why not excise the mainland?, page-5

BIG city law firms have reaped more than $40 million from taxpayers by cashing in on the asylum seeker row.

Confidential documents reveal the Federal Government spent almost $1 million a week on lawyers last year.

The lawyers were also paid to advise the Howard Government on how to chop parts of Australia from the migration zone to stop boat people claiming asylum.

Immigration Department legal cost have exploded by almost 250 per cent in a year.

Unlike every other taxpayer-funded body, the department did not include the cost of its consultancies in its annual report or website.

Blake Dawson Waldron topped the list with a $14.6 million legal bill, followed by Sparke Helmore Solicitors ($13 million) and Clayton Utz ($11.7 million).

The Howard Government has blocked asylum seeker applications through the courts and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, including bids to keep five children behind bars after the Family Court ruled they be released.

The High Court of Australia has criticised the Immigration Department for wasting time on litigation and for pursuing cases even after asylum seekers had been deported from the country.

Only four years ago the department's outside legal costs were just $9 million.

A spokesman for the department said the legal advice was established through an open tender process, which was due for renewal next July.

Part of Clayton Utz's fee was $1 million for "services for legal advice in relation to the provision of detention infrastructure".

Law firms to receive more modest fees were Craddock Murray Neumann, which pulled in $1.83 million for advice on detention centres, while Phillips Fox earned $285,000.

A full list of Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs contracts shows it ordered $852 million worth of outside work last year.

Outside consultancies included:

MORE than $400 million spent last year on teaching adult migrants how to speak English.

$151 MILLION for the on-again, off-again Christmas Island reception and processing centre.

A BILL for a separate $22 million contract revising the Christmas Island plan.
The reason given for outside legal work was the skills were not available in the department.