Wrongful detention royal commission calls grow Pressure for a royal commission into Australia's immigration centres is growing, with Labor taking up the issue in Parliament today and a refugee activist group adding to the calls.
Former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer is heading an inquiry into the Immigration Department's treatment of several Australian residents, including Cornelia Rau.
Ms Rau was held in immigration detention for 10 months until it was realised that she was suffering a mental illness.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says the cases in question represent only a small proportion of all those handled by the department.
But Mr Palmer's inquiry has been criticised for a lack of transparency, and the federal Opposition says there should be a royal commission if the Government cannot guarantee that Ms Rau's detention did not worsen her condition.
Senator Vanstone says only medical specialists can answer those questions.
"And you say to me, because I can't give an absolute guarantee in relation to something that there should be a royal commission," Senator Vanstone told Parliament.
"Senator, it will be a very long list of matters into which there'll be a royal commission if simply because a minister cannot give an absolute guarantee to a question that he or she would not be able to give anyway, we have a royal commission."
Prime Minister John Howard says Mr Palmer should be left to get on with the job.
"When we have the results of that we will calmly have a look at it and then decide, and then decide and only then decide what further action may be needed," he said.
"But I can assure the Leader of the Opposition and all members of the House that we don't take these matters lightly, we don't dismiss them arrogantly, insensitivity or contemptuously."
Deportation
New South Wales immigrant women's group Speakout is also calling for a royal commission, particularly to look at the case of Philippines-born Vivian Solon.
Ms Solon, who was also known by the surnames Young and Alvarez, lived in Australia for 18 years.
In 2001 she was deported after being mistaken for an illegal immigrant.
It is thought that Ms Solon had a history of mental illness.
Speakout says the immigrant community is scared, as people believe they could be deported based only on the colour of their skin and accent.
Senator Vanstone says the Government is doing what it can to track down Ms Solon, who has been missing since she was deported.
However, a senior Interpol officer in the Philippines has contradicted that claim and says the Australian Government has been slow with information
Govt 'not responsible' for failed asylum seekers The Immigration Minister says the Federal Government does not have responsibility for failed asylum seekers once they have been returned to their country of origin.
Senator Amanda Vanstone has called for the Edmund Rice Centre to provide details of its claims that four people who failed in their bid to claim refugee status in Australia are now dead.
The centre also says of 40 people rejected as refugees by Australia and deported, only five are safe.
The report is available on the refugee advocacy group's website.
Senator Vanstone says it is not the Government's responsibility to check up on people once they have been deported.
"People who are judged not to be refugees, that is who aren't being persecuted under a convention, are therefore properly returned to their country of citizenship," she said.
"Once you're in your country, if you're not being persecuted then we shouldn't be trying to check on you on a day to day basis."
Senator Vanstone says she has seen no evidence to support the centre's claims.
"I've been advised of one case some time ago in which one person was killed, but I think they were in the wrong place, it was either a car accident or a bank robbery," she said.
"So it does happen that people meet an untimely end, but that's not always because they've been sent back."
Deportee report
Yesterday, the director of the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education, Phil Glendenning, told the ABC's PM he has published research into the fate of 40 rejected asylum seekers, finding only five were safe.
"We undertook this work for the simple reason that the Government doesn't do it," he said.
"The Government doesn't know what happens to people when they're removed from Australia and unless and until Australia can be, is able to say that people are safe in their return, we are not able to say that we are able to correctly identify refugees."
Mr Glendenning says he has heard of cases where people have been killed.
"We know of four of those cases at least. They are not part of the study that we did, in that we were conducting interviews and you can't conduct interviews with people who are dead," he said.
Monitoring recommended
A Senate Committee in 2000 recommended some form of monitoring of the fate of rejected asylum seekers.
It said monitoring was the only way Australia can be sure its refugee determination processes are correctly identifying genuine refugees and humanitarian cases.
The committee acknowledged that, due to sovereignty and diplomatic issues, the government of one country could not formally monitor foreign nationals in other countries.
So it recommended that the task be given to non-government organisations in consultation with government.
The Federal Government rejected this advice, saying Australia is not responsible for the future well being of a rejected asylum seeker.
