Illusive Mind

From The Age

The immigration department wrongly detained 247 Australian citizens, permanent residents and lawful visa holders over a 14-year period, says a series of damning reports by the commonwealth ombudsman.

Four reports were released by the ombudsman today relating to 226 cases of detention between 1993 and 2007, which add to findings on 21 cases published last December.

They follow an investigation sparked by the wrongful detention of mentally ill Australian resident Cornelia Rau and deportation of Australian citizen Vivian Alvarez Solon.

The cases involved people who were detained by the immigration department but later released as they could not be held any longer.

Errors ‘inexcusable’

One of the reports says that in 22 cases, immigration officials authorised a person’s detention because they could not find a record of that person on departmental computer systems.

In other cases, poor data management within the department led to people being detained despite their details being on immigration systems.

And immigration officers relied too heavily – and sometimes solely – on information given by police, and often failed to conduct their own inquiries to establish a person’s right to be in Australia.

The reports singled out a culture within the department of “accepting a low standard of proof to detain a person, yet requiring a high standard of proof to authorise a person’s release from detention”.

The ombudsman, John McMillan, said the department had failed categorically to conduct adequate checks before placing people in detention.

“It is inexcusable that there were such frequent errors leading to the detention of people who had a lawful right to live unrestrained in the community,” Prof McMillan said.
Wrongly detained may be compensated

In light of the ombudsman’s report, Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews this morning said the immigration department will consider compensation for all 247 people identified in the report as having being wrongly detained.

Mr Andrews said the immigration department had accepted the ombudsman’s recommendations and was reviewing each individual case identified in the report with a view to remedial action.

“Now that all of the individual analyses have been received from the ombudsman, a project team has been formed within the department to carefully review each analysis to determine what, if any, remedial action may be appropriate, including compensation,” Mr Andrews said in a statement.

“The department is writing to each of the 247 individuals advising them of the ombudsman’s reports and the review of their case that is being undertaken by the department.”

Mr Andrews praised the ombudsman’s work, saying it had been a catalyst for reform of the immigration system.

The NSW Supreme Court tomorrow will hear a compensation claim brought by Cornelia Rau, a mentally ill Australian resident who was wrongly detained in 2004 and 2005 after being mistaken for an illegal immigrant.

Ms Rau’s experience, and that of Australian citizen Vivian Alvarez Solon who was wrongfully deported to the Philippines in  2001, sparked the Palmer report and subsequent ombudsman’s investigation.

Scrap mandatory detention: Greens

Meanwhile the Australian Greens say more people could be wrongly placed in immigration detention centres as long as the mandatory detention system remains in place.

Senator Nettle said the report highlighted the tragic consequences of “flawed and unchecked” decisions made by immigration officers.

“The police cannot detain a person longer than four hours without approval from the courts, why should immigration be able to detain people for years without review?” she said.

“While there have been reforms to departmental systems and the culture, while mandatory detention remains in place there can be no guarantee unlawful detentions will not occur again.”

The recent release of a woman who was detained for more than six years indicated there was still the need for substantive change, Senator Nettle said.

AAP

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