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Project SafeCom News and Updates 3 March 2006
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Project SafeCom
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Mar 02, 2006 07:02 PST
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Project SafeCom News and Updates 3 March 2006
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BREAKING: Bribes, PM's office alerted
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Sydney Morning Herald - JOHN HOWARD was alerted to a Canadian Government
complaint that AWB was paying kickbacks in Iraq six years ago, according to
a secret Foreign Affairs cable released by the Cole inquiry yesterday.
http://smh.com.au/news/national/bribes-pms-office-alerted/2006/03/02/1141191796926.html
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¤ - In this Edition - ¤
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1. Immigration hit by day of backdowns
2. Two more 'lost' in detention system
3. Ombudsman’s Report Reveals Injustice of “Unidentified” Long term Detainees
4. Immigration Dept settles Badraie case
5. Settlement for Iranian refugee boy
6. Senate committee urges 90-day limit
7. True spirit of asylum
8. Audit reveals detention centre tender flaws
9. Detention manager gets $5.7m payout
10. Immigration Senate Inquiry reveals deeply flawed system
11. Democrats accuse senators of shielding Govt
12. Deportation reversed
13. Jovicic allowed to return to Australia
14. Commission to review sedition laws
15. And the Lies, Contradictions & Evasions Just Keep On Coming
16. Government rattled over Rau debacle
17. Cross-the-floor Bungle exposes Labor Party
18. Labor votes against Rau compo in blunder
19. Lawyer calls for an end to shackling
20. Costello ruse echoes White Australia Policy
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-|| This is the Project SafeCom Newsletter - published since 2001
-|| as the 'Project SafeCom Daily News and Updates'.
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-|| To subscribe to this Newsletter or to manage your subscription, visit
-|| http://www.safecom.org.au/newsletter-subscribe.htm
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1. Immigration hit by day of backdowns
============================
Sydney Morning Herald
By Ben Cubby and Josh Paine
March 3, 2006
A DAY of turmoil in the nation's immigration system ended with the Federal
Government backing down on several fronts yesterday.
It agreed to pay damages to a boy traumatised in detention and allowed a
deported Melbourne man to return to Australia on humanitarian grounds.
A damning report released by an independent auditor yesterday also raised
questions about a successful 2003 bid by the immigration detention
contractor GSL, whose contract the Government refused to renew on Wednesday.
In Sydney, an 11-year-old Iranian, Shayan Badraie, was offered damages for
trauma he suffered in Woomera and Villawood detention centres. The move
comes after a 63-day Supreme Court hearing.
While in detention between March 2000 and August 2001, the boy became
severely traumatised after witnessing riots, a stabbing and a string of
other disturbing incidents. He subsequently spent 94 days in hospital, and
still requires treatment.
Commonwealth lawyers approached lawyers representing Shayan this week to
offer a settlement for damages. The exact sum will be fixed at a hearing
this morning but is expected to be more than $1 million.
Rebecca Gilsenan, a principal with Maurice Blackburn Cashman, which took on
the case pro bono, said the result vindicated the suffering of the Badraie
family and would affect future cases of children who had suffered while in
immigration detention.
"It's an acceptance of responsibility for what happened to the boy while
under the Government's care," Ms Gilsenan said.
The Badraie family now lives in western Sydney, awaiting permanent
residency status.
Also yesterday, the Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone, granted Robert
Jovicic leave to return to Australia on compassionate grounds. Mr Jovicic,
a petty criminal, was deported to Serbia in 2004, despite being born in
France and moving to Australia with his parents when he was two.
Senator Vanstone said she had been "in two minds in relation to this
matter" because of Mr Jovicic's criminal past. "I don't think Australians
want people who aren't citizens and [who] consistently break the law to be
able to stay in Australia," she said.
"Equally, I don't think Australians want someone who has lived in this
country for a long time to find themselves in the circumstances overseas in
which Mr Jovicic finds himself."
She said she had allowed him to return after "some anguished
consideration". He is expected to return to Australia on Thursday,
accompanied by immigration and medical officials.
The news was greeted with relief by the Jovicic family and its supporters,
with a family spokesman, Ross Waraker, describing it as "the only sensible
decision."
Meanwhile, the immigration detention contractor GSL was found to have been
hired even though it was more expensive and provided inferior services to
competitors, the National Audit Office announced yesterday.
GSL's bid was $32.6 million higher than that of the incumbent detention
centre operator, ACM, when the latter's bid expired.
The audit office found the basis on which ACM was paid $5.7 million after
it missed out on the contract was "doubtful", since the department was only
required to compensate for matters pertaining to detention. Immigration
could not provide evidence of the criteria under which the sum was paid.
The audit also found the head of the steering committee, which was heavily
involved in the evaluation of the bids, gave a reference for ACM's bid. An
independent probity adviser told the steering committee seven months later
that this should not happen again.
http://smh.com.au/news/national/immigration-hit-by-day-of-backdowns/2006/03/02/1141191796938.html
===========================
2. Two more 'lost' in detention system
===========================
The Age
By Andra Jackson
March 3, 2006
TWO men were lost in Australia's immigration detention system for several
years while officials tried unsuccessfully to identify them, in a case that
echoes the Cornelia Rau scandal.
In a damning report, Commonwealth Ombudsman John McMillan criticised the
slowness of immigration officials in investigating the men's backgrounds
and called for their urgent release into the community while the inquiries
continued.
Mr McMillan handed his report to Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone on
December 1 last year. Two months later, one of the detainees, an Asian man
known as Mr X, was identified and released into the community. He is on a
visa with reporting conditions pending further inquiries.
The other man, known as Mr Y, has also since been identified and may be
deported. He remains in the Villawood detention centre.
The Ombudsman's report, tabled in Federal Parliament on Wednesday, calls on
the Immigration Department to review its procedures for dealing with cases
in which the identity or immigration status of a person is unknown or
unresolved.
"The failure of a person to respond, either truthfully or at all, does not
necessarily support a reasonable suspicion that the person is an unlawful
non-citizen," the Ombudsman said.
His findings come a year after mentally ill Australian resident Cornelia
Rau was discovered to have been wrongfully held in immigration detention
for 10 months after claiming to be a German backpacker.
The Palmer inquiry into her detention recommended the department adopt
improved processes for checking the identity of people taken into detention
as suspected illegal migrants.
The man dubbed Mr Y was reportedly found wandering the streets of Sydney in
November 2001 and believed to be homeless. He has claimed to be Chinese
Malaysian and a devout Buddhist and told police he had come to Australia
with his parents in 1987.
Just months after his detention, Mr Y gave details which led to checks with
employers, banks, superannuation funds and government agencies including
the Australian Taxation Office. "Information obtained was not pursued and
possible leads were left unchecked," the Ombudsman said. Between mid-2002
and April 2005, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and
Indigenous Affairs did little investigation of Mr Y's case.
The Ombudsman said the department only picked his case up again in 2005
after it was referred to the National Identity Verification and Advice
Section for investigation.
The section was established in response to the department's failure to
establish Cornelia's Rau's identity.
In July 2005, the department obtained legal advice from the Australian
Government Solicitor about Mr Y's ongoing detention.The legal advice
suggested that "unless the checks made with Malaysian authorities can
quickly confirm that he is a Malaysian citizen … urgent consideration
should be given to getting Mr Y out of the detention centre environment."
Mr McMillan noted it was "of concern" that checks of the department's own
databases on both men, undertaken in August 2005, were not done earlier.
Indeed in an information brief to the minister dated August 19, 2005, the
department noted: "while all leads are still being vigorously pursued, we
believe the prospects of identifying the men (X and Y) are slim and we
recognise that there is a chance they may never be indentified."
Mr McMillan said only in recent months had the department "acted
strenuously" to try to identify Mr X, who was detained in September 2002.
At the time, he had told police he had arrived in Australia seven years
previously and was an unlawful non-citizen.
The Ombudsman said medical information suggested he might well have a
mental illness. He said it was "worrying" that a person could be detained
indefinitely because of doubts about their identity.
He drew a parallel between Mr X's refusal to co-operate with health
specialists and Ms Rau's refusal, pointing out the Palmer inquiry had
recommended that an alternative welfare assessment could be gauged from
staff, concerned friends and others.
"Mr X's case worryingly suggests, as noted in the Palmer report on Ms Rau,
that there are systemic failures in the way that DIMIA investigates the
circumstances of individuals who are uncooperative or confusing in
disclosing their identity."
Senator Amanda Vanstone said the Ombudsman had rightly criticised
investigations undertaken by the department in the early stages of the
men's detention and had taken measures to address the issues, which were
also raised in the Palmer and Comrie reports.
But she said there had to be a balance and people could not be allowed to
stay in Australia just because they refused to provide their identities.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/two-more-lost-in-detention-system/2006/03/02/1141191794622.html
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3. Ombudsman’s Report Reveals Injustice of “Unidentified” Long term Detainees
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The Australian GREENS (Victoria)
MEDIA RELEASE
PETER JOB, SPOKESPERSON ON REFUGEES
3 March 2006
The Victorian Greens Spokesperson on Refugees, Peter Job, today commented
on the revelation Wednesday by the Commonwealth Ombudsman that two
detainees had been incarcerated in immigration detention for four and a
half and three and a half years respectively for no other reason than that
they were of Asian appearance and could not be identified.
“Both spoke excellent English, one with an accent described as ‘an
Australian vernacular’ by the deputy manager of Baxter. He could quite
possibly an Australian citizen or permanent resident, as Cornellia Rau
proved to be, yet he was only released last month, after three and a half
years locked up.
“As the Ombudsman himself points out, it is unacceptable that they should
have been detained for so long for no other reason that DIMA failed to
identify them.”
Mr. Job explained that one had been released on 14 February, while the
other had been recently identified as a Malaysian citizen and is awaiting
deportation.
“One of the most disturbing things about the these cases is that the
Ombudsman has documented the fact that few efforts were made to identify
them before April last year, when the Department was forced to act by the
publicity of the Cornellia Rau affair,” Mr. Job said.
“Until then they were simply detained and dumped. The Department clearly
had no concept at all of the human rights issues involved in locking up
people who have committed no crime for long periods of time.”
Mr. Job also commented on the number of detainees still in long term detention.
“There are over twenty detainees who have been locked up more than two
years, with three having spent more than five years inside. Two of the
longest term detainees have been found to be genuine in their claims, but
are still languishing inside due to lengthy security checks.
“The Minister claimed this week she is reforming DIMA processes, yet the
reality for these long term detainees belies this,” Mr. Job said.
Mr. Job explained that the Ombudsman reports were released late on 1 March,
and are available on the Federal Ombudsman’s website.
For interviews or further information contact,
Peter Job mobile: 0423 515 603
email: refu-@vic.greens.org.au
==============================
4. Immigration Dept settles Badraie case
==============================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Thursday, March 2, 2006. 10:08pm (AEDT)
The Immigration Department says it has reached a settlement with an
11-year-old Iranian boy over his experiences in the Woomera and Villawood
detention centres.
Shayan Badraie was seeking damages from the department on the grounds he
was psychologically harmed by witnessing suicide attempts and violence at
the centres between 2000 and 2002.
His lawyer, Rebecca Gilsenan, says the settlement and the granting of
permanent residency to her client's family this week should help his recovery.
"The grant of the visa and the resolution of this case will allow this
family to settle permanently and to have some certainty and to be able to
try and look after their child and address the illness that he developed
because of the way he was treated in immigration detention," she said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1582728.htm
==========================
5. Settlement for Iranian refugee boy
==========================
news.com.au
From: AAP
March 02, 2006
AN 11-year-old Iranian boy, who claimed he suffered psychological harm
after witnessing attempted suicides and violence while in two Australian
detention centres, has reached a settlement with the Department of Immigration.
Shayan Badraie sued the department on the grounds he was psychologically
harmed over his experiences, while he was in the Woomera and Villawood
detention centres between 2000 and 2002.
Lawyer Rebecca Gilsenan said the settlement should aid in Shayan's recovery.
Ms Gilsenan said Shayan and his family had also been granted a visa to stay
in Australia.
"The grant of the visa and the resolution of this case will allow this
family to settle permanently and to have some certainty and to be able to
try and look after their child and address the illness that he developed
because of the way he was treated in immigration detention," Ms Gilsenan said
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18331779-29277,00.html
============================
6. Senate committee urges 90-day limit
============================
The Age
By Jewel Topsfield, Canberra
March 3, 2006
A SENATE majority report has called for an end to indefinite mandatory
detention, claiming that unlawful non-citizens should be detained for no
longer than 90 days.
The report said the Senate legal committee had received a substantial body
of expert testimony about the psychological harm of prolonged and
indeterminate detention.
"The weight of evidence before the committee demonstrates that …
immigration detention, in its present form, is unable to meet the twin
objectives of preserving the integrity of the migration program while
ensuring the humane treatment of non-nationals in detention," the report said.
The majority non-government members of the committee said comprehensive
reform of Australia's mandatory detention policy was essential.
The three ALP and one Democrats senator recommended that mandatory
detention be retained for initial screening, identity, security and health
checks for a maximum 90 days. This detention period should only be extended
if a federal magistrate ruled that an unlawful non-citizen was likely to
disappear or pose a risk to the community, the report said. Otherwise, they
should be released on a bridging visa, with access to basic services such
as health, welfare, housing and income support or work rights.
The report into the operation of the Migration Act made 61 recommendations,
including closing management units in detention centres, where detainees
are isolated as a form of punishment, returning detention centres to the
control of the Government and abolishing the deportation of long-term
Australian residents on character grounds. It also called for greater
ministerial accountability and a complete review of the Migration Act by
the Australian Law Reform Commission.
The chairwoman of the Senate legal and constitutional committee, ALP
Senator Trish Crossin, said the Migration Act has become "too complex and
an unwieldy monster".
"Despite the recommendations of the Palmer and Comrie report, the committee
continued to hear evidence that there still existed a culture of imbalance,
rigid attitudes and process," Senator Crossin said.
But the dissenting members of the committee, Nationals senator Barnaby
Joyce and Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, said the majority
report was "substantially flawed by a biased and highly selective use of
the evidence presented during the inquiry".
They also pointed out that mandatory detention was introduced by the
Keating Labor government in 1992 with bipartisan support.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/senate-committee-urges-90day-limit/2006/03/02/1141191794625.html
================
7. True spirit of asylum
================
The Age
By Denise Gadd
February 27, 2006
Kate Durham and her husband, Melbourne QC Julian Burnside, are among 100
artists to support the BID 4 Freedom art auction to be held on Sunday.
Durham has donated three pieces of jewellery and a painting, while
Burnside’s contribution is a wooden relief. Proceeds from the auction go to
the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project.
Their involvement with asylum seekers began in 2001, after the Tampa issue.
Outraged by the Howard Government’s hardline attitude to the 433 boat
people, they set about helping where they could, including opening their
home to Afghans, one of whom has been living with them for two years and
who now has permanent residency. (His wife is due to join him soon, so
Durham and Burnside are building a flat on their property to accommodate
the couple.)
Other artists who have donated works, now totalling 120, include Cherryl
Barassi, Tim Bass, Michael Nicholson and Wendy Stavrianos, as well as
industrial photographer Wolfgang Sievers and cartoonist Ron Tandberg.
Exhibition organisers Ann Morrow and her friend Jenni Mitchell were
originally motivated by the Tampa incident to do something. They contacted
the Brigidine Sisters, who were helping the asylum seekers through
visitations and aid, and asked to go with them to the Maribyrnong Detention
Centre.
Shocked at what they saw and after learning that the sisters used their
stipends to pay for everything from baby formula to rental bonds,
accommodation, medical and legal advice, counselling and school books,
Morrow and Mitchell decided to run a fund-raiser and organised a small art
show.
Now in its third year, it’s raised $150,000 for the asylum seekers’
project, run by Sister Brigid Arthur. Sister Brigid co-ordinated the
project five years ago out of concern for people in detention centres and
those released into the community on a bond, with certain conditions
attached to their release, or on the controversial Bridging Visa E.
A no-nonsense woman with a cheeky sense of humour, Sister Brigid says
asylum seekers on this visa are not allowed to work, learn English through
a government agency, or access the public health, education and housing
systems.
“One condition is that they have somewhere to live, but, since they come
out without the right to work, they have to have someone who will give them
housing and food.
“Some come out with the right to work because they’re on temporary
protection visas, but they can still get dumped into the community with
only two days’ accommodation and then they’re on their own.”
Which is where charitable and religious institutions, such as the Brigidine
Sisters and their asylum seekers’ project, come into play. “People have to
help them, because you can’t leave them without food or a place to live,
but it’s not good in the long term.”
Sister Brigid likens this dependency on handouts to Aborigines who were
sent to missions or places of care. “They became dependent and then lost
the skills and the will to be independent, so ended up having no future.
“I see parallels with asylum seekers. If, after three, four, five or nine
years, they’re still going through the process of seeking asylum and
haven’t been able to work all that time, it’s detrimental to their mental
health.”
Sister Brigid, who gained notoriety in 2002 when she escorted the two
Bakhtiyari children to the British consulate in Melbourne after their
break-out from Woomera detention centre, believes the issue of asylum
seekers doesn’t get enough of a public airing. The fact that most are
Muslims is another obstacle, she says, with fear whipped up in the
community for various reasons. Without regular, sensible and compassionate
public debate, it’s not possible to get two sides of the story, she says.
A lack of leadership at the top is another hurdle. “Most people don’t meet
asylum seekers, so they accept the stereotypical view put about that
they’ll take their jobs; there’ll be millions of them if we take them in;
and what right do they have to come and demand to stay?
“That’s why we need leadership to say, ‘It doesn’t matter about people’s
religion or beliefs, we have to respect everyone’s right as a human being,’
but, instead, we get half-hearted, mealy-mouthed platitudes from both sides
of politics.”
Many people said they were ashamed to be Australians after Tampa, Sister
Brigid recalls, but that’s what you “suffer” when you’re part of a country
or collective.
“It happens in other organisations. It happens in the church. I feel caught
up sometimes. It’s one of the things about belonging, so, short of cutting
yourself adrift, where does that leave you? Just sitting on an island doing
nothing.”
Doing nothing is not in Sister Brigid’s mantra. After our interview, she
went to Geelong to lobby the local Liberal member, Stewart McArthur, on
changing the immigration rules to allow asylum seek- ers on Bridging Visa E
to work while waiting for their refugee status to be processed.
McArthur is one of many politicians on both sides of the spectrum who are
being lobbied on the issue. “It’s amazing, you know. Most politicians don’t
know about the refugee/asylum seekers issues, which staggers you,” Sister
Brigid says. “What we want to tell them is that there aren’t many people on
these bridging visas, only about 900, and many of them have skills.
“We want him and the others to put pressure on Amanda Vanstone to say these
people should be allowed to work.”
Sister Brigid believes a conscience vote in Parliament on asylum seekers,
similar to the recent vote on abortion pill RU486, would be marvellous.
“There are people in the immigration department and politicians who would
like things to change, and I guess we have to keep on getting the weight of
numbers. One lone voice never changes anything. We’ve got to be strategic
and do it together. We are trying.”
Not everyone agrees with the work she and her fellow sisters are doing. She
overheard one woman call her a member of the bleeding heart brigade for
visiting asylum seekers at the Maribyrnong Detention Centre. Laughing,
Sister Brigid says she wears it as a badge of honour.
“It’s better to have some blood and a heart, don’t you think?”
A BID 4 Freedom preview exhibition will be held at the Glen Eira City
Council Gallery, corner Glen Eira and Hawthorn roads, Caulfield, from
Wednesday-Friday, 10am- 5pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 1pm-5pm. The auction
will be held on Sunday between 1.30pm and 5pm (refreshments, and jazz from
Bob Sedergreen, from 1pm.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/true-spirit-of-asylum/2006/02/26/1140888743355.html
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8. Audit reveals detention centre tender flaws
================================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Thursday, March 2, 2006. 6:32pm (AEDT)
The National Audit Office (NAO) has identified a string of problems in the
way the Immigration Department handled the tender process to run
Australia's detention centres.
The $400 million contract was given to GSL in August 2003.
The NAO has found the tender process fell well short of expected standards,
including below-par record keeping and deficiencies in the way bids were
assessed.
It was initially calculated GSL offered the best value for money.
However, while GSL and a second company, ACM, were still in the running for
the contract, GSL's tender price climbed by almost $33 million.
The NAO could not find any evidence the higher cost was fully compared to
the rival bid, which offered better service delivery.
ACM was given a payout of almost $6 million, which the NAO calls doubtful.
Labor's Tony Burke says the tender process is nothing short of a scandal.
"Notwithstanding that they were offering better value for money and they
were offering better conditions, the Government just decided to stop
negotiating with them," he said.
"The Government just decided to stop negotiating with ACM at all and
continue to negotiate with GSL."
The Immigration Department has since made changes to improve administration.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1582612.htm
=============================
9. Detention manager gets $5.7m payout
=============================
The Age
March 2, 2006 - 11:44PM
The immigration department made an unexplained $5.7 million payout to the
company that used to manage Australia's detention centres, an audit has found.
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has identified a series of
anomalies, potential conflicts and inadequate record-keeping in a review of
the department's contracts with companies paid to run the centres.
The department put detention centre management out to tender in 2001 and a
$400 million, four-year contract with Global Solutions Limited (GSL) was
ultimately signed in August, 2003.
But the ANAO has found DIMIA, now DIMA, wanted to "encourage" the former
contractor to end its management of the centres with a contract "completion
payment".
As a result, Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) received a payout
of almost $6 million.
"DIMIA was not able to provide evidence of the criteria it used to make its
determination to pay ACM $5.7 million in contract completion payments," the
ANAO said in its report.
"The basis on which DIMIA made these payments was doubtful," it said.
Under the tender guidelines the department was also required to accept the
contractor that offered the best value for money.
But the ANAO found that after the successful company, GSL, had revised its
offer up on a number of occasions, ACM would have been better value for money.
"At the point of selection of GSL as the preferred tenderer, the
cost-benefit ratio of GSL's proposal was overstated relative to ACM," the
ANAO said.
"Subsequent negotiations increased the costs of GSL's proposals to the
point where the application of the methodology employed by DIMIA ranked ACM
ahead of GSL at the time ACM's tender offer expired."
But there were other problems with the process as well.
The ANAO discovered that the chair of the committee charged with choosing
the company was also a departmental referee for ACM.
This was despite the fact that the committee had received advice suggesting
its impartiality could be compromised.
Labor says the audit's findings are a scandal.
"What we have is nothing short of a scandal in the way the government has
handled this," opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said.
"The people who were involved in the negotiations of the contracts on
behalf of the department became horribly compromised.
"Records weren't kept, records were lost, and some of the records that we
have are conflicting."
Mr Burke also said the department should explain how ACM came to receive a
payout.
"ACM is awarded a payment, a payment which they were not contractually
bound to receive, a payment which the Australian National Audit Office can
find no reason for them receiving at all," he said.
"We want to know who authorised the payment."
DIMA has agreed to all of the audit office's recommendations for improvement.
It is developing new record-keeping guidelines, improving technology
systems, and a new framework for monitoring detention centre management
contracts, the department said in a statement.
© 2006 AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Detention-manager-gets-57m-payout/2006/03/02/1141191798603.html
===========================================
10. Immigration Senate Inquiry reveals deeply flawed system
===========================================
Greens Media
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle
2 March 2006
Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle today called on the Government to
implement the recommendations of the Senate Inquiry into the Migration Act
tabled today, and seriously consider abandoning the policy of mandatory
detention.
Senator Nettle sat on the Inquiry, attended all hearings and has signed
onto the report with additional comments.
"The message from the Inquiry is clear. The policy of mandatory detention
is deeply flawed and should be abolished," said Senator Nettle.
"The Inquiry found the immigration system is inconsistent and treats people
without humanity - the system is broken.
"Witness after witness talked about the culture of hostility and suspicion
toward asylum seekers. Minister's Howard, Ruddock and Vanstone are directly
responsible for this culture, and cultural change must be led by the
Government.
"The evidence provided to the Inquiry was extremely damning of the policy
of mandatory detention. Families have been living in the community for some
time now and sky has not fallen in. This policy should be adopted for all
asylum seekers so they can live in the community while their claims for
asylum are assessed.
"The Government should adopt the recommendation for a separate
complementary protection stream for those people who require protection but
do not fit the strict definition of a refugee. At the moment these people
fall through the cracks.
"The Government should put party politics aside and implement the
recommendations of this Inquiry. Australians do not want any more
immigration scandals.
"The Government could start reform by ensuring that Cornelia Rau is
properly compensated for her awful ordeal by the end of this month."
Contact: Max Phillips 0414 338 526
===================================
11. Democrats accuse senators of shielding Govt
===================================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Thursday, March 2, 2006. 2:25pm (AEDT)
The Democrats have accused the Federal Government of being drunk on power
for blocking three proposed Senate inquiries.
The party's deputy leader, Andrew Bartlett, says Coalition Senators have
voted against holding inquiries into air safety, settlement services for
migrants and the disability funding agreement.
Senator Bartlett says the Government's desire to avoid scrutiny of its
actions is becoming clearer every day.
"We've got three substantial, significant and important proposals for
Senate inquiries all rejected by the Government," he said.
"In two cases they were so contemptuous they couldn't even be bothered
having anybody to speak to give any reasons why they were blocking these
inquiries.
"It's part of a growing pattern with the Government, they've now knocked
back 15 proposed reference inquiries [and] only approved seven."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1582309.htm
==================
12. Deportation reversed
==================
The Age
March 3, 2006
DEPORTED Melbourne man Robert Jovicic, who vowed he would die on the frozen
steps of the Australian embassy in Serbia unless he was allowed home, has
had his wish granted.
After "anguished consideration", Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone
yesterday announced she would allow Mr Jovicic to return to Australia.
Despite living all but two years of his life in Australia, Mr Jovicic, 38,
never took out citizenship. His residency was cancelled by former
immigration minister Philip Ruddock on character grounds in 2002 after he
served two years in prison for burglaries committed to feed a heroin habit.
He was deported to Serbia in 2004.
Mr Jovicic, who was born in France to Yugoslavian-born parents, says he was
left stateless after the Serbian Government refused to recognise him as a
citizen.
Senator Vanstone said yesterday she had been in two minds but, "after some
anguished consideration, I decided to allow him to return".
Mr Jovicic's sister, Susanna, said her brother would require psychiatric
care when he returned.
JEWEL TOPSFIELD
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/deportation-reversed/2006/03/02/1141191794630.html
============================
13. Jovicic allowed to return to Australia
============================
The Age
March 2, 2006 - 5:59PM
Robert Jovicic, a former Melbourne resident deported to Serbia on grounds
of bad character, will be allowed to come back to Australia.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said she had been in two minds about
whether to permit Jovicic to return.
"I don't think Australians want people who aren't citizens and (who)
consistently break the law to be able to stay in Australia," she said in a
statement.
"Equally, I don't think Australians want someone who has lived in this
country for a long time to find themselves in the circumstances overseas in
which Mr Jovicic finds himself.
"That is true, even though their situation may have been brought about by
their own hand."
Jovicic was born in France in 1966. He arrived in Australia as a
two-year-old with his Serbian-born parents and brother and sister.
He never became an Australian citizen.
Former immigration minister Philip Ruddock ordered him deported on
character grounds in June 2004 after he was jailed for committing a string
of burglaries to support a heroin addiction.
In Serbia, Jovicic was destitute, in ill-health and living on the street
outside the Australian embassy.
Senator Vanstone said the government did not accept Jovicic's assertion
that he was stateless.
"The government maintains that Mr Jovicic has the right of citizenship in
Serbia," she said.
"Mr Jovicic was invited to show good faith and apply for Serbian
citizenship and he has simply refused to do so.
"On balance, after some anguished consideration, I decided to allow him to
return."
© 2006 AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Jovicic-allowed-to-return-to-Australia/2006/03/02/1141191784460.html
============================
14. Commission to review sedition laws
============================
news.com.au
From: AAP
March 02, 2006
THE Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) is to review the controversial
sedition provisions of the counter-terrorism legislation.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today said the review follows his
undertaking to refer these provisions to the ALRC during the debate on the
Anti-Terrorism Act late last year.
He said there was considerable community debate about the drafting of the
provisions.
The relevant sections are included in the Crimes Act and relate to
protection of the constitution and of public and other services.
Part IIA of the Crimes Act contains several offences including advocating
the overthrow of the government, or another state, by force or violence,
and offences relating to unlawful associations.
"In carrying out its inquiries, the ALRC will undertake widespread public
consultation and consult with key stakeholders," Mr Ruddock said.
Under the inquiry's terms of reference, the ALRC will assess circumstances
in which individuals or organisations intentionally urge others to use
force or violence against any group within the community, against
Australians overseas, against Australia's forces overseas or in support of
an enemy at war with Australia.
It will consider the practical difficulties involved in proving a specific
intention to urge violence or acts of terrorism.
The inquiry will also assess whether the existing laws effectively address
the urging of use of force or violence and whether sedition is the
appropriate term to identify this conduct.
The ALRC is to report by May 30.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18324017-29277,00.html
================================================
15. And the Lies, Contradictions & Evasions Just Keep On Coming
================================================
Sievx.com
by Marg Hutton
2 March 2006
Last December, Senator Milne put a series of questions on notice to
Ministers concerning SIEVX related matters. Earlier this week she received
responses from Senators Ian Campbell & Chris Ellison, the Ministers for
Transport & Regional Service and Justice & Customs respectively. These
answers are lessons in obfuscation and evasion, fuelling the fires of
concern that the government is determined to bury any information that
would cast doubt on Australia's response to SIEVX in October 2001.
Today I will deal with the answer from Senator Campbell. Senator Milne
asked the Transport Minister a three part question about Suspected Illegal
Entry Vessels (SIEVs). The first part of her question asked how many
rescues of SIEVs the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) had been
involved in between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2001. Minister Campbell
replied:
'AMSA undertook rescue operations in relation to the suspected illegal
entry vessel 'Palapa 1' in August 2001 but had no operational involvement
in relation to subsequent suspected illegal entry vessels.'
This answer is highly misleading as it avoids acknowledging the involvement
of AMSA in an earlier rescue which is central to concerns about the people
smuggler who organised the infamous SIEVX voyage.
We know from AMSA's own records that it 'assumed responsibility for the
search' for a missing SIEV on 27 March 2001. This vessel had broken down
and been adrift for a week enroute to Christmas Island. This SIEV was
codenamed Gelantipy by DIMA. And we know from several sources that Abu
Quassey, the notorious people smuggler who organised the fatal SIEVX voyage
was also the organiser of Gelantipy - the AFP issued a warrant in June 2002
for the arrest of Quassey for his involvement in the Gelantipy voyage (see
QoN 55) and Senator Ellison confirmed in a letter to me last year that
Quassey was charged and convicted in Egypt for his role in organising
Gelantipy.
So why has Senator Campbell failed to include in his answer to Senator
Milne reference to Gelantipy as a SIEV in which AMSA had operational
involvement?
Even more concerning is the fact that Campbell is not the first Minister to
provide misleading information about Gelantipy. In 2004 Senator Vanstone
wrote that:
There is no information available to my Department to indicate that Abu
Quassey was associated with this venture [Gelantipy].
I believe that both these misleading answers concerning Gelantipy support a
hypothesis that the government is intent on burying all information that
would call into question Australia's response to SIEVX in October 2001.
The fact that Abu Quassey organised an earlier voyage to Christmas Island
that required rescue at sea by Australian Search and Rescue (SAR) assets
just seven months before SIEVX sank is highly damaging to the government's
claim that it had no reason to suspect that Quassey's boat that sailed in
October 2001 might require rescue.
I have written before [1, 2] of how I believe the CMI Committee was misled
about an entry in the People Smuggling Taskforce (PST) Minutes of 18
October 2001. The PST entry in question states:
'Further prospective arrivals:
Intelligence re 2 boats with total 600 P[otential] U[nauthorised]
A[rrivals] expected at Christmas, with one possibly arriving today, a
further 3 boats with total 600 expected at Ashmore, with earliest arriving
Monday. Some risk of vessels in poor condition and rescue at sea. No
confirmed sightings by Coastwatch but multisource information with high
confidence level' [emphasis added].
Anyone who is concerned about the role played by the Australian government
in the tragedy of SIEVX would suspect that 'some risk of vessels in poor
condition and rescue at sea' is a reference to knowledge of the boat being
in danger. But DIMIA witnesses to the CMI Committee told the Inquiry that
this entry in the PST minutes had nothing to do with SIEVX or Abu Quassey
but rather it referred to the organiser of another boat - presumably SIEV6
- which arrived at Christmas Island on the same day that SIEVX sank (CMI
2014-6).
As I have written before:
"The CMI Committee was reassured by DIMIA's evidence and cited it in the
CMI Report as proof that the PST minute of 18 October did not refer to SIEVX:
'Contrary to some of the speculation based on the PST notes, the mention of
"some risk of vessels in poor condition and rescue at sea" did not relate
to SIEV X but, rather, the condition of the other organiser’s vessels. Ms
Siegmund mentioned that that particular organiser "had previously used
boats in poor condition".' (CMI Report para 8.51 - see also paras 8.45,
8.46, 9.108 and 9.119 )
If the Committee had been made aware that a previous Abu Quassey vessel had
required rescue only months before SIEVX sailed it is highly unlikely that
they would have reached this conclusion. I believe they would have probed
further about Australia's feeble response to SIEVX's failure to arrive."
Clearly very few SIEVs have been rescued by Australian authorities. Senator
Campbell's recent answer to Senator Milne suggests that operational
involvement by AMSA in a SAR event concerning a SIEV was a rarity. The
Minister claimed that AMSA had only been operationally involved in one SAR
event concerning a SIEV - that of Palapa. And as far as I am aware
Defence's involvement in rescuing SIEVs prior to SIEVX included just one
vessel - SIEV4, aka Olong.
We know that Quassey's earlier boat Gelantipy required rescue at sea. We
also know that SIEVX had been described as in 'poor condition' by
Coastwatch prior to Australian agencies professed knowledge of the sinking
(see para. 8 of Rear Admiral Smith's letter of clarification to CMI Committee).
So it is extremely difficult to believe DIMIA witnesses who maintained that
the PST reference to 'some risk of vessels in poor condition and rescue at
sea' did not refer to Quassey's boat, SIEVX!
For the government to retain any credibility in this issue it needs to
demonstrate on what basis it made the claim that the reference to a risk of
rescue concerned SIEV6 and not SIEVX. Who organised SIEV6? Had any of the
earlier vessels associated with this organiser required rescue? Was the
organiser of SIEV6 involved in organising either the Palapa or Olong
voyages? If not, then on what basis could the claim be made that the risk
of rescue mentioned in the PST minutes concerned a people smuggler other
than Abu Quassey?
And why is AMSA so reluctant to admit its involvement in the rescue of
Gelantipy? What secrets might be revealed by the AMSA incident file on
Gelantipy?
[Note: article with embedded hyperlinks can be found on the Siev website -
link below]
http://sievx.com/archives/2006/20060302.shtml
=============================
16. Government rattled over Rau debacle
=============================
02.03.06
Greens Media
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle today continued to pressure the government to
ensure that the issue of compensation for Ms Cornelia Rau is settled fairly
and promptly.
Senator Nettle today moved a motion to urge the government to settle this
matter as a matter of urgency but the government voted against this proposal.
"Unfortunately experience shows that this government will only show
appropriate attention to the Rau case when shamed into it by having the
matter raised in the public and parliament," Senator Nettle said.
"The government resumed communication with Ms Rau's lawyers this week after
several weeks of silence only after reports in the press about the delay
and my question to the Minister in question time.
"The government chose to oppose my simple motion after the Minister's
office attempted to persuade me to withdraw the motion because it was
embarrassing.
"The Minister's attempts to blame Ms Rau's lawyers for delaying the
compensation process are spurious. The government has it within their power
to have resolved this matter by now but they have not.
SENATOR NETTLE'S MOTION
The Senate:
(a) notes -
(i) Ms Cornelia Rau was discovered detained in Baxter detention centre on
3 February 2005, almost 13 months ago with an untreated mental illness,
(ii) Ms Rau has not been compensated for her 10 months of detention,
(iii) Ms Rau is currently receiving sickness benefits; and
(b) calls on the Government to ensure Ms Rau is properly compensated for
her ordeal as a matter of urgency.
Contact - Jon Edwards 0428 213 146
==================================
17. Cross-the-floor Bungle exposes Labor Party
==================================
Scoop NZ
Thursday, 2 March 2006, 3:34 pm
Press Release: Project SafeCom
"Cross-the-floor ALP Bungle" exposes Labor's sickening disinterest in issues
"The hugely embarrassing gaffe this morning in the Senate, where Labor "by
accident" voted with the government, opposing compensation demands put by
The Greens' Senator Kerry Nettle for Ms Cornelia Rau, who was mistakenly
locked up by Immigration officials for almost a year, it so shameful, that
it makes us want to crawl under a rock as Australian residents," WA Rights
group Project SafeCom said upon the news of thus blunder (AAP transcript
below).
"This enormous sloppiness shows once again, what we have seen since the day
that the ALP went limp over the Tampa legislation under the leadership of
Kim Beazley, and where we have witnessed on many occasions how the ALP on
immigration issues, Migration Act amendments put by the former Immigration
Minister Philip Ruddock, goes limp and votes with the government; we have
also seen this on the appalling Anti-terrorism Bill 2005 and the attached
sedition legislation," spokesman Jack H Smit commented on the astounding news.
"Time and again the ALP is missing in action and asleep at the wheel; and
the safeguarding of international conventions and human rights issues is
left entirely in the hands of The Greens and The Democrats, and the odd
independent MP's such as Mr Peter Andren."
"The ALP, as a large party with many MPs, has manyfold the research and
investigative resources than the Greens and the Democrats, yet the only
safe place Australians who are concerned about universal human rights can
find, is with the Greens and the Democrats, and this loss of principle
within the ALP will remain the Australian Labor party's most shameful
legacy since Tampa."
"Under Kim Beazley the ALP cannot be trusted as a Guardian of International
Conventions and Human Rights issues, and the disgraceful state of
Australia's human rights record under John Howard can be traced back
largely to the fact that the ALP chooses "political opportunism" above
conscience and keeping Australia safe from terrorizing governments that
seek to sneak in a raft of instruments that seek to give elected
politicians sole power, control and discretion while undermining reviews by
the courts and by International statutes and conventions."
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0603/S00068.htm
=================================
18. Labor votes against Rau compo in blunder
=================================
Nine News
Thursday Mar 2 12:50 AEDT
Labor has voted not to give a mentally ill woman wrongfully locked up for
10 months in immigration detention compensation for her ordeal.
In an embarrassing gaffe, Labor senators crossed the floor to vote with the
government against a Greens motion calling on Cornelia Rau to be
compensated. Ms Rau, a mentally ill Australian resident, was detained for
10 months before her identity was discovered last February. She is yet to
receive financial compensation for the experience.
Greens senator Kerry Nettle called on the government to acknowledge the
wrong-doing and to compensate Ms Rau. Labor, which has pursued the
government and the Department of Immigration over the affair and a string
of other immigration bungles, mistakenly voted against the motion. In all,
46 senators voted the motion down, including Labor.
Just nine people, including four Greens, four Democrats and Family First
senator Steve Fielding, voted in favour. Realising its mistake, Labor asked
permission to retake the vote. The second time around, it got it right. But
the outcome was the same; the motion was lost 32 votes to 34.
Nationals leader in the Senate Ron Boswell was also forced to call for a
repeat vote on a motion congratulating the government on lifting the cap on
full fee-paying university places in medicine. The motion was initially
lost 31 to 33 because there were not enough government senators in the
chamber to carry it.
©AAP 2005
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=67651
============================
19. Lawyer calls for an end to shackling
============================
Sydney Morning Herald
March 2, 2006 - 12:19PM
A Melbourne lawyer representing 10 accused terrorists is calling for an end
to the shackling and high-security detention of unconvicted prisoners.
Rob Stary, who is acting for the men detained at Barwon Prison's Acacia
Unit, said it was wrong to subject unconvicted prisoners to maximum security.
He said the 10 Victorian inmates, who were arrested in pre-dawn raids in
November on suspicion of being members of a terrorist organisation, were
kept in conditions akin to Guantanamo Bay.
Mr Stary said the men were locked in solitary confinement and held in
shackles and handcuffs.
"It's a Guantanamo Bay-style regime where when you're out of your cell
you're shackled in leg irons and handcuffed ... it's a very, very
oppressive regime," he told AAP.
"It's a concern that's shared by many community groups, not just us."
Mr Stary said Australians had been "completely caught up" in the hysteria
of a terrorist threat, and the harsh treatment of terrorist suspects was
unwarranted.
In some cases the suspects' conditions of detention were disproportionate
to their alleged crimes.
Mr Stary is also representing Joseph Terrence Thomas, who has become the
first person in Australia to be convicted under new anti-terrorism laws.
Thomas was remanded in custody at the weekend, pending sentencing, and is
due to face the Victorian Supreme Court for a pre-sentence hearing on Friday.
Mr Stary said Thomas was struggling under Barwon Prison's strict high
security conditions.
"He's been returned to solitary confinement, he was initially refused
access to some medication - anti-anxiety medication he was on," the lawyer
said.
"He's been through a whole series of traumatic events and the judge
refusing bail ... has triggered some of those anxiety attacks," he said.
A Victorian Supreme Court jury on Sunday found Thomas - a 32-year-old
Muslim convert - guilty of intentionally receiving funds of $A4,740 and a
plane ticket from al-Qaeda and of possessing a false passport.
He was cleared of two counts of intentionally providing resources to al-Qaeda.
© 2006 AAP
http://smh.com.au/news/National/Lawyer-calls-for-an-end-to-shackling/2006/03/02/1141191771693.html
===================================
20. Costello ruse echoes White Australia Policy
===================================
The Age
By Marilyn Lake
March 3, 2006
Last night, when I was walking to the post office, I came upon a taxi
driver by the side of the road folding up his prayer rug. I saluted him and
he smiled. I said "good on you", thinking his religious devotion in this
time and place an act of courage, but he had no idea what I meant, not
realising that he had parked his cab in Peter Costello's electorate.
The taxi driver was dark-skinned, his existence in our fair land still a
fact to be noticed. He was a Muslim from India. In the bad old days of the
White Australia Policy, all Australians had to be white, but that was never
explicitly written into legislation. Africans, Asians, Mediterranean,
Middle Eastern and Pacific Islander populations were routinely subjected to
the ruse of a dictation test by customs officers that covertly excluded
peoples on racial grounds by asking them to pass a dictation test in a
language determined to ensure they would fail. It might be Gaelic or Polish
or Castilian - whatever it took. Africans and Asians soon learnt they were
not wanted and stopped applying to immigrate. In the middle years of the
20th century, Australia became an increasingly homogeneous society.
Because racial exclusions were never encoded in legislation, they could
never be repealed and thus the White Australia Policy was ended gradually
by administrative means. The dictation test was abolished by the Menzies
Liberal government in 1958. In the next two decades, the Whitlam Labor and
Fraser Coalition governments took steps to bring racial discrimination in
immigration and refugee policy to an end and to recognise that Australia,
with its large populations from all over the world had become, in reality,
a multicultural society.
Multiculturalism was not an ideology, as its critics often proclaim, but
rather an acknowledgement of social reality.
In these more enlightened times, our political leaders are united in
proclaiming that our immigration and refugee policy is racially
non-discriminatory. And so it has been. But all this seems about to end.
Race no longer determines who is welcome and who is not, but increasingly
an immigrant's ability and desire to be Australian is definitive, requiring
suspects not only to obey the law, but to sign up to Australian values,
whatever they currently might be. Australian values change. The mutual
self-help expressed in trade unionism used to be a key Australian value,
but no more.
In 1901, the new parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia resolved to
deport Pacific Islanders because their racial difference meant that it was
impossible for them to assimilate into a white labour force. Australia was
the only nation of modern times to be thus inaugurated in an act of racial
deportation. It was cutting-edge policy.
Now Peter Costello aims to reinvigorate this Australian tradition by
deporting new populations, not because they pose a threat of cheap labour,
but because they refuse to assimilate to Australian values.
Costello's attack on the political value of tolerance - in its present
expression as multiculturalism - seems to me to be utterly un-Australian.
The acceptance of different lifestyles and values has surely been a major
source of social cohesion over the past several decades. But his underhand
method of attack - his focus on the straw man of sharia law - is very
Australian in its hypocrisy and deceit. The White Australia Policy never
named race as a basis for exclusion; Costello also avoids naming the
targets of his political attack. But the code is clear, the ruse is plain
to see and those targeted know to whom he refers.
In recent times, some historians have sought to argue that the original
White Australia Policy was never racist. Rather, they have argued, it was
only concerned to enshrine particular civic values, such as the commitment
to a living wage and decent working conditions, civic commitments that
placed human needs ahead of the desire or right to profit. What ever
happened to those Australian values?
Similarly, conservative political leaders such as John Howard and Costello
seek to argue that they have no problem with the diverse racial or
religious backgrounds of recent migrants and refugees, but ask only that
they adhere to Australian civic values. They refer, for example, to the
need to respect women, but since when has domestic assault or sexual
violence been denounced by Australian political leaders as un-Australian?
They refer to democracy, but don't acknowledge the logic of democratic
representation. They invoke the ideal of economic opportunity but don't
remind us of the collective obligation and ideal of economic
re-distribution enshrined in the name of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Marilyn Lake is professor in history, La Trobe University.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/costello-ruse-echoes-white-australia-policy/2006/03/02/1141191789281.html
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-|| This is the Project SafeCom Newsletter - published since 2001
-|| as the 'Project SafeCom Daily News and Updates'.
-||
-|| To subscribe to this Newsletter or to manage your subscription, visit
-|| http://www.safecom.org.au/newsletter-subscribe.htm
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
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-||- Project SafeCom info
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Old (and hopefully current) online archives of our News & Updates:
http://lists.topica.com/lists/safecom/read
Current (and new) archives of our News and Updates:
http://lists.perthimc.asn.au/pipermail/safecom-announce/
To subscribe to this Newsletter or to manage your subscription, visit
http://www.safecom.org.au/newsletter-subscribe.htm
Project SafeCom has operated a "virtually full-time" operations office
since TAMPA. At Project SafeCom, an Incorporated Association in Western
Australia, we exist from donations, the sale of some items via our website,
and from memberships. You can make a donation by transferring funds to our
account at Bendigo Community Bank Kulin, BSB Number 633-000. Account name:
Project SafeCom Inc., account 115643900, or by sending a cheque or money
order to our address below.
P.O. Box 364 - Narrogin WA 6312 - Phone 0417 090 130
+-+-+-+
LINKS:
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HOME OF TERROR? - the hub page for our NEW Australian Anti-terrorism
legislation and our "seditious" section:
http://www.safecom.org.au/terror-home.htm
ROYAL COMMISSION Petition: download it, print it, put it out - everywhere
around town: http://www.safecom.org.au/royal-commission.htm
What's New - this page lists all the new additions to the website -
hundreds of pages: http://www.safecom.org.au/whatsnew.htm
Project SafeCom events page: http://www.safecom.org.au/events.htm
The Reading Room: http://www.safecom.org.au/readings.htm
The Project SafeCom shop: http://www.safecom.org.au/products.htm
Our Baxter page: http://www.safecom.org.au/baxter.htm
Project SafeCom's No War position: http://www.safecom.org.au/no-war.htm
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