Let’s hope we can look back on 2005 as the beginning of the end of mandatory detention. The need for a renewed campaign to abolish it was fuelled by the breathtaking revelation on April 30 that Australian authorities deported an Australian citizen in 2001.
It was only when a family member contacted the immigration department (DIMIA) in early April in response to publicity about mentally ill Australian resident Cornelia Rau’s detention, wondering if the same thing might have happened to Vivian Alvarez, that the government realised its mistake — four years later!
These two cases are the tip of a potentially enormous iceberg. There were attempts to dismiss Rau’s mistaken detention as an isolated incident, but the “accidental” deportation of Alvarez, an Australian-Filipino citizen, whose whereabouts were unknown, points to a far more disturbing pattern. Alvarez’s marriage in Australia had reportedly broken down, and she had a serious mental disorder....
2006-12-19
02:05:43
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Thom Jo D
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