
The Australian migration zone refers to the parts of Australian territory where a non citizen must hold a visa to legally enter and remain. It includes all states and mainland territories, plus some external territories, at the mean low water mark....
, and asylum seeker were removed to third countries in order to determine their refugee status, namely at detention camps on small island nations in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
Also in 2001, the Border Protection Bill was introduced into the Parliament of Australia
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...
, which provided the government with the power to remove any ship in the territorial waters of Australia, use reasonable force to do so, provide that any person who was on the ship be forcibly returned to the ship, and guaranteed that no asylum applications may be made by people on board the ship. The Migration Amendment (Excision from Migration Zone) (Consequential Provisions) Act 2001 reinforced the practice of mandatory detention, providing for the indefinite detention of asylum seekers.
Many of those detained in Australia's detention centres between 1999-2006 have been asylum seekers from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
who sought protection or asylum under Australia's obligations to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
The United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is an international convention that defines who is a refugee, and sets out the rights of individuals who are granted asylum and the responsibilities of nations that grant asylum. The Convention also sets out which people do not...
. Over 80 percent of these were found to be refugees by the Immigration Department, with some decisions taking more than 8 months. Few asylum seekers were able to be repatriated.
On 6 August 2004, the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
handed down its decision in the case of Behrooz v Secretary Of The Department Of Immigration And Multicultural And Indigenous Affairs and held that the harsh conditions of detention did not render the detention unlawful. On the same day, the High Court also handed down its decision in Al-Kateb v Godwin
Al-Kateb v Godwin
Al-Kateb v Godwin was a decision of the High Court of Australia, which ruled on 6 August 2004 that the indefinite detention of a stateless person was lawful. The case concerned Ahmed Al-Kateb, a Palestinian man born in Kuwait, who moved to Australia in 2000 and applied for a temporary protection visa...
which held that unsuccessful asylum seekers who could not be removed to another country, despite their wish to leave Australia, could continue to be held in immigration detention indefinitely.
Mandatory detention of asylum seekers was popular with sections of the Australian electorate. Some commentators argue that it helped 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....
win the 2001 federal election. While the Australian Labor Party supported the policy as Opposition, in June 2005 a small backbench revolt in Howard's own party led by Petro Georgiou
Petro Georgiou
Petro Georgiou , Australian politician, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from November 1994 to July 2010, representing the Division of Kooyong, Victoria.-Early life:...
and Judith Moylan resulted in some concessions to humanitarian concerns, including the promised release of long-term detainees and review of future cases by an ombudsman. The Palmer Inquiry was introduced in 2005 after the wrongful detention of mentally ill Cornelia Rau, a German citizen holding Australian permanent residency who had been detained for 11 months. The inquiry also found 33 people to have been wrongful detained with another 200 cases being referred.
Australia's longest-serving detainee Peter Qasim
Peter Qasim
Peter Qasim was the longest-serving detainee within the Australian immigration detention system, having resided there for over seven years . He had not been deported because he was stateless. He had applied to over 80 countries for asylum, but had not been accepted.His case has been publicised by...
was detained for over 7 years before being released in 2005. From September 2001, the vast majority of asylum seekers who were eventually found to be refugees were issued with a temporary protection visa
Temporary protection visa
A Temporary Protection Visa was an Australian visa document introduced by the Howard Government on 20 October 1999, which was issued to persons who had been recognised as refugees fleeing persecution. The scheme was controversial, with the government claiming it was a necessary response to the...
which forms a parallel plank of the government's refugee policy.
In 2006 the federal government made a $400,000 compensation payout to an 11-year-old Iranian boy for the psychological harm he suffered while being detained in Woomera and Villawood detention centres between 2000 and 2002.
The Pacific Solution was terminated in February 2008 with Nauru and Manus Island centres being closed.
National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM Human Rights Commissioner of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity CommissionHuman Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
The Australian Human Rights Commission is a national human rights institution, a statutory body funded by, but operating independently of, the Australian Government. It has the responsibility for investigating alleged infringements under Australia’s anti-discrimination legislation...
(HREOC) held an inquiry into mandatory detention of children who arrived without a valid visa over the period 1999-2002 (with updates where possible - the report was completed in April 2004) . The vast majority of children arrived and were put into mandatory detention facilities with their families for indefinite periods of time with no real opportunity to argue their case before independent tribunal or court. The inquiry found that between 1 July 1999 and 30 June 2003, 2184 children were detained after arriving in Australia seeking asylum without a visa. Approximately 14 % of those children came to Australia alone (unaccompanied children). Most of them came from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Almost 98 percent of the Iraqi children were recognised as refugees;
The inquiry found that children detained for long periods of time were at a high risk of suffering mental illness. Mental health professionals had repeatedly recommended that children and their parents be removed from immigration detention. The inquiry found that the Australian government's refusal to implement these recommendations amounted to “..cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of those children in detention”.
The inquiry also found that many basic rights outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...
were denied to children living in immigration detention.
The key recommendations of the Inquiry were that children with their parents be released immediately into the community and that detention laws should be amended to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Howard government released the children and introduced limited changes to Migration Act 1958 as a result of the report.
Criticism
In October 2001, Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
sent a letter to Australian Prime Minister 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....
regarding new legislation, The Migration Amendment (Excision from Migration Zone) (Consequential Provisions) Act 2001. The new act further strengthened the practice of mandatory detention, allowing for indefinite detention of unauthorised arrivals. The letter said:
- The recent legislation seriously contravenes Australia’s obligations to non-citizens, refugees and asylum seekers under international human rights and refugee law. As provided for in Article 2 of the ICCPR, the obligation to respect and ensure rights to all persons, including all non-citizens, applies throughout Australia’s territory and to all persons subject to Australia’s jurisdiction. We urge Australia, as we have already urged the U.S. government in similar circumstances, to amend its new legislation or at a minimum to implement it in a manner that fully upholds fundamental norms of international human rights and refugee law.
The system of mandatory detention has been the subject of controversy. Opposition to the system on humanitarian grounds came from a range of religious, community and political groups including the National Council of Churches, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, Australian Democrats
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader...
, Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
and Rural Australians for Refugees. Among the intellectual opponents of the system has been Professor Robert Manne
Robert Manne
Robert Manne is a professor of politics at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.Born in Melbourne, Manne's earliest political consciousness was formed by the fact that his parents were Jewish refugees from Europe and his grandparents were victims of the Holocaust...
, whose Quarterly Essay "Sending Them Home: Refugees and the New Politics of Indifference" (2004) called for an end to both mandatory detention and the temporary protection visa
Temporary protection visa
A Temporary Protection Visa was an Australian visa document introduced by the Howard Government on 20 October 1999, which was issued to persons who had been recognised as refugees fleeing persecution. The scheme was controversial, with the government claiming it was a necessary response to the...
system on humanitarian grounds.
Throughout the controversy, Prime Minister John Howard and successive immigration ministers maintained that their actions were justified in the interests of protecting Australias borders and ensuring that immigration law was enforced. A 2004 Liberal Party election policy document stated:
- The Coalition Government's tough stance on people smuggling stems from the core belief that Australia has the right to decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come. Deterrence has been achieved through excisionExcisionExcision is the alias of Jeff Abel, a dubstep DJ and music boss from British Columbia, Canada. He frequently works with fellow Canadian dubstep producers Datsik and Downlink. As one of the first dubstep producers and DJs in North America, he has played a significant role in the genre's growth in...
, boat returns, offshore processing and mandatory detention.
Wrongful detention
In February 2005, it was revealed that a mentally ill German citizen holding Australian permanent residency, Cornelia RauCornelia Rau
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.- Overview :...
, had been held in detention as an unauthorised immigrant for ten months, after identifying herself as a backpacker 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...
under the name of Anna Brotmeyer. In May, it was revealed that a total of 33 cases of people being wrongfully detained under the Migration Act were known, including one case of a woman forcibly deported and subsequently missing. As of May, it was not known how many actually spent time in an immigration detention facility. By late May, over 200 cases of possible wrongful immigration detention had been referred to the Palmer Inquiry. In October 2005, the Commonwealth Ombudsman revealed that more than half of those cases were held for a week or less and 23 people were held for more than a year and two of them were detained for more than five years.
Changes under the Rudd Government
The RuddKevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
federal 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...
government announced in July 2008 that it was ending its policy of automatic detention for asylum seekers who arrive in the country without visas.
Aspects of the original detention system in Australia will remain, but asylum seekers will be released more quickly. They will only be detained for lengthier time periods if they are deemed to pose a risk to the wider community or have repeatedly breached their visa conditions. "Boat people
Boat people
Boat people is a term that usually refers to refugees, illegal immigrants or asylum seekers who emigrate in numbers in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made...
" in excised areas will still be subject to mandatory detention and processed offshore, but the Government will move to hasten the process. Boat people will also be able to access legal advice and apply for an independent review of adverse decisions. Each detainee's circumstances and justification for ongoing detention will be scrutinised by the Immigration Ombudsman every six months. Some of the changes may require amendments to the Migration Act 1958. The Migration Amendment (Immigration Detention Reform) Bill 2009 makes these amendments, but is yet to be passed. This would require a Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
majority of 39 votes. Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
and independent Nick Xenophon
Nick Xenophon
Nicholas "Nick" Xenophon is a South Australian barrister, anti-gambling campaigner and politician. He attended Prince Alfred College, and studied law at the University of Adelaide, attaining his Bachelor of Laws in 1981. Xenophon established and became principal of his own law firm, Xenophon & Co....
appear to be in general agreement with the changes. The remaining vote would have to come from Family First Party
Family First Party
The Family First Party is a socially conservative minor political party in Australia. It has two members in the South Australian Legislative Council...
's Steve Fielding
Steve Fielding
Steven "Steve" Fielding , was a Senator representing the state of Victoria and the federal parliamentary leader of the Family First Party in Australia. Elected to the Senate at the 2004 federal election on two percent of the Victorian vote, he failed to gain re-election at the 2010 federal election...
or a Coalition Senator.
The Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt) Act 2009 was passed by the Australian House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
with several Liberal MPs threatening to 'cross the floor' and vote with Labor, and then passed into law on 8 September when the Senate passed the bill with the support of Senator Nick Xenophon
Nick Xenophon
Nicholas "Nick" Xenophon is a South Australian barrister, anti-gambling campaigner and politician. He attended Prince Alfred College, and studied law at the University of Adelaide, attaining his Bachelor of Laws in 1981. Xenophon established and became principal of his own law firm, Xenophon & Co....
, The Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
, Liberal Senator Judith Troeth and at the last minute Steve Fielding. This act abolishes the Howard-era policy whereby the government attempted to reclaim the costs of immigration detention from the detainee upon release.
As of 29 March 2010, 100 asylum seeker boats had been intercepted within Australian waters during the life of the Rudd government.
Changes under the Gillard Government
On 18 October 2010, Julia GillardJulia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
announced that changes would be made to Australia's mandatory detention policy, and that more children and families would be moved out of immigration detention centres into community-based accommodation, such as centres run by churches and charities.
To accommodate the reduction in detainees, the federal government announced that they would open two new detention centres – one in Northam, 80 kilometres north-east of Perth, and another at Inverbrackie, 37 kilometres north of Adelaide. Northam will house up to 1,500 single men and Inverbrackie will house up to 400 family members.
In a press conference, Prime Minister Gillard told media "when we came to government we issued detention values about not having children in high security, behind razor wire, and obviously we have worked to deliver on those detention values." She went on to say, "obviously we want to see kids in school. I understand that in some particular cases the Minister will work through this case by case, there may be some reasons why this may not always be possible, but in the ordinary course of things I want to see kids getting a good education."
According to the Immigration Department, as of February 2011, there are currently 5,061 men, 571 women and 1,027 children under 18 living in detention. The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
reports that 382 of those under 18 arrived without their parents.
Suspension of processing for asylum claims by Afghans and Sri Lankans
On 9 April 2010, Senator Chris Evans, Immigration Minister, announced that, with immediate effect, no new applications for people from Afghanistan would be processed for six months ; and for Sri Lankans, three months. Senator Evans was quoted as saying that this change would result in a higher rate of refusal of claims based on circumstances in these countriesSee also
- Immigration detentionImmigration detentionImmigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorised arrival, and those subject to deportation and removal in detention until a decision is made by immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to...
- List of Australian immigration detention facilities
- Pacific SolutionPacific SolutionThe Pacific Solution was the name given to the Australian government policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention camps on small island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland...