Archival Rescue 47 ~ Aus Detention

Over 88,000 detentions, 200 cases of "extra" wrongly detained detainees, and Howard is still trying to cover his eyes. One has the sense Australia's immigration and mandatory detention policy is collapsing in tatters, all a journalist need do is walk past, nudge a toe at the keeling edifice and another collumn comes tumbling down;

PM won't step up detainee enquiry
By Joseph Kerr and Louise Dodson
May 27, 2005 Sydney Morning Herald

The Federal Government yesterday ruled out a royal commission into hundreds of cases of people being detained when they were lawfully in Australia. This is despite reports that its appointed investigator has called for a judicial inquiry.

While Liberal MPs pushing for changes to the detention system have attracted support from the Anglican Church and the public, the Prime Minister, John Howard, has defended the Immigration Department, which is under investigation over more than 200 detention cases, and the Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone.

Mr Howard said more than 88,000 people had been detained by the Department of Immigration between July 2000 and April 2005, so the 201 cases under investigation represented only 0.2 per cent of the total.

A former Federal Police commissioner, Mick Palmer, is heading an investigation into the cases after he was appointed in February to review the wrongful incarceration of German-born Australian resident Cornelia Rau, but it is unclear if he will see out the full investigation.

In Parliament yesterday, Mr Howard said he did "not intend to relieve Senator Vanstone of her responsibilities" but he suggested improvements could be made to the detention system after Mr Palmer had submitted his recommendations.

Senator Vanstone has refused to respond to reports that Mr Palmer has told her he will no longer head the inquiry after submitting his report on Ms Rau in about three weeks' time, or that he has called for a judicial investigation into the other cases.

Until the end of June, the other senior officer with the inquiry, former Victorian chief police commissioner Neil Comrie, will be in charge of the investigation into deported Australian woman, Vivian Alvarez Solon, and the other detention cases.

According to documents obtained by the Herald, Mr Palmer has two contracts with the Immigration Department, one worth $291,500 and the other $150,000. Mr Comrie also has two contracts, one worth $220,000 and the other $110,000.

A Senate committee heard last night that Mr Palmer and Mr Comrie are involved in a security company named Global Village Survival. It is not known if it has had contracts with the organisations the two men are investigating.

The secretary of the Immigration Department, Bill Farmer, told the Senate estimates hearing yesterday that the department was "preparing for what may well be an extension of those contracts" but he could not say how far they need to be extended.

A department spokesman said the total cost of the Palmer inquiry so far was $460,622. Mr Palmer had been paid $112,500; Mr Comrie $59,091 and other contractors have been paid $160,677.

Meanwhile, the bishops of the Anglican diocese of Melbourne, including Archbishop Peter Watson, yesterday supported the private member's bills, proposed by Liberal MP Petro Georgiou and backed by Bruce Baird and Judi Moylan, aimed at limiting long-term detention.

In an open letter, the bishops supported the bills as an opportunity to review Australia's "inhumane immigration and detention policies".

"It is greatly encouraging that some Coalition parliamentarians are now giving voice to these ethical concerns," they said.