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| Down Under |
| Deported Australian missing overseas |
| 2005-05-01 |
| Acting Immigration Minister Peter McGauran says an Australian woman who was deported by mistake four years ago is missing overseas. The woman's case is one of a number Mr McGauran has referred to the inquiry investigating the detention of Cornelia Rau, who was kept in immigration detention for 10 months even though she is an Australian resident. Mr McGauran says a search is under way for the woman and says there might be other cases of the same severity. He says the woman's family notified the Immigration Department about her situation and the case has been referred to the inquiry being headed by former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer. "The individual is still overseas and we're attempting to locate the individual and we're liaising with the family," Mr McGauran said. "But in the meantime Mr Palmer will inquire into all circumstances surrounding this particularly disturbing case." Mr McGauran says he cannot identify the woman for privacy reasons. He says a review of the system in the wake of revelations about Ms Rau's detention detected the other cases. "People who've been in detention are then released because they have a lawful right to stay in Australia," he said. "Given all of the questions surrounding the Cornelia Rau matter, we've reviewed our system, located a number of matters that we have now referred to Mr Palmer for his consideration and possible investigation." The Federal Opposition has demanded the Government reveal more information about new cases of wrongful detention in Australian immigration detention centres, including one in which an Australian citizen was deported. The Opposition's immigration spokesman, Laurie Ferguson, says the Palmer inquiry is inadequate for dealing with such serious matters. "The reality is that its powers are limited, its authority is limited, it is not in the public domain in a real sense," Mr Ferguson said. "We've said that from day one that the Rau matter is so serious, it's indicative of other problems in the detention process, it should be absolutely judicially dominated and should be open to the Australian public." Mr Ferguson says a public judicial inquiry with more authority is needed and says it highlights issues within the Department of Immigration. "Now we have an Australian citizen deported out of the country because of some misunderstanding, incompetence, who knows what with the department,' he said. "It really calls into question whether this current inquiry has enough powers to get to the bottom of it." The Democrats have welcomed the decision to expand the inquiry. Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett says it highlights the need for the inquiry to be public, with proper legal powers. "It is a real problem not to have legal protection for the evidence and not to have the powers to demand that evidence be given," he said. Ian Rintaul from the Refugee Action Coalition agrees a more public inquiry with more teeth is required. "We're shocked and outraged that such a thing could take place but not really surprised," Mr Rintaul said. He says the revelations show up serious flaws inside the Immigration Department. "They claim to be sort of impeccable in this regard and have continued to insist on that in spite of the instances over and over again, that refugee advocates have raised - they can't keep maintaining the cover-up," he said. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |
| #1 Proverbial storm in a very small teacup. Rau a seriously deranged woman claimed to be an illegal resident and absent any evidence to the contrary was locked up - the norm here in Oz for illegals. We know nothing about the other case but it sounds like a run of the mill goverment screw up. Mr Rintaul appears to be your basic Lefty skyisfalling pathological liar. Where are the 'over and over again' instances? Nothing of interest here. Move along. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-05-01 5:29:27 AM |