Statement
from people in Villawood Detention Centre
Saturday, 8 November 2008
After months and sometimes
years of indignant treatment, the detainees of the Villawood Immigration
and Detention Centre announce a general hunger strike demanding that this
open-ended policy of indefinite indignity ends.
At a time when the economic realities of the day demand cost reductions
everywhere, it is anathema to common sense that the Labor Government still
insists on spending millions of taxpayer dollars on a policy the benefit
of which is in doubt.
We call on the Labor Party, particularly Minister for Immigration and
Citizenship Christopher Evans, who in a March 25th 2005 interview at Parliament
House Canberra, was adamant in his call for a royal commission into detention,
to:
- Codify as soon
as practicable into the law, his stated intentions that no one spend
more than 3 months in detention.
- Require that
any decision made to deny a person release from detention on the basis
that he’s a risk to the community, be based upon an assessment
done by a qualified mental health professional. At this time, such
assessments are currently made “on the papers” by bureaucrats
far away in Canberra with no formal mental health qualifications or
arbitrarily made due to sentences of imprisonment which in some cases
have long since expired. The Australian public have a right to expect
that decisions made in their name are made by people who are qualified
to do so.
- Release people
with ongoing visa matters before the courts. As it stands now people
are effectively “punished” for several years by the Migration
Act for choosing to appeal against the Minister’s decision to
not grant or to cancel a visa.
- Cease and desist
(after every decision unfavourable to the department) from amending
the Migration Act to circumvent the judicial process of Australia’s
courts. A recent example of this were cases that found that cancellation
of certain visas were unlawful notwithstanding the existence of a
criminal conviction and sentence of imprisonment and that required
notification processes were not met. The department released people
affected by this decision and allowed them to restart their lives
only change the law in the middle of the night and negate the court’s
findings, thus making some of them liable to detention again with
out natural justice.
- Cease and desist
from taking “clients” to the high security compound, Stage-1,
prior to their anticipated removal from Australia. The Human Rights
and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) has roundly criticised this
facility and if detention itself wasn’t enough of a slap in the
face, the indignity is made complete by showing unsuccessful visa
applicants the front door by way of a compound with all the ambiance
of Long Bay Jail.
We appeal to the
Australian community to look beyond the constant stream of 30 second sound-bytes
and one paragraph press releases that are used to justify this treatment.
We also respectfully ask Australians for the same dignity and respect
for human rights in this country that you would demand for an Australian
in another country.
The policy of indefinite detention has been in effect for nearly 2 decades
and has cost billions. The only true return on the Australian taxpayer’s
investment is the permanent psychological damage that a voiceless people
have had to endure and the large portions of their lives taken from them
in the name of political expedience.
Pamela Curr
Campaign coordinator
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
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