Migration Action

MIGRATION ACTION

Vol. XXIII, Number 1 April/May2001 III fl~,y

BROTUmunnn n r o r ______67 F11 VIC

Behind public policy on asylum seekers The Ecumenical Migration Centre (EMC), now work ing as part of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, is a statewide non-ethno-specific agency working with new and emerging communities in Victoria to ensure they have full access to resources, services and opportunities.

Within this context the key activities of the EMC are:

• identifying and articulating the needs of migrants and refugees, with particular attention to the needs of emerging communities;

• advocacy in collaboration with these commi nutes;

• working with these groups to address issues and build on strengths; and

• preparing information, research and resources for those working with newer emerging communities. EMC ECUMENICAL MIGRATION CENTRE a part of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence 95-97 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, 3066 Ph: 03 9416 0044 Fax: 03 9416 1827 [email protected] /

M igration A ction MIGRATION ACTION Contents

YOL XXIII, NUMBER 1 APRIL/MAY 2001 Editorial ,2 ISSN: 0311-3760

M igration Action Survival stories: voices from the shadow of public policy is published by the Ainslie Hannan...... 4 Ecumenical Migration Centre 95-97 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Victoria Australia, 3065. Temporary Protection Visa Holders in Queensland: Tel: +61 3 9416 0044 the first report Fax: +61 3 9416 1827 Email: [email protected] Daryl Briskley MP...... 10

The Ecumenical Migration Centre (EMC), of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, works for Current public policy on asylum seekers: does it stand up to the development of Australia as a multicultural scrutiny? society through its welfare, educational, project and community work. The centre has been Martin Clutterbuck...... 16 working with migrants since 1962.

EMC’s work is diverse, from community Ethical and practical issues in TPV policy: the community service and development to social action and community education. view

Within a framework of ensuring equal access Dr. Nouria Salehi 22 and rights for all Australian society, EMC provides counselling services and community development activities to a number of ethnic Ha, buralardan sorugyorsun? communities, both established and newly arrived. Idiz Yahya...... 28

EMC also initiates research towards an understanding of a range of issues, and Woomera: part 2 promotes change where necessary. Peter Mares...... 31

Editors: Sarina Greco, Dr Paul J. White Special thanks: Anne McKenna, Ainslie Hannan, Jane Hurle Photographs: Stuart Fleming

Layout: Andrew Macrae, Brotherhood of St Laurence Production Sarina Greco, Dr Paul J. While Printing: Art Offset, Caulfield

It is not the intention of this journal to reflect the opinions of either the staff or the Board of the Brotherhood of St Laurence. In many matters this would be difficult to ascertain, nor do the editors think it desirable. The aim of the journal is to be informative and stimulating through its various articles, suggestions and comments.

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APRIL/MAY 2001 1 M igration A ction Editorial

Behind public policy on asylum seekers

This first issue of Migration Action for 2001 comes as Over twelve months ago, Migration Action warned of we are well into the year of the Centenary of Federation. the desperate plight of refugees from Afghanistan and One hundred years ago, one of the first uses of the newly Iraq who had sought first refuge in Iran and Pakistan, Federated parliament’s power was to pass the only to face being sent back to the places they had fled. Immigration Restriction Bill based on the language We warned that Iran and Pakistan were unsafe refuges and politics of exclusion. And 100 years on, Australia for these refugees, and stressed that lives were literally continues to struggle with the central issue of who’s at risk. And we warned that the regimes in both allowed to be part of the great ‘Australian dream’ - Afghanistan and Iraq regarded people who fled their who’s allowed to dream it and be part of it, and who’s tyranny as ‘traitors’ who deserved nothing less than to be excluded, invisible or turned away? Certainly the death. language and politics of exclusion are in abundant evidence in the current response to asylum seekers in Even as we were putting together the issue of Migration our midst. Action containing these warnings (No. 1 in 2000), Iran announced that it had decided to refoule (that is, to So at the turn of the century - no, not that one but this forcibly return) its Iraqi refugees. Now Iraqi opposition one - we again find our Federal Parliament enjoying sources (Iraq Press, 11 July 2001) report the first bi-partisan support for punitive policies designed to confirmed results of this policy: ‘Iraqi authorities have send a clear message of deterrence and exclusion - put to death 20 Iraqi refugees following their asylum seekers are not welcome here. They needn’t repatriation from Iran’. Of course, how many more lives think they can be part of the Australian dream. Australia have been lost in this manner, but remain unreported, is not for them. is a chilling thought.

It is apparent that, well after Australia emerged from Afghan refugees in Pakistan look like they will be next. the profound racism of White Australia in the 1960s, An alarming report from SBS TV’s World News (9 July the ghosts of exclusion and fear of invasion continue 2001) breaks the chilling news that Pakistan has decided to lurk in the shadows, ready to be summoned by those to send many - if not most - of its Afghan refugees who willfully and immorally cultivate xenophobia and back to Afghanistan. As incredible as this might seem, hysteria for their own political gain. Yet the hysteria there can be absolutely no question that these asylum about boat people and the fear of bogus claimants seekers are at very grave risk at the hands of the Taliban. remains unfounded. Last year, for example, of the ‘boat people’ arriving on our shores, for every ten of these These developments demand a re-think of the current asylum seekers held in detention, nine were able to official Australian attitude towards asylum seekers from prove who they were. They were refugees. Afghanistan and Iraq - that they had no right to travel here because they were already perfectly safe after

2 APRIL/MAY 2001 M igration A ction escaping to Iran and Pakistan. Furthermore, the punitive challenging issue of how we respond to desperate Temporary Protection Visa policy, designed to create people seeking our protection. The juggernaut of an underclass of refugees fleeing places like punitive public policy accelerates dangerously out of Afghanistan and Iraq, must be removed. It is control because of bi-partisan support for divisive and increasingly clear that the Australian Government punitive policies. Yet much could be righted by a simple cannot deny protection to these desperate people with recognition that Australia will always need an On-Shore a well founded fear of persecution. Program for asylum seekers needing Australia’s protection, alongside an Off- Shore Refugee A contributor to this issue, Idiz Yahya, who was granted Humanitarian Program. Separating the visas allocated a Temporary Protection Visa himself, says ‘the to these two programs is an important start. So is government welcomes refugees now with all doors honouring our international protection obligations to closed’. A key goal for the Victorian based Justice for treat asylum seekers within a humanitarian framework Asylum Seekers coalition remains that of assisting the of dignity and care for the vulnerable amongst us. After public’s understanding of those seeking Australia’s all, we already know we can do better and we know protection. To this end. Survival Stories is an there is a better way. extraordinary collective account of the experience of 23 Iraqi and Afghan refugees, told in a social Sarina Greco documentary style by Ainslie Hannan. It aims to foster Editor understanding with the heart, as well as the head, about Co-convenor, Justice for Asylum Seekers coalition in what it means to find oneself in dangerous Victoria circumstances well beyond one’s control and to make a desperate choice to seek safety and protection in Australia.

The first report on asylum seekers who have been granted Temporary Protection Visas, undertaken by the Queensland Government last year, shows how Federal government policy has ‘created’ a group of disadvantaged people - whose significant disadvantage has been imposed on them by the Commonwealth of Australia. An overview and excerpts of the report, Temporary Protection Visa Holders in Queensland (2001), are included in this issue.

When the Centre for Public Policy (Melbourne University) organised a Monday Forum series on ‘Refugees in Australia: Key Ethical and Practical Issues’, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs was scheduled to present the Government View but cancelled his presentation. The symbolism of the Federal Government’s silence on ethics in public policy on refugees was stark. After all, is it not immoral to erroneously label asylum seekers ‘queue jumpers’, to refuel the hardening of public attitudes while doing nothing to help the Australian public understand who asylum seekers are?

Despite the absence of the Government View of the ethics of refugee policy, the Community View is presented by Martin Clutterbuck and Dr Nouria Salehi.

So as we approach the forthcoming elections, there is clearly an opportunity for any political party willing to engage moral and political leadership on the

APRIL/MAY 2001 3 M igration A ction Survival stories Voices from the shadow of public policy

Ainslie Hannan

Survival Stories is a social documentary project made up of texts and photographic images. The project was conceived as a response to the need for Australians to begin to understand the experience of seeking asylum. The project also has therapeutic components to share the collective experience as the first steps in a journey of healing. Because of issues of confidentiality, the refugees who participated are not acknowledged by name here and the story is written as a collective account. This project was undertaken in 2000-2001 with project development and facilitation by Ainslie Hannan, Silvia Fechete, Nelao Hishongwa, Haider al-Jaboory and Masood Sofi. The transcripts were prepared by Silvia Fechete and Nelao Hishongwa. The photographic images are by Stuart Fleming whose photos have also featured in past issues of Migration Action.

We are the silhouetted people, the Temporary Protection Visa refugees. The ones in the shadow - scared to reveal our faces. We have been told that you don’t want us. That my child, having survived the dangerous journey across the seas that killed so many other children, is not welcome by Australians. As refugees, we cannot go back from where we came. To do this, would be to go back to our death. We are sorry, but we have no choice but to stay.

We tell you our story. It is not about truth or lies. It is about what happened to us. It is not told to you expecting that you will understand. It is told so that we can check our memory of our journey. We have been told that if we say our stories out loud, and if they are shared and confirmed by others, we will begin to understand what has happened to us.

It is October 2000, and a group of Iraqis and, then a week later, a group of Hazaras from Afghanistan, sit hunched around the table in the meeting room at the Ecumenical Migration Centre in Melbourne. In all, there are eighteen men and two women. Some of the men are young but have greying, receding hair which has been recently home-dyed with blue-black henna not quite matching their complexion. This conveys a strong visual image of a desire to start again - a desire to be seen, and perhaps understood, not by the age their life experiences has given them but by their biological age, of young men in their early twenties. Since knowing these men, there has been the constant, almost urgent, delivery of the question: How old do you think I look? At these times, there is a glimpse of the vanity of youth, despite their refugee experience.

The two women are both strong looking professional women in their mid-thirties. One sits slightly behind her husband, once an independent woman, now on her husband’s visa. The other, a widow, looks distant and tired. Both of them sit with their preschool children sitting almost too close to them on the floor. Except for their common refugee and detention experience,

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M igration A ction this group would never have found themselves together. They include the industrialist and the barber with his own shop in central Baghdad who, under compulsory conscription with penalties of jail or execution, worked in the army as a barber, never seeing a gun. Then there is the poet and the university lecturer, cousins of members in the previous regimes, and the farmers, hated by the Taliban because of their Hazara ethnicity.

At first the group of refugees looks vacant and tired, not engaging in eye contact with their fellow countrymen. Their children sitting still, not playing with the toys. Food in the middle of the table remains untouched. Nobody wants a drink. As a counsellor, I have been in this space before. I know to wait and not to fill the silence with pleasantries. There have been previous discussions with the groups about confidentiality and about some of the benefits for their own recovery of telling their stories. And of the need to document their stories of survival so that Australians might glean some understanding of the journey of those who come to our shores to seek Australia’s protection and end up on Temporary Protection Visas.

Suddenly, out of the silence, one of the Iraqi women raises her head. She is dressed in donated trousers and a jumper, which is ornamented by a scarf around her neck, signalling the promise of style. Her black, worried eyes, somewhat distant, look across the table to a man of similar age. In a calm, but harsh and distant voice in Arabic, she summonses the man: As a mother and a woman from your country I need to find out. Pausing, she draws breath to continue. I need to know from the men here, who were on the same boat, why you left me and my children in the engine room for two weeks on the seas and never came to see whether we were OK?Jbe man slowly turns his head away and utters slowly, in an almost silent voice: I am sorry. I should have come, but I was too scared. Silence prevails.

So begins the narrative of Hazara and Iraqi refugees recently granted Temporary Protection Visas. It becomes a survival story of journeys of resilience, stories with many voices, sharing of confidences, unravelling events, and a need to be heard in order to understand.

Journey 1: Detention in the Australian Desert

The most unexpected thing for all of us was the Woomera detention centre. We were shocked when we arrived because nobody was there. They treated us like criminals. We thought that Australia respected human rights. We had arrived in Australia at Christmas Island. An older looking man, who has been sitting in the middle of the table looking into his hands, interrupts this voice. Not moving his eyes from his hands he explains: When I first saw the land, the only thing that came to my mind was hope that there were no Talibans here and we could live here. We could finally rest. He pauses. The original spokesperson continues. When the navy found us, we did not look like humans. We were ashamed of ourselves. The people who found us were very helpful. They provided us with food, shelter and clothes. The children on board the boat were vomiting because, desperate for water, they had been given salt water towards the end of the journey. We knew that this was not right, but we did not know what to do. We come from central Afghanistan and we had never seen the sea before this journey. The ocean made us terrified.

The navy took us to the detention camp in Darwin where it took one to two hours to have our bags checked. From Darwin, we were flown by plane to Woomera. Woomera was a nuclear waste or chemical testing ground that is very polluted. We arrived in the night at the military airport and from there we were driven through the remote desert. It

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was cold in the desert and desolate. I remember looking out from the bus at the desert. It was in shadows caused by the night sky. And then, suddenly, out of nowhere, we saw flood lights ahead of us. From the end of the table a voice, not quite engaged, distant, adds: The sudden lights in the desert reminded us of the fire burnings, created as warnings by the Americans in Saddam Hussein’s war. We had arrived at the Woomera detention centre. We wondered then whether we would ever get out.

When we first arrived at Woomera there were no living facilities, no kitchen and no school. After seven months, things got better and there was a school. A Christian lady provided English classes. She was a volunteer, a very nice lady and very helpful. There was no choice as to where people could live. Three different families were put in one caravan. We were confined together in the caravan because to go outside into the harsh sun meant that our skin would be burnt. People were often sick. Many had white spots on their skin, kidney stones developed, people’s hair fell out because there is too much calcium in the water. People, who were ill, would ask for medicine but they were told to drink more water. Some became very nervous and bored with no-one to talk to. Suddenly and with a slight amount of timidity, a younger man begins to move in his seat. His seventeen years of age show in his smooth but thin, angular face. His hair is self-cut, his eyes black and sparkling with a promise of something else. He slowly removes from his trouser pocket a small parcel wrapped in fine mauve tissue. He places this treasure upon the table, the others knowingly look on, calmly waiting for the secret to be shared. He carefully unwraps what at first appearance looks like a smooth white rock. Then, with his index finger he traces its indentations as he explains: To keep occupied, it was common to sit in the shade and to let our thoughts wander as we drew or carved with small fruit knives into the stones of Woomera. We made figures, or carved our names. For three months I carved my distress into this stone that is in the shape of a kangaroo. In the centre, I carved the name of my mother so that I could carry her memory with me. Many Hazaras from Woomera carry these rocks.

Many refugees at Woomera were mentally unwell and had nightmares. The harsh conditions, and the uncertainty about the duration of their stay in detention, long waiting periods to hear about their cases made them anxious that they would be deported. People were scared and you need to understand the Taliban had already made us scared. We arrived here already with fear. In the night at Woomera we would hear men, many of whom were boys, wake with fright from their nightmares. We would hear their sobs in the stillness of the night. The woman sitting slightly behind her husband looks at me as she says: The cries of the men would wake our children. Our children cried the whole time we were in detention. They would not play with the toys. I look at the children now sitting still on the floor, still not playing with the toys. The older children would always ask their parents “where have you brought us?” After five months there was a separate caravan for women. There was no separate caravan for men with their children.

Medical treatment was very limited. If you were sick there was no medication. There were 1,500 people and only one small clinic. The medical centre is outside the detention centre. There is a timetable for when it is open. When people have a medical emergency they must go and call the guard who then decides whether it is an emergency. Not knowing our future, we were often too nervous to ask for medical help. There were no doctors at Woomera, only nurses live there. If you are suffering from something, they will not provide any help, but we were always told to drink water. When fasting, we were

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M igration A ction told to break the fasting to take a Panadol for our headaches. People with toothache have to wait at least one month to see a dentist. There is no emergency treatment and we had to wait five days fora doctor’s appointment. The woman sitting behind her husband points to her six-year-old daughter on the floor as she explains: My daughter who is six years old had a fever. It was 11pm at night. Her body was burning and was limp. She was just lying there. We went to the guards, carrying her in our arms. I was crying, and thought after all that journey, I would lose my daughter. I prayed. The guards told us to come back the next morning; I was scared and so I went back to the caravan. Then some hours later one of the guards came to see my daughter. She was a kind woman. They took us to the Adelaide Hospital. I had to go to the hospital with my daughter by myself because my husband was not permitted to come. My daughter and I had never before been anywhere without my husband. Sometimes I find it hard to be strong.

Holding his wrist, the man on the right of me leans forward and explains: We knew no one’s real name in detention. Each person is only known by the number and from the name of the boat on which they arrived. The Immigration Department goes through the alphabet and gives out names according to each boat. For example some of the names were POK, LOC, MUD. My name for the whole of my time in detention was MUD 173 as I was the 173rd person to get off the boat. This was the name called out to me if I was ever wanted. How did this make you feel? We had no choice. We had to wear plastic tags with numbers on them around our wrist. We were treated like prisoners of war. There was a public outcry and then we were each given an ID card with our photo and name. Some of the officers were very nice, like brothers. We spoke to the officers with sign language or we would draw a picture in the dirt because we did not speak or understand English and they did not speak Dari or Arabic. Anyway, they were rotated every six weeks. We had to present our ID card to receive lunch. Children had their own card. People who lost their card could not have lunch and it took two or three days to get another card from the block officer. It took so long because he was very busy because he had to help everyone. It was his job to provide everyone with shampoo, soap, cards and everything else. Anyone losing the card had to pay $5 or one day’s wages fora new card. What did you eat when you lost your card, what happened if children lost their card? The widowed woman, putting down her cup of tea, moves her six year old daughter to balance more efficiently on her knee. Straightening her scarf around her neck, she explains: At meal times you must bring your ID or you can’t go in for security reasons. My daughter lost her card so she could not come to eat for four days until another card was made. Why did it take so long for a child’s card to be replaced? Minister Ruddock says that the living conditions in detention are better than the way some Australian’s have to live. / was too scared to report it, in detention we live in fear and nobody tells us what is going to happen. We have brought our fear with us, the Taliban has taught us to live each day with fear. If you knew about detention and the Temporary Protection Visa, would you have still come to Australia? You don’t understand we are the Harara people we have few choices. The Hazaras are like the thorns on the roses that have to be picked off so that the Taliban can hold the roses.

Journey 2: Out of Afghanistan Taking a deep breath, a spokesman at the end of the table looks up and begins to tell the story of the persecution of the Hazaras. His tone is smooth almost matter of fact - determined to explain the lack of any real choice of the Hazara. In Afghanistan, he was the head of a history

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department at a major university. He now sits in an over- sized, secondhand United Colors of Beneton windcheater. Afghanistan and the Hazara people have a whole series of different histories. Our latest history is about the Taliban. The Taliban are Sunni. The Hazara people are Shi’as. The Taliban want to change the Shi’as to Sunnis. The Taliban do not care about language or ethnicity, they just want to get rid of the Hazara people. They want them out. The Taliban say that the Hazara people can only belong in Afghanistan if they can speak Pashto and grow a beard. The Hazara people are of Mongolian descent; our skin is smooth, we cannot grow a beard, we speak Dari and we do not know the language of the Taliban. You need to understand being Hazara is like being a criminal in Afghanistan. There is no escape as this is an issue of nationalism. It is ethnic cleansing, systematic killing. People are not given the same rights. People are geographically separated; there is no freedom if you cannot speak Pashto or if you are caught without a beard you are killed without reason.

The woman, having now moved her chair from behind her husband’s to the table, speaks in a quiet but deliberate voice: Hazara women like me and my daughter are banned from going to school and hospitals in Afghanistan. This was not always the way. Before the Taliban, I taught English at the University of Kabul. Hazara women are under more pressure than Sunni women. If part of your body is showing you are publicly beaten. The worst thing for an Hazara woman is that the rules of the Taliban keep changing so no matter what you do there is always something that you have done. There are always new laws against Hazara women. This is a deliberate strategy of the Taliban, they are always trying to trick the Hazara, to make us nervous. These are the reasons we are so nervous to stay in detention without knowing for how long and what will happen to us. Taliban men use Hazara women. There are about four women for each man. Women are used as sex slaves, and to do housework and cleaning. The women are forced to do this so that they can feed their children. Swallowing hard, the widow forces her words, as tears burn her checks. The men stop their eye contact as she continues: What are you going to do if you have no money to feed your children? As an Hazara woman your only other choice is to seek assistance from the government. If this happens you are forced to marry a Taliban businessman. This is how they get women involved in ethnic cleansing. I was a young boy when I left Afghanistan but now I have grown up. Planning to leave my family took six months. $7,000 to $10,000 US is the set fee to pay the smugglers; no Hazara has this money. Because I was in so much danger, the whole village gave all of their money and property so that I could escape my death. But still I owe money that my family or I must pay back to the smugglers. There is no choice but to pay this debt. Before I started my journey I knew of the mass graves of Hazaras I must pass. I was told before I left of such a grave where a woman clutching her baby was just thrown on top of corpses. Bodies that could be recognised by the jewellery they were wearing. Just to hear about these things made me nervous in the night. I would dream that I would fall into one of these graves.

I thought I would not have enough courage to leave, to make the journey. My mother in her heart thought this too. In case I got caught, she never gave me a word or a message that once safe I could send back to her. When I feel unwell I see her face. I feel sick for her safety, she is hiding waiting forme on the Pakistan border. The Temporary Protection Visa with no return travel rights and no family reunion means that I will never see her again.

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Journey 3: Out of Iraq

Sitting upright, the woman moves her scarf aside so as not to be distracted by it. She leans forward in earnest as she explains: Most of the Australians think that we are Iraqis and therefore that we are religious, and refugees and so poor. But we are rich, well educated and not all of us are religious. Iraq was one of the richest countries in the world before the regime. With a certain wistfulness, she described the beauty of Baghdad prior to 1991. Baghdad was a big, beautiful city with two main rivers the Tigris and the Euphrates. It was a modern city with buildings with twenty floors. Prior to 1991, my family would go on picnics in Europe but after the war the situation changed. For many the Gulf war was a surprise.

I may have gold but everything I love has been taken from me. My brother was executed in the central square in Baghdad in 1991. Soon after my family was accused of fighting against the army and the government. My younger brother was then executed. The party leading Iraq plays with the lives of people. Once you know that you are on the blacklist of the Government, you are not permitted to leave Iraq as you are said to have vital information. The Government then starts the game with you: it takes one family member after another. For six months prior to leaving Iraq every night I moved to a different house so as not to be traced and so questioned. In the revolution in the South against the Iraqi regime, people were forced to kill or be killed. As she finishes speaking, she pushes her chair back from the table. She adds: / cannot describe the situation to you anymore, as it is impossible for you to understand the terror caused by Saddam Hussein. My husband disappeared; I don’t have the words to describe how I fled Iraq. I was wrongly accused of having false papers I was put with my two children in jail. It is too hard to describe to you what happened to me in jail it was very bad. My family bribed a judge. When you can bribe a judge there is no law and you are never sure which way it will turn. After suffering I got a false passport, changed my name, paid a lot of money and put mine and my children’s lives into the hands of strangers, the people smugglers.

Fleeing a country that you love like Iraq is hard. Leaving all that one is familiar with is even more heart breaking. People smuggling is a business, a big business. People don’t just pack their bags and leave through the proper legal channels, as if they are going on a holiday.

Whether they are accounts from the Iraqi widows or from the Hazara young men, the theme is of menacing fear. But the need to trust the people smugglers remained constant.

For an Hazara to take the hand of the smuggler is to take the hand of death. It is to decide to enter a nightmare. The difference is that you do not know whether you will wake up.

To go with the smugglers is to trade with your life.

Ainslie Hannan is the Co-ordinator o f the Ecumenical Migration Centre in Melbourne.

APRIL/MAY 2001 9 M igration A ction Temporary Protection Visa Holders in Queensland The first report

Darryl Briskley MP Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier in the Queensland Government

The Commonwealth Government’s decision to Those who come under our regular program arrive introduce the Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) as a sometimes illegally in another country and are then measure to counter the surge of ‘boat people’ coming processed by Australian authorities through our official to Australia has a major impact on Queensland humanitarian program. TPVs arrive in Australia first. community services and government agencies. The Once recognised as refugees they should therefore be TPV policy essentially forces the community sector and treated as all other refugees and afforded an adequate State government agencies to respond to and provide level of settlement and ongoing support. support to a created group of disadvantaged people. The Commonwealth’s TPV policy deprives TPV From the outset, Queensland has opposed the holders of basic settlement assistance, as a result States/ Commonwealth’s position on TPVs. The policy Territories and the community are forced to pick up penalises refugees solely on the basis of their mode of some of their settlement needs in order to prevent their entry to Australia. The Commonwealth maintains that settlement failure. This has created enormous strain on the policy will act as a deterrent to future people community service providers as costs are unfairly smuggling activities, postulating that, once the shifted to the State and community-based organisations. ‘message’ that Australia is indeed not the ‘lucky’ country filters back to feeder countries, people will Essentially the TPV policy treats TPV holders as choose not to attempt to come to Australia. However, ‘second class’ refugees on the basis of their mode of the policy has been of dubious effectiveness. Since the entry to Australia. As well as being discriminatory and TPV holders cannot communicate with friends and unfair, the creation of two classes of refugees with family in fear of jeopardising their safety they are not different entitlements causes tensions within and in a position to ‘spread the word’ of their poor treatment between ethnic communities. Queensland has to deter others in their home country from attempting a repeatedly expressed concern to the Commonwealth similar course of action. for the loss of places from the offshore program. These Toss of places’ exacerbates tensions between ethnic The policy clearly ignores that there are millions of communities, as residents whose relatives and friends refugees worldwide and it is inevitable that a number face a longer time waiting for their applications to be of these refugees will arrive in Australia in search of a processed, tend to direct their resentment, unfairly, at new beginning. Deterrent policies and rhetoric to TPV holders. discourage refugees from seeking shelter will have little impact on the movement of desperate asylum seekers The TPV policy is misleading and unrealistic. It is around the world. virtually certain that TPV entrants will ultimately gain permanent residency because the protracted problems It needs to be said that all refugees arrive illegally in their countries of origin mean that they are unlikely somewhere. Otherwise they would not be refugees. to be able to return. However, the physical and

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M igration A ction psychosocial distress suffered as a result of the policy In the first official report on this problem (Temporary during the first 3 years in Australia will adversely affect Protection Visa Holders in Queensland, parts of which employment prospects, settlement and general well are included in the present article), evidence is being, and this in turn may have future dire presented that the Commonwealth’s TPV policy is consequences for the whole of society. severely limiting the refugees’ capacity to participate in everyday life as well as causing physical and Moreover, the TPV policy ignores the fact that however psychosocial distress. harsh conditions may be in Australia, they are infinitely better than the situation which propelled them to flee Author Renae Mann researched and wrote the report in whatever way was available to them. while working for the Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma, In Queensland we are acutely aware of the interplay interviewing TPV entrants living in Queensland as well between the TPV policy and its application in relation as key community service providers. The report to Queensland Government Anti-Discrimination demonstrates that the TPV policy is inhumane, Legislation. Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination impractical and damaging to the refugees, community Legislation clearly states that any government agency relations and Australia’s reputation as an humanitarian and, possibly, any community sector agency in and caring nation. Queensland refusing services to TPV holders runs the risk of breaching the provisions of the Anti- Data was collected for this study using an action Discrimination Act 1991 on the grounds of race, as research methodology. Twelve in-depth interviews and TPV holders are predominantly of Afghani or Iraqi one focus group were held with service providers. Four descent. The Act makes it unlawful to deny goods and in-depth interviews and three focus groups were held services to people solely on the basis of their race. with TPV entrants. In total twenty-one TPV entrants Queensland has also received reports from community and nineteen service providers participated in the organisations that have been instructed by the research. Commonwealth not to provide services to TPV holders where the Commonwealth provides funding to the The remainder of this article is excerpted from the report organisation. authored by Renae Mann.

Queensland’s overriding concern resulting from the The Detention Experience above stated issues is that, in the long term, the TPV policy is likely to create serious future social problems The research found that the detention experience for for TPV holders, as their successful settlement is most TPV entrants has left them feeling exposed, undermined by the significant disadvantage imposed vulnerable and disillusioned. Time spent in detention by the Commonwealth, compared with all other was marred by negligent treatment by staff, lack of Australian residents. information pertaining to release and lack of information about what is going on in the outside world. It is therefore important for governments to accept that All interviewees had experienced or witnessed refugees will continue to arrive and to set policy to mistreatment of detainees by detention centre staff. ensure that these refugees are able to settle and participate in society. In Queensland (as in other States/ Refugees arriving in Australia without authorisation Territories) we recognise that it is in our interest to are detained for the duration of the refugee successfully settle them into our communities not just determination process in one of Australia’s five from a humanitarian point of view but also for practical immigration detention centres: Sydney (Villawood), reasons. We do not want them to become burdens on Melbourne (Maribymong), Perth, Woomera and Port society later on - which would be much more costly Hedland. Only young children, the elderly and victims than if we assist them. of acute torture/trauma are exempted from detention. Refugees are provided legal assistance to lodge their The above sentiments provided the rationale for the asylum claims while in detention. When granted decision taken by the Queensland Government to refugee status, detainees are issued with a TPV. ensure that all TPV holders in Queensland would be able to access all State Government services already The experiences of TPV entrants in detention has available to refugees on permanent protection visas. irreversibly marked their successful settlement experiences. TPV entrants arrive in Australia hoping

APRIL/MAY 2001 11 M igration A ction

for a better life, freedom and democracy. Instead TPV Some people arrive with no documents or with false entrants perceive that they are apprehended and treated documents. Arrival without appropriate papers should like criminals. In detention there is little regard for the not be interpreted as an attempt to defraud the system, trauma of the journey or the jeopardy they faced in as is often the case. The agent of persecution from their home country. which most refugees flee is their government (RCOA, 2000). Hence applying for a passport and/or an exit TPV entrnts were highly critical of Australasian visa can be extremely dangerous as can accessing an Correctional Management (ACM) staff. While people Australian Embassy for a visa. Such activities can place praised the conduct of most ACM staff, all of the people the life of the individual and their family at risk. For interviewed stated that they had either experienced or these reasons, refugees often travel with false witnessed the mistreatment of detainees by ACM staff. documents or avoid regular migration processes and One of the most disturbing reports from a TPV entrant arrive without documentation. involved a man, who was experiencing ‘psychiatric illness’, who was paraded naked in front of other Physical Health detainees. ACM staff were said to have ‘played games with the man, played with his genitalia’, humiliating The research found that the physical health of TPV him. ACM staff were also alleged to have taken photos. entrants has been undermined by detention experiences, post traumatic stress disorder symptoms and The actual refugee determination process whilst in bureaucratic problems. detention is also contributing to the trauma of arrival. TPV entrants report that their statements, which In the first months following the introduction of the describe their need for protection and reasons for flight, TPV there were major problems accessing Medicare are not being accepted as truth. People stated that these and this exacerbated individuals’ health problems, statements were subsequently cross-examined, posing a threat to public health. The Commonwealth disbelieved and discredited. These experiences left rectified this problem in the second half of 2000. The many people feeling more helpless and traumatised in poor situation in detention centres is compounded on a context where they were unable to contact their arrival by poor communication and case records families and were entirely isolated from the world. between health practitioners in detention centres and those in the community. TPV entrants arrive with a A constant fear for detainees is that if they do not variety of physical health needs, both chronic and acute. comply with the demands of the determination process Separating physical and somatic symptoms experienced and detention staff there would be significant by TPV entrants is difficult as people present a diversity repercussions for themselves and their families. TPV of symptoms. TPV entrants have required treatment entrants stated that, based on experiences in detention for hepatitis B and hepatitis C, tuberculosis, diabetes, and fears of repatriation, some people developed mental kidney infections, dehydration, sexual health problems, illnesses. hypertension and skin rashes. Unaccompanied TPV minors have exhibited a range of health problems Other concerns about detention include the inadequate including dental, optical and cardiac. provision of legal representation and the lack of information on the rights and responsibilities of The current level of health care provided to TPV migrants on arrival. One TPV entrant stated that entrants is likely to result in long-term health problems information concerning their eligibility for services, and economic cost to the health system. This is evident particularly education, was required but not provided. in the experiences of Indochinese refugees who arrived in Australia twenty years ago. The inadequate health Evidence suggests that health care in detention is care provided to these people has resulted in continuing inadequate. One General Practitioner described health health problems such as somatisation, depression and care in detention as ‘haphazard’. This observation is psychogenic illnesses, over-treatment and misdirected based on the poor, unmanaged physical health of TPV treatment. Early intervention can reduce these costs. entrants on arrival and the inadequate health records This situation could be ameliorated through the maintained by detention staff. Detention centres have provision of appropriate health screening. Resource lost treatment files and misspelt people’s names, making limitations in Queensland Health have recently follow-up treatment difficult. Moreover, treatment files curtailed the breadth of early intervention health have been difficult to obtain and often have limited programs, and increased funding is needed to detail.

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M igration A ction adequately meet the needs of TPV entrants and refugees their skills are considered to be useful. Negative public broadly. statements make TPV entrants feel unwelcome and devalued. The media has portrayed TPV entrants as Service providers stated that the under-resourcing of queue-jumpers, illegal immigrants, economic burdens General Practitioners working in the detention centres on taxpayers and immoral people. This negative media has resulted in increased ill health for TPV entrants coverage and Ministerial statements have shaped and health management problems for health community resentment. This has also resulted in practitioners, raising the possibility of subsequent employers’ reluctance to employ TPV entrants as well public health issues. as verbal persecution of services providers and TPV entrants. Psychosocial Health These negative images undermine self-esteem and The research found that TPV entrants are experiencing people feel ashamed, marginalised and denigrated. The significant mental health difficulties. Commonwealth Government has promoted this negative perception. TPV entrants stated that they TPV entrants’ emotional welfare is shaped by their would like to actively participate in re-balancing this experiences of torture and trauma in their home view, to clarify their status and their rights. countries, exile, detention and de facto settlement. The conditions of the TPV, the provision of temporary TPV entrants reported difficulties in sleeping due to protection, the prohibition of family reunion and the their concerns for their family and their inability to denial of travel permission have compounded existing contact them. Many regarded this as a common torture and trauma symptoms. TPVs provide neither experience among the people they knew with TPVs. security nor stability thereby compounding the torture and trauma experienced by the people they are designed [We are] in a very good situation for to protect. Organisations working with TPV entrants psychiatric illness... Australian law is are extremely under-resourced, inhibiting their ability very civilised. But when we arrived, to address the torture and trauma issues presenting in your law changed. Now we have not TPV entrants. contact with [our] family... This is anti humanitarian. We don’t know about our The literature informs us that refugees often suffer a future, and our families, our children, degree of trauma as a result of their ‘forced separation our wives. from their homeland, relatives and familiar routines’ (Jupp, 1994: 4) and that refugees, in particular, Some TPV entrants borrowed heavily, expending their experience sequential stresses that may compound each finances and those of their family, to come to Australia, other over prolonged periods of time (Silove 1999: 200) risking their lives and those of their family. To now not know where their families are, or whether they are alive The loss of social networks and separation from family or not has resulted in feelings of deep guilt. The are significant factors that appear to perpetuate prohibition of family reunion under the TPV is a source psychiatric symptoms, particularly depression and post- of immense anxiety. TPV entrants are concerned that traumatic stress syndrome (Silove 1999: 200). they will have to return to their country of nationality. Secondary factors such as age, language proficiency, A man stated that his three main priorities were reunion social and economic adversity and fear of repatriation with his family, a permanent protection visa and influence the ability of refugees to recover from post- permission to travel. This man believes that the TPV traumatic stress syndrome and other forms of policy will hurt society by denying it the capacities of psychosocial distress (Silove 1999: 200). TPV entrants, and the desire of TPV entrants to become Australian citizens. Negative statements by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and media coverage have also Further, the temporary nature of the visa and the three- impacted adversely on TPV entrants’ emotional well year wait for family invokes uncertainty, high levels of being. If TPV entrants are to achieve primary anxiety, feelings of loneliness, depression and a sense (employment, accommodation, English) and secondary of hopelessness. (psychosocial health) settlement in Australia they need a sense of purpose and belonging, and to know that

APRIL/MAY 2001 13 M igration A ction

Social Isolation legislation caused TPV entrants a dilemma: to either remain in Australia for three years, find work and The research found that the denial of services to TPV possibly learn English and reunite with family after entrants leads to social isolation and service providers this time, maybe; or to return to danger and the strong are concerned that this isolation may push people to possibility of death or lifelong imprisonment. desperate acts such as crime or suicide. Access to settlement support services is essential to Community service providers fear that the TPV regime develop and maintain our social capital. Since the TPV is likely to create an ‘under class’ of people within refugees are residents in the Australian community for Australian society. As noted above, many of the TPV the next three years unde the TPV, social exclusion entrants have psychosocial problems associated with would only serve to create animosity and negative their experiences of torture and trauma. Isolating people behaviour. There is real concern among service who have experienced torture and trauma through the providers that if people are not adequately supported denial of adequate settlement assistance further the repercussions for themselves and society could be undermines their sense of safety, security and certainty. dire, a situation we have the power to prevent. This situation had been described by service providers as a ‘social time bomb’ that each level of government English Language should be very concerned to address considering the implications for community welfare. The research found that the denial of English language tuition by the Commonwealth was a major barrier to There is significant grief and loss issues attached to TPV entrants’ participation in society and was likely the lack of stability and settlement support. The to cause people to remain dependent on welfare. treatment of TPV entrants also perpetuates their Accessing English language classes is a key priority insecurity and mistrust, particularly Afghan people. for the successful settlement of TPV entrants. This is a corollary of their need to gain employment. The denial Evidence suggests that TPV entrants are in a state of of access by TPV entrants to TAFE English language ‘purgatory’ as they can not make plans for the future classes funded by the Department of Immigration and or look forward to the achievement associated with Multicultural Affairs is regarded as a very negative successful settlement measure.

[We are] all living in limbo, [we] can’t The capacity of TPV entrants to learn English is plan for a long time because our impaired by their experience of torture and trauma and situation [is] not certain. We feel that psychosocial well being. Furthermore, the lack of after three years [we] may be removed. permanency or stability afforded TPV entrants [It is therefore] impossible to plan for a undermines their ability to acquire an adequate long time. education.

For many people this state of limbo was a source of Employment frustration and deep anxiety. A man likened it to being in jail: ‘It is like a prison for us here: we are a little bit The research found that the capacity of TPV entrants safe but still we are not free’. This situation prompted to obtain employment was severely affected by their a number of people to consider returning to the danger lack of English language skills and the of home. Commonwealth’s denial of employment assistance. Employment is a key priority for TPV entrants. The Having come to Australia in the hope of providing income generated by employment enable TPV entrants safety for their families and themselves, being unable to locate their families and to send them funds. to contact, visit or reunite with their families was Dependency on social security for their material welfare becoming unbearable. As one man stated: ‘we may was a source of shame for TPV entrants. already have lost our families. We are now living in hope’. ‘We don’t want to take from Centrelink. We want to make our own life. We will work.’ Being ‘kept’ by the Service providers encourage TPV entrants to plan and government through the Special Benefit has created a prioritise in order to combat the uncertainty of their sense of detention for TPV entrants, due to their lack situation. A service provider stated that the TPV of independence.

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M igration A ction adequately meet the needs of TPY entrants and refugees their skills are considered to be useful. Negative public broadly. statements make TPV entrants feel unwelcome and devalued. The media has portrayed TPV entrants as Service providers stated that the under-resourcing of queue-jumpers, illegal immigrants, economic burdens General Practitioners working in the detention centres on taxpayers and immoral people. This negative media has resulted in increased ill health for TPV entrants coverage and Ministerial statements have shaped and health management problems for health community resentment. This has also resulted in practitioners, raising the possibility of subsequent employers’ reluctance to employ TPV entrants as well public health issues. as verbal persecution of services providers and TPV entrants. Psychosocial Health These negative images undermine self-esteem and The research found that TPV entrants are experiencing people feel ashamed, marginalised and denigrated. The significant mental health difficulties. Commonwealth Government has promoted this negative perception. TPV entrants stated that they TPV entrants’ emotional welfare is shaped by their would like to actively participate in re-balancing this experiences of torture and trauma in their home view, to clarify their status and their rights. countries, exile, detention and de facto settlement. The conditions of the TPV, the provision of temporary TPV entrants reported difficulties in sleeping due to protection, the prohibition of family reunion and the their concerns for their family and their inability to denial of travel permission have compounded existing contact them. Many regarded this as a common torture and trauma symptoms. TPVs provide neither experience among the people they knew with TPVs. security nor stability thereby compounding the torture and trauma experienced by the people they are designed [We are] in a very good situation for to protect. Organisations working with TPV entrants psychiatric illness... Australian law is are extremely under-resourced, inhibiting their ability very civilised. But when we arrived, to address the torture and trauma issues presenting in your law changed. Now we have not TPV entrants. contact with [our] family... This is anti humanitarian. We don’t know about our The literature informs us that refugees often suffer a future, and our families, our children, degree of trauma as a result of their ‘forced separation our wives. from their homeland, relatives and familiar routines’ (Jupp, 1994: 4) and that refugees, in particular, Some TPV entrants borrowed heavily, expending their experience sequential stresses that may compound each finances and those of their family, to come to Australia, other over prolonged periods of time (Silove 1999: 200) risking their lives and those of their family. To now not know where their families are, or whether they are alive The loss of social networks and separation from family or not has resulted in feelings of deep guilt. The are significant factors that appear to perpetuate prohibition of family reunion under the TPV is a source psychiatric symptoms, particularly depression and post- of immense anxiety. TPV entrants are concerned that traumatic stress syndrome (Silove 1999: 200). they will have to return to their country of nationality. Secondary factors such as age, language proficiency, A man stated that his three main priorities were reunion social and economic adversity and fear of repatriation with his family, a permanent protection visa and influence the ability of refugees to recover from post- permission to travel. This man believes that the TPV traumatic stress syndrome and other forms of policy will hurt society by denying it the capacities of psychosocial distress (Silove 1999: 200). TPV entrants, and the desire of TPV entrants to become Australian citizens. Negative statements by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and media coverage have also Further, the temporary nature of the visa and the three- impacted adversely on TPV entrants’ emotional well year wait for family invokes uncertainty, high levels of being. If TPV entrants are to achieve primary anxiety, feelings of loneliness, depression and a sense (employment, accommodation, English) and secondary of hopelessness. (psychosocial health) settlement in Australia they need a sense of purpose and belonging, and to know that

APRIL/MAY 2001 13 M igration A ction

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M igration A ction

After showing prospective employers their visa, some TPV entrants also need continued support in rental TPV entrants have been told that they do not have the accommodation to abide by rental agreements and lease right to work. Employer reluctance to employ TPV requirements. The Commonwealth does not recognise entrants reflects negative community perceptions of that requiring people to make their own accommodation TPV entrants. Recently increased penalties for the arrangements impedes their chances of successful employment of people holding temporary visa settlement. categories such as tourist visas has led to the mistaken belief that TPV entrants do not have the right to work. Mobility

Skill recognition was an issue for several TPV entrants. The research found that the high level of mobility of A number of TPV entrants possess professional TPV entrants was disrupting the settlement process and qualifications, particularly in the medical field. Others creating significant problems for service providers. possess trade skills in the automotive industry and Mobility is a key issue in delivering services to TPV artistic skills. For a number of reasons these entrants, as up to 60 per cent of people arriving in qualifications and skills are unrecognised. To obtain Brisbane subsequently leave. Motivations for their recognition for their skills some people need a high mobility include curiosity, a desire for community level of English proficiency and in some cases further support, the search for cheaper accommodation and tertiary education, both of which are inhibited by the inadequate support available in Brisbane. The conditions of the TPV. implications of mobility for TPV entrants have included correspondence being disrupted, discontinuation of Skill recognition difficulties, associated here with the income support, breaking leases and consequent barring temporary nature of the visa, have been an enduring from the private rental market and the growth of debt bane for newly arrived migrants in Australia (Jupp, between TPV entrants in order to fund mobility. 1994: 4). Australia’s highly regulated labour market is reluctant to accept overseas credentials with appropriate The experiences of TPV entrants leaving Brisbane have certification. been varied. Sydney has become a primary destination for many TPV entrants who have arrived in Brisbane. Accommodation One service provider stated that once TPV entrants are able to find accommodation they are generally able to The research found that TPV entrants experienced find work and support in Sydney. However some TPV considerable difficulty in locating suitable entrants have returned to Brisbane disillusioned: accommodation. ‘Sydney is not as we thought’, as a worker stated.

TPV entrants are denied access to Commonwealth Unattached Minors funded on-arrival accommodation. People released from detention are sent by bus on a continuous 56- The research found that unaccompanied minors hour journey from Port Hedland to Brisbane. They are experience unique psychosocial issues due to their age booked into one night’s accommodation in Brisbane, and service provision arrangements and that their usually at a backpackers’ hostel. Continued mental health was influenced by trauma, separation accommodation then becomes the responsibility of the from family, anxiety, ethnicity and physical health. TPV entrant. Newly arrived TPV entrants have been forced to stay in expensive accommodation due to a The uncertainty of the situation facing unaccompanied shortage of permanent or long-term accommodation. minors compounds their traumatisation. The greatest fear troubling these young people is the fear of TPV entrants require assistance to access the private repatriation. A General Practitioner noted that rental accommodation market. This process has until unaccompanied minors were experiencing quite severe recently been impeded by the ineligibility of TPV post traumatic stress syndrome symptoms such as entrants for rental bond assistance. One group of TPV depression. A number of young people are regularly entrants was able to avert this problem with the receiving psychiatric assistance. assistance of a local real estate agent, enabling them to pay their bond incrementally with their rent. An added Numerous problems have emerged from the manner in burden of finding private rental accommodation is to which the services have been provided to furnish the home. It is extremely difficult given the unaccompanied minors. The fact that they are lack of resources of TPV entrants on arrival. accommodated in a location some distance away from

APRIL/MAY 2001 15 Migration A ction

the adults has resulted in further isolation. The only additional funds. Fundraising has been out of the available housing has been at Inala, while most adult question for most organisations given their current TPV entrants live in the Woolloongabba area. The workload. young people who had journeyed with the adults formed strong relationships with them, which is an important, Service providers expressed frustration that TPV if not the only source, of support and advice that they entrants have been sent predominantly to states that have access to on arrival in Brisbane. Socially and receive the least amount of Commonwealth assistance psychologically, unaccompanied minors require the for migrant settlement (for example, for torture and cultural contact provided by adults. trauma counselling services). As one service provider stated, ‘we simply cannot afford to bear the cost of this’. The inconsistency in permitting young people to attend The Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors Milperra Special School until they are eighteen years of Torture and Trauma and the South Brisbane of age was also causing division with the adults who Immigration and Community Legal Service are the only have not have access to any formal English classes. organisations funded by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs which are permitted to The majority of young people are here alone and it is provide services to TPV entrants. This increased possible that they may develop relationships with workload, according to several service providers, has Australian nationals. The implications for possible negatively impacted on other client groups. The future partners and children at the expiry of their visa Commonwealth has provided no additional funding to require thought and discussion. these organisations despite a huge increase in demand for their services. Strain on Community-based Organisations The strain on service providers has left many to The research found that resource limitations and conclude that individual service provision is presenting needs of TPV entrants have created an impractical, if not impossible. As a result, a number of extraordinarily high workload for service providers. organisations have engaged in organisational This has arisen because of the Commonwealth’s restructuring in order to try to meet the client demands. decision to prevent its funded services, such as Migrant Service providers are increasingly reliant on the Resource Centres, from providing any services to TPV services of volunteers. entrants. The provision of support for service providers working with TPV entrants is critical. Service providers Community Acceptance of TPV Entrants are experiencing heavy workloads and significant ethical dilemmas in working with this client group. The research found that the Commonwealth’s rhetoric Without adequate supervision and support it is and policy position on TPV entrants has created foreseeable that some people will experience burnout. tensions within the community. Anecdotal evidence It is an ethical humanitarian decision for the majority collected during the study reveals that the media has of service providers, particularly those working in the had a significant negative impact on the settlement of community non-profit sector, to work with TPV TPV entrants. entrants (Jupp, 1994: .4). Mixed reactions have greeted the arrival of TPV The volume, resource limitations and presenting needs entrants in Brisbane. The response of community-based of TPV entrants have created an extremely high organisations, such as St Vincent de Paul, and ethnic workload for service providers. While this has produced communities within the Catholic Church, to the needs a number of service delivery innovations these have of TPV entrants arriving in Queensland has been very occurred through the rationalisation of some services. generous. However, reactions within the wider The service provision context was described as ‘vague, community have been mixed. ambiguous and shifting’. Ultimately this context facilitated the development of positive working Generally, people in the community had been very relationships between service providers in the field, friendly and supportive of TPV entrants. However, TPV which have proved crucial in transcending some of the entrants have experienced verbal abuse. People difficulties. attributed these experiences to the adverse media coverage and statements by the Minister for Community services organisations are providing Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. assistance and support to TPV entrants without any

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Community understanding of TPV entrants has been TPV Support influenced by the mainstream print and visual media, which has characterised TPV entrants in terms such as The research found that the current model of service ‘floods of illegals’, ‘queue-jumpers’ and ‘illegal delivery was, of necessity, welfare based and that immigrants’. Furthermore, mainstream media has service providers needed to move to a community identified TPV entrants according to their racial development approach to engender TPV entrants’ self- identity, religious affiliation and method of entry into sufficiency within the community. TPV entrants stated Australia rather than their humanitarian need. The that people who had arrived in Brisbane in earlier media portrayal of ‘masses on the move, unstoppable groups provide informal assistance to newer arrivals. waves’ at once overwhelms and depersonalises the This assistance entails providing directions, informing people concerned (Goodwin-Gil, 1999, 1: 1). This people of local customs, interpreting and assisting with depersonalisation means that some people feel justified shopping. The majority of TPV entrants had mobile in treating refugees as less than human. Community phones, which enabled them to maintain contact with perceptions of TPV entrants have also been shaped by friends elsewhere. Service providers noted that money the Ministerial decision to temporarily freeze offshore is shared among TPV entrants. This is particularly Special Humanitarian entrants with the introduction of important for those moving in search of employment the TPV legislation or better services. Service providers are concerned that this ‘internal debt’ may have significant implications This action reinforced the message that TPV entrants in the future. were ‘jumping the queue’ for humanitarian entrance into Australia. For ethnic communities this offshore Service providers stated that TPV entrants found it freeze meant that relatives who had been awaiting difficult to trust them. This mistrust was explained as permission to enter were effectively ‘passed over’ in the result of their experiences of torture and trauma, favour of people entering the system using unorthodox flight and exile. These experiences limit their ability means. Consequently, resentment towards TPV entrants to trust service providers who are viewed as authority developed within some ethnic community groups. The figures. Developing the capacity of TPV entrants as racial and religious overtones underpinning media individuals and as a group to cope with TPV settlement coverage of TPV entrants have created division within demands is a key task. TPV entrants require an Middle Eastern and Muslim communities. This media opportunity to organise themselves and to have a voice coverage has drawn on acknowledged fears within the or a structure that works alongside service providers. Australian community of fundamentalist strands within Service providers stated that TPV entrants feared the Islamic faith, marginalising and angering many. As organising themselves as this may jeopardise their a result, Muslim and Middle Eastern communities have future PPV applications. Service providers advocated distanced themselves from TPV entrants in an effort to a developmental approach in working with TPV avoid negative association, thus further marginalising entrants rather than the current welfare model. Service TPV entrants within the community. providers stated that a human rights stance was required in relation to the treatment of TPV entrants in Australia. Established ethnic communities have expressed resentment concerning the level of assistance being Communication with TPV entrants has required the provided to TPV entrants (despite the fact that they development of working relationships between service receive much less assistance than other refugees do). providers and interpreters. Communication with Some communities who arrived after World War Two Afghan TPV entrants has been impeded by the scarcity have argued that TPV entrants should not receive such of Dari interpreters in Brisbane. Two service providers settlement assistance given the minimal assistance stated that sensitivity was required in the recruitment provided to them on their arrival in Australia. of interpreters given fears particularly among the Furthermore, some communities have expressed Afghan community of information concerning their concern at the amount of people arriving in Australia. location being sent to Afghanistan to harm their Many have stated that they had escaped countries where families. population had been an issue and are concerned that increased immigration will bring similar problems to Responsibility Shifting and Cost Shifting Australia. The research found that the Commonwealth’s policy involved significant cost shifting to the States and Territories and to community-based organisations.

APRIL/MAY 2001 17 M igration A ction

Clearly the inadequate sharing of the responsibility for The role of co-ordination was viewed as leadership in providing services to TPV entrants has had a significant information sharing, facilitation of problem solving, impact on TPV entrants and service providers. Indeed interagency meetings and advocacy. Service providers TPV entrants and service providers believe that the felt that no organisation was able to provide this form Commonwealth has failed to meet its humanitarian of co-ordination at present for a number of reasons. obligations by withholding settlement services from Some service providers stated that co-ordination TPV entrants. required a strategic approach complemented by increased informal communication between all service Service providers expressed frustration with both State providers. Co-ordination should be the responsibility and Commonwealth Governments at the perceived of the community, with support and resourcing from expectation that the community sector has the capacity the government. Service provision needs to be guided to support TPV entrants unassisted. by the principles of access, equity - ‘a fair go’ - and respect. Differing approaches to service provision (for The Commonwealth Government asserts that there is example, direct or indirect, bureaucratic or no need for state and territory governments to provide developmental) assisted or inhibited the ability of settlement support to TPV entrants. However, this service providers to work collaboratively. For instance position is without foundation. Had TPV entrants been a service provider stated that Centrelink’s customer granted permanent residency they would have been service approach motivates collaboration with other eligible for a range of services, which the organisations to enable issues arising in working with Commonwealth funds in order to settle refugees into customers to be addressed effectively. One service the community in an ordered and humanitarian fashion. provider stated that agencies need to be more flexible These services are vital to successful settlement which in approaching and addressing TPV issues. in turn will have positive rather that negative effects on our society as a whole. Key Criticisms of the TPV

Consideration needs to be given to the cost of not The key points of criticism of the TPV are that: providing services, since TPV entrants who unsuccessfully settle in to the community may have • it has a negative impact on refugee’s problems in regard to mental health, crime and social physical and psychosocial health, dislocation in the future at a much higher cost to the employment prospects, settlement and state than the initial on-arrival expenditure would general well being; require. • it has created enormous strain on State and Territory governments in particular are faced community service providers and with the responsibility of supporting TPV entrants. unfairly shifted costs to the state and States are forced to assume fiscal responsibility or cost community-based organisations; shifting for the provision of essential services for TPV entrants such as housing, education and health (Sciacca, • it is discriminatory and unfair, the 2000). Queensland Premier Peter Beattie and South creation of two classes of refugees Australian Premier John Olsen have publicly decried with different entitlements causes the policy, stating that it is placing inordinate pressure tensions within and between ethnic upon State and community resources (Debelle, 2000). communities; All other States and Territories have supported this view. • the policy is misleading and unrealistic. It is virtually certain that The research found that service providers were TPV entrants will ultimately gain hampered by a lack of co-ordination in the approach to permanent residency because the TPV entrants. Service delivery co-ordination was of protracted problems in their countries concern to the majority of service providers. The focus of origin means that they are unlikely of discussion centred on communication with TPV to be able to return; entrants, between service providers and within intra agency networks. • the loss of refugee places from the offshore program exacerbates tensions

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as ethnic community members whose Sciacca, C. (2000) ‘Striking a Balance Between relatives and friends face a longer time Deterrence and Destitution’, Media Article, Refugee waiting for their applications to be Council of Australia, August, at the following Web processed tend to direct their address: http://www.alp.org.au . resentment, unfairly, at TPV entrants. The Honourable Darryl Briskley MP is the Future Directions Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier in the Queensland Government. The research found that there is a need to:

• clarify the roles and responsibilities of each level of government in the settlement and protection of refugees and improve the co-ordination of their activities; Interested readers can find the full text of the • educate the community by providing Queensland Department of Multicultural Affairs information and clarification of the report Temporary Protection Visa Holders in identity and circumstances of TPV Queensland at the following Web address: entrants; http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/about/maq/pdfs/ • explore a capacity-building approach temp_visa.pdf to service delivery to ensure the material welfare of TPV entrants;

• examine the implications of social exclusion of TPV entrants on the wider society;

• provide support for service providers working with TPV entrants.

References

Debelle, P. (2000) “Refugees Adrift Again”, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 August.

Goodwin-Gil, G.S. (1999)“Refugees and Security”, International Journal of Refugee Law, 11, 1: 1-5.

Jupp, J. (1994), Exile or Refuge? The Settlement of Refugee, Humanitarian and Displaced Immigrants, Bureau of Immigration and Population Research, AGPS, Canberra.

RCOA (2000) TPV Holders: Current Issues and Future Concerns, Refugee Council of Australia, August.

Silove, D. (1999) ‘The Psychosocial Effects of Torture, Mass Human Rights Violations, and Refugee Trauma: Toward an Integrated Conceptual Framework’, in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 187, 1: 200- 07.

APRIL/MAY 2001 19 M igration A ction Current public policy on asylum seekers Does it stand up to scrutiny?

Martin Clutterbuck

This article and the one that follows was first presented refugees’. There are more refugees now in the world at a public forum organised by the Centre for Public than ever before. Refugee host countries such as Policy, at Melbourne University in May 2001, on Pakistan, Iran and Kenya are bursting at the seams with Refugees in Australia: Key Ethical and Practical Issues. minimal assistance from the Western world for the ‘The Government’s View’, a forum to be presented by refugees they house. This inevitably results in ‘push the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, factors’ where refugees are expelled or forced to leave did not proceed. The Community was represented by a countries which have previously provided sanctuary panel including Martin Clutterbuck, Peter Mares and to them. Refugees being ‘pushed’ out of host countries, Dr. Nouria Salehi. result inevitably in increased pressure on countries of ‘second asylum’ ie mainly Western countries with The Hysterical Debate refugee determination processes. Western countries are now also screaming at the numbers of asylum seekers It is timely to be looking at the ethical underpinning or arriving. foundation of Australia’s current attitudes to refugees and asylum seekers, both onshore and offshore. By I was recently reading the comments of an Immigration onshore, I mean those asylum seekers who have arrived Minister which were to the effect that a concerted effort in Australia whether in an authorised or an unauthorised was needed to tackle the problem of ‘asylum shopping’. manner. The offshore program is a program where The Minister attacked judges for an ‘over liberal refugees and persons of special humanitarian concern approach to asylum cases’. This was not our apply to come to Australia. Immigration Minister. These were the words of Jack Straw, the British Immigration Minister. It must be It is timely, because the almost hysterical current debate recognised that Mister Ruddock is but one, albeit has been reduced to cheap and unhelpful ‘sound bites’ prominent, voice (although a particularly prominent using terms and phrases such as ‘queue jumpers’, ‘rich one) among a number of Western leaders calling for a (and by implication undeserving) refugees’, ‘illegals’, less generous approach towards asylum seekers. ‘criminals/terrorists/vandals’, ‘forum shoppers’, ‘double-dippers’. The reduction of what is a very The current debate must be framed around the very complicated issue into sensationalist grabs does no simple fact that there are approximately 22.5 million justice to the complexity of the situation. In fact it refugees in the world. Australia has a very small door may very well undermine the strength of Australia’s and cannot let them all in. So whom do we allow refugee program and its considerable achievements through the door? How do we pick and choose? What over a period of 50 years of post-war refugee migration is the most principled policy in the circumstances in which approximately 600,000 refugees have been bearing in mind the high need? resettled in Australia. Australia’s Policy Crisis in Global Protection My topic therefore concerns whether Australia’s current It has been well reported that the world is currently position on refugees and asylum seekers makes good experiencing a ‘crisis in the global protection of public policy. What then is Australia’s policy?

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Broadly speaking, Australia has a threefold global refugees. They are both assessed against the same test approach to refugee issues. - namely the Refugee Convention. When an asylum seeker in Australia is accepted as a refugee, an 1. Overseas aid in order to pro-actively target assessment is made that: refugee problems where they arise. 1. They have a well founded fear of being 2. The offshore refugee and special humanitarian persecuted (which can include the risk of resettlement program death, torture, rape and other serious mistreatment) 3. Refugee Determination procedures for asylum seekers who arrive onshore 2. They may be tortured on account of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or Australia’s policy towards refugees is much more than membership of a particular social group detention centres and vilifying ‘boat arrivals’, although this is the public perception of our refugee policy. We 3. They have no protection anywhere else, and also have a comprehensive offshore program with no other country they can return to. generous settlement services for refugees who are accepted into Australia from overseas. Yet it is our Despite this system of checks and balances to ensure onshore program which attracts the most attention. that Australia accepts as refugees only persons who Why is the government taking a stick towards genuine meet strict criteria, onshore refugees are seen as less refugees arriving onshore in Australia? deserving. Why is this?

Our current policy can be characterised as one of There are a number of justifications for Australia’s playing onshore and offshore refugees off against one government policy which require analysis. We are told another. The government is unashamedly beating its that we must not play into the hands of people chest to the mantra of being ‘Tough on Illegals’. We smugglers and give priority to persons who arrive have been conditioned to believe that an unauthorised without authorisation and bypass proper channels. asylum seeker who arrives in Australia ‘steals’ a place from a refugee from overseas. In essence we are being Because this is in essence the government’s policy told we must chose between people who are essentially justification for being ‘Tough on Illegals’ we should equally deserving. Is an Afghan refugee more place these policy justifications under the microscope deserving than an Iraqi refugee? Or a Somali refugee? and see whether they stand up to scrutiny. Are the Or a refugee from the Former Yugoslavia? To make government’s reasons as valid as they would have us such comparisons is an exercise in futility. It is unfair believe? and leads nowhere. It certainly does not help refugees. Why are Onshore Refugees Undeserving? This is a dilemma of the present government’s own making. Since 1996, the onshore and offshore (a) There is a global interest in supporting the refugee programs have been linked together. Remove this determination procedures adopted by UNHCR. linkage and treat the programs as catering to different Persons who bypass the UNHCR system weaken stresses, and you remove the onshore/offshore playoff. the system of global protection. Whilst this may result in an overall increase in refugee numbers in Australia in one year, in other years, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees numbers may decline. has the overall responsibility for all displaced refugees. UNHCR operates in most host countries (that is, Comparing Apples with Apples countries of first asylum or receiving countries where refugees flee to). UNHCR registers refugees if they Can offshore and onshore refugees be compared? Is it are considered to be persons ‘of concern’. really as simple as having good and bad refugees? It is argued that all countries must support UNHCR as Australia has a rigorous refugee determination program. the appropriate forum for registering and prioritising The fact that 80-95% of asylum seekers in our detention the needs of refugees. This will result in the most centres are accepted as refugees reveals the lie that deserving refugees being skimmed off the top for onshore refugees are less deserving than offshore resettlement. In a perfect world, this would prevent

APRIL/MAY 2001 21 M igration A ction

multiple refugee processes in different countries as that program which forms an important part of our UNHCR would be the sole vehicle. Money being spent response to the global refugee problem. on refugee determination processes, and detention centres could be handed back to UNHCR to assist However there are a number of flaws with the program. refugees. The program has been artificially capped at 12,000 for However attractive, there are flaws in this reasoning. at least the last 5 years. Why has the program been The basic flaw is that the UNHCR system of refugee capped at these levels? In light of the current crisis in protection is not working. The system is completely refugee protection, would it not be reasonable to overloaded, UNHCR have insufficient resources to increase the program numbers? This is indicative of a cope with the world’s refugee population, corruption lack of serious will to address the global refugee crisis. has been reported amongst UNHCR processing posts and refugees cannot reasonably be expected to wait in Prior to 1996 the offshore program itself hosted 12,000 a mythical processing queue. Full reliance upon the refugees and special humanitarian entrants. Since that current UNHCR system is not an option for a refugee. time, both programs have been squeezed into the same Would Western countries ever reimburse UNCHR for cramped space. The Minister has recently announced cost savings made otherwise made under the onshore that 6,300 places have nominally been set aside for process? Will they ever substantially increase funding potential onshore refugees, leaving 5,700 for the to UNHCR? There is no reason to believe they will. offshore program. As at 31 December 2000, there were 57,000 refugee applicants in the offshore program. The existing system allows UNHCR resettlement states They now have a 1 in 10 chance of being successful to drip feed through refugee flows at a level that is under the offshore program. What type of queue is considered domestically appropriate. The sluice gates that? can be raised and lowered at will. The countries of second asylum (generally, Western countries far Reducing the offshore program could actually result removed from most refugee crises) can comfortably in an increase in refugees making their way to Australia. sit back, bemoan the global refugee problem and accept This does not make good policy sense. Surely it would an under-proportionate number of refugees. make more sense to increase the number of available offshore places to deter persons from coming by boat. This is not an attractive option for refugee host countries or countries of first asylum, who see this as a way that There is a misconception that all persons who arrive Western countries can confine the problem to host under the offshore program are refugees. This is not countries and abrogate their responsibilities as the case. As at 31 January 2001, 4,671 visa grants international citizens. Western countries can pay for were made under the offshore program. 2,384 were their guilt rather than share a proportion of the burden, refugees - approximately 50%. Half our offshore places and potentially undermine their own standards of living. are taken by refugees. The remaining places were taken An international refugee crisis in a particular country, by applicants under the Special Humanitarian Program combined with lower employment rates in a Western and Special Assistance Categories (which have now country will not result in an increase in acceptance of been phased out). I do not seek to deny any legitimate refugees, but most likely a decrease. protection obligations owed to these persons, but merely to point out that they have not been through the Unless UNHCR’s system of protection can be made rigorous onshore refugee determination process - effective by increased resources and resettlement indeed they have been assessed not to be refugees by places, an alternative to UNHCR is indispensable. the Department of Immigration. Domestic refugee determination processes provide that important release valve. Refugees on our doorstep are It is supremely ironic that the large number of an important reminder of the magnitude of the unauthorised arrivals accepted as refugees in Australia international refugee problem. have actually increased - as a proportion of the overall humanitarian migration program - the number of (b) Australia has an orderly and effective offshore refugees accepted per year in Australia. In 1998 program approximately 42% of the offshore humanitarian program comprised Refugee Convention refugees. It Australia is one of a number of countries that has an now appears that approximately 76% of the program offshore resettlement program. We should be proud of is made up of Refugee Convention refugees.

22 APRIL/MAY 2001 M igration A ction

Over half of the refugees accepted by Australia under Kosovar refugees fleeing genocide from the the offshore program come from one country - namely Serbian army? We would have been appalled. the former Yugoslavia. 1,244 FRY refugees were Had we been a neighbouring country, presumably accepted up to 31 January 2001, leaving the remaining our response would have been to detain all 1,140 places for the rest of the world. Once again, this Kosovar refugees in detention centres across the is not to deny legitimate protection obligations to borders, or to try and persuade them to remain nationals of the FRY, merely to point out difficulties outside the country while their applications were with the offshore program which force asylum seekers processed. to directly access protection. Interestingly no Burmese nationals were accepted as refugees in the last program We are told that the difference then is that year to 31 January 2001. In fact no-one was accepted unauthorised asylum seekers have been able to as a refugee from South East Asia, although there were choose their ‘migration destination’ In other 112 grants of SHP and SAC places.. Some 267 refugees words, they are not being forced into a were accepted from Afghanistan out of a total allocation neighbouring country by persecution in their own of 4,671 offshore places (5% of the program). I would country, but making a conscious effort to come have been surprised if any were from the Hazara to Australia and bypass existing protection. minority in Afghanistan, many of whom have been forced to directly access protection in Australia through The argument is that because they have the means the onshore refugee determination program. to leave the country of first asylum, unauthorised arrivals are not as deserving as those that have Another difficulty with the offshore program is that it remained in the country of first asylum. From a includes immediate family reunion places for refugees legal perspective, this is completely erroneous. accepted offshore and onshore (apart from Temporary If an asylum seeker is accepted as Refugee Protection Visa holders). In my view, it would be Convention refugee onshore, they stand in reasonable for these places to come from the family precisely the same position as a refugee offshore. program rather than, to quote current rhetoric, ‘taking In fact they stand in a stronger position than those away the place of a refugee’. accepted as ‘special humanitarian entrants’ offshore. Finally, if you do not have a family member of sponsor in Australia, your relative chances of securing a offshore From a practical perspective, such an analysis is visa are substantially reduced. also flawed. If there is indeed a degree of corruption in UNHCR posts, what is the difference My intention is not to condemn the offshore program, between paying an agent to facilitate your but to place it in perspective and to point out the reasons application, or paying a smuggler to reach a third why it is in fact inaccessible to a great many refugees country? If you have no relative or sponsor in overseas. Australia, should you remain in a refugee camp indefinitely, with no prospect of resettlement? (c) We should deter persons wanting to bypass international protection systems who chose to use It is grossly misleading to suggest that people smugglers to achieve a ‘preferred migration unauthorised arrivals who are accepted as outcome’ (ie being accepted as a refugee onshore) refugees ‘steal’ a place from refugees in camps overseas. I have acted for many asylum seekers Again, this is an argument that must be given careful including Somalis who have come from refugee consideration. Certainly people smuggling is not to be camps in places like Kenya only to be told they encouraged. Asylum seekers must be warned of the are not refugees under the Refugee Convention dangers of coming to a country like Australia by sea. in Australia. Instead they are told they are victims But there is a line between legitimate goals of border of random civil violence, not racial, ethnic or protection and the vilification of unauthorised asylum political persecution. seekers. One of my current clients is an extremely It is legitimate for a state to wish to protect its borders, traumatised young man from Sierra Leone who except in circumstances where there is refugee inflow. fled the country following an attack by rebels on How would we have reacted if Macedonia and Albania his home and his home village. During the attack had shut their borders to the hundreds of thousands of my client’s mother’s arm was deliberately severed

APRIL/MAY 2001 23 M igration A ction

by rebels as an act of punishment. Had Sebastian been responsibility - as de facto guardian of our policy of caught, it is likely that one or both of his arms would multiculturalism - to promote balance in the debate have been amputated. Alternatively, he may have been and to dampen down inflammatory and unconstractive killed. Sebastian has been refused refugee status in rhetoric. Australia on the grounds that he is a victim of the general civil violence in Sierra Leone. Interestingly, Our multicultural society has been very carefully Australia has this year allocated offshore places to crafted over a period of 50 years and has been hugely refugees from Sierra Leone for the first time. It is wildly successful. Indeed it is a world achievement. It is much optimistic to suggest that refugees from refugee camps easier to unravel such a policy through the language of overseas would necessarily meet the Refugee intolerance than to build such a policy. Convention definition in Australia. Yet, the Immigration Department Website is peppered The irony of being granted 3 year Temporary Protection with Press Releases vilifying unauthorised refugees. visas will not be lost on those Iraqi and Afghan refugees There is very little public acknowledgment of the who have lived as displaced persons in countries legitimate protection obligations that are owed to these including Pakistan or Iran for many years. There seems refugees, as evidenced by their very high approval rate. little prospect of a change in the political climate in It would be helpful to have publicly available some either Iraq or Afghanistan after over 20 years of conflict information from DIMA as to the persecutory situations and repression in either country. They would appear that many of these genuine refugees have fled. The to be prime candidates for resettlement in Western current Immigration Minister carries significant countries such as Australia. responsibility for the very polarised debate on refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. The bottom line is that there are many very good reasons why asylum seekers flee to countries like Australia. We are constantly presented with images of refugees The system of global protection is overburdened and staging protests, vandalising property, and being underesourced. The system is completely inaccessible involved in riots. We are never presented with an for a good many vulnerable refugees. A sick refugee explanation of why this occurs, other than the will never be accepted by a resettlement country no justification that illegals are ‘ungrateful’. I was struck matter how great their resettlement needs. In brief, by a ‘News In Brief’ article in The Age a week or so Western countries do not pull their weight. ago in which it was reported that the ACM Operations Manager at Port Hedland had in fact pleaded guilty to Public Policy the assault of an Iranian asylum seeker. It appears that this incident had precipitated a riot. I have not yet seen So what then is good public policy and what is bad this account reported on the DIMA Website. Good public policy? Good public policy must be that policy public policy demands a balanced picture. which is in our national interest and which reflects the views of the electorate. Good public policy must be It is good public policy to enhance international refugee informed and balanced. It must conform with basic programs and to encourage offshore resettlement. It is values in Australian society including fairness, dignity bad public policy to subject asylum seekers to for the person, protection of disadvantaged persons or prolonged incarceration and to negatively portray groups, respect for the family, accountability and genuine refugees, regardless of how they have arrived. transparency. Good public policy must reflect our A considerable reservoir of good will and compassion responsibilities as an international citizen and towards towards refugees has developed in Australia over the human rights treaties that have been signed. years. Current policies serve to erode that compassion and to engender a spirit of meanness in the Australian Australia’s commitment to overseas aid and to an community. The stigma of the word ‘refugee’ will offshore resettlement program make good public policy. remain long after the context of the debate has been It is contended that the government’s negative, forgotten. unbalanced and simplistic pronouncements on unauthorised asylum seekers threaten to undo many of The detention of young children, the creation of the achievements of our refugee program. secondary trauma in refugees via prolonged incarceration, the deliberate breakdown of family units Any Australian Immigration Minister, regardless of through Temporary Protection visas which restrict which political persuasion, has an important immediate family re-union, the exclusion of some

24 APRIL/MAY 2001 /

M igration A ction

APRIL/MAY 2001 23 M igration A ction

by rebels as an act of punishment. Had Sebastian been responsibility - as de facto guardian of our policy of caught, it is likely that one or both of his arms would multiculturalism - to promote balance in the debate have been amputated. Alternatively, he may have been and to dampen down inflammatory and unconstructive killed. Sebastian has been refused refugee status in rhetoric. Australia on the grounds that he is a victim of the general civil violence in Sierra Leone. Interestingly, Our multicultural society has been very carefully Australia has this year allocated offshore places to crafted over a period of 50 years and has been hugely refugees from Sierra Leone for the first time. It is wildly successful. Indeed it is a world achievement. It is much optimistic to suggest that refugees from refugee camps easier to unravel such a policy through the language of overseas would necessarily meet the Refugee intolerance than to build such a policy. Convention definition in Australia. Yet, the Immigration Department Website is peppered The irony of being granted 3 year Temporary Protection with Press Releases vilifying unauthorised refugees. visas will not be lost on those Iraqi and Afghan refugees There is very little public acknowledgment of the who have lived as displaced persons in countries legitimate protection obligations that are owed to these including Pakistan or Iran for many years. There seems refugees, as evidenced by their very high approval rate. little prospect of a change in the political climate in It would be helpful to have publicly available some either Iraq or Afghanistan after over 20 years of conflict information from DIMA as to the persecutory situations and repression in either country. They would appear that many of these genuine refugees have fled. The to be prime candidates for resettlement in Western current Immigration Minister carries significant countries such as Australia. responsibility for the very polarised debate on refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. The bottom line is that there are many very good reasons why asylum seekers flee to countries like Australia. We are constantly presented with images of refugees The system of global protection is overburdened and staging protests, vandalising property, and being underesourced. The system is completely inaccessible involved in riots. We are never presented with an for a good many vulnerable refugees. A sick refugee explanation of why this occurs, other than the will never be accepted by a resettlement country no justification that illegals are ‘ungrateful’. I was struck matter how great their resettlement needs. In brief, by a ‘News In Brief’ article in The Age a week or so Western countries do not pull their weight. ago in which it was reported that the ACM Operations Manager at Port Hedland had in fact pleaded guilty to Public Policy the assault of an Iranian asylum seeker. It appears that this incident had precipitated a riot. I have not yet seen So what then is good public policy and what is bad this account reported on the DIMA Website. Good public policy? Good public policy must be that policy public policy demands a balanced picture. which is in our national interest and which reflects the views of the electorate. Good public policy must be It is good public policy to enhance international refugee informed and balanced. It must conform with basic programs and to encourage offshore resettlement. It is values in Australian society including fairness, dignity bad public policy to subject asylum seekers to for the person, protection of disadvantaged persons or prolonged incarceration and to negatively portray groups, respect for the family, accountability and genuine refugees, regardless of how they have arrived. transparency. Good public policy must reflect our A considerable reservoir of good will and compassion responsibilities as an international citizen and towards towards refugees has developed in Australia over the human rights treaties that have been signed. years. Current policies serve to erode that compassion and to engender a spirit of meanness in the Australian Australia’s commitment to overseas aid and to an community. The stigma of the word ‘refugee’ will offshore resettlement program make good public policy. remain long after the context of the debate has been It is contended that the government’s negative, forgotten. unbalanced and simplistic pronouncements on unauthorised asylum seekers threaten to undo many of The detention of young children, the creation of the achievements of our refugee program. secondary trauma in refugees via prolonged incarceration, the deliberate breakdown of family units Any Australian Immigration Minister, regardless of through Temporary Protection visas which restrict which political persuasion, has an important immediate family re-union, the exclusion of some

24 APRIL/MAY 2001 M igration A ction asylum seekers from the refugee determination process are inconsistent with core Australian values of dignity for the person. In years to come when we are dealing with the resultant and inevitable consequences, they will be seen as having been bad public policy.

In my view, there is no question that Australia’s most significant achievement ever in the field of international global protection for refugees has occurred under the Howard government. I am referring to the mobilisation of the peace-keeping force in East Timor. This is a significant legacy. We shouldn’t forget that asylum seekers from places such as Iraq and Afghanistan are fleeing situations that we worked hard to prevent in East Timor. We should not be fooled into categorisations of equally deserving refugees as good refugees and bad refugees.

The answer is to work pro-actively through international aid and resettlements programs while treating onshore asylum seekers with the dignity and compassion that all such vulnerable persons deserve.

Martin Clutterbuck is a Solicitor and Co-ordinator of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre (RILC) in Fitzroy. RILC is a non-profit legal centre providing free advice and casework in refugee and immigration law.

APRIL/MAY 2001 25 M igration A ction Ethical and practical issues in TPV policy The community view

Dr. Nouria Salehi

This article was presented at the public forum in May on while at the same time honouring our humanitarian Refugees in Australia: Key Ethical and Practical Issues, principles of protecting the most vulnerable such as organised by the Centre for Public Policy, at Melbourne refugees who enter Australia through unauthorised means University. Dr. Nouria Salehi was one of the panel - is the issue. presenting the Community View. The challenge is one about policy. Australia’s ability to I was bom in a country that is today famous for two things: respond is as much about how Australia is able to develop, it produces one of the largest numbers of refugees, many manage and implement its immigration policies, as it is of whom are women at risk and their children. Hundreds about implementing the Temporary Protection Visa of innocent children are dying voiceless in their hopeless legislation. The Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) mothers’ arms from thirst and malnutrition before they legislation is designed to send a very powerful message. walk. It also produces high quality heroin, which kills A message that responds to community interests. thousands of innocent children of the world. All of this is under the international eye. Australia is part of this I wish to share some thoughts on the impacts on the international community. community of the Temporary Protection legislation. Let me firstly give you the context of this ethical policy issue. Afghanistan is a country without government, without law and order, that the world has forgotten. I have lived Between July and October 2000,480 TPVs were released in Australia for twenty years. Timewise it did not take from detention into Victoria. Of these, 86 were less than me long to be integrated inside the equation, therefore, I 18 years of age. Many had spent up to 8 months in do not consider myself a stranger. Being a stranger detention. Who are these people? Some 95% of them are depends on time, and understanding and acceptance can from the Hazara ethnic group, while 5% belong to two change the stranger into someone who is at one with the other Afghan ethnic groups, the Tajik and Pashtoon community. groups.

The key ethical issue here is how we should treat the On 12 July 2000 we were told by DIMA that 26 Afghans stranger among us, because we are all strangers in this would released in two days’ time into Victoria and that land, unless we are Aboriginal people. Our choice has the community will be expected to look after them. DIMA serious implications for the stranger, but also for us. would book the first night’s accommodation for these people. The Backpackers at 96 Bourke St Melbourne was How we choose who is a stranger, is a subjective process. booked. They told us that every week we would need to It is not fixed in a point in time. There is often nothing expect two bus loads of TPVs. objective about it. Referring to a group as ‘strangers’ is useful; it satisfies our fear of the unknown and reduces Five community leaders attended this meeting. We were our responsibility to care for them. told that settlement services were not going to be provided to these people by DIMA: ‘if you would like to help them The challenge and a sign of a mature democracy like you are welcome to do if. Australia is how we treat people - whether or not they are strangers. As a democracy concerned about justice This is government policy in practice. The question needs how we take the challenge of border control legislation - to be asked: why, suddenly, is the issue of refugee

26 APRIL/MAY 2001 M igration A ction settlement the responsibility of the Afghan community? services to predominately young people from detention, Since when are Afghans only responsible for Afghans? who have had such terrible journeys to Australia. These What is the government’s responsibility for the Afghan are people who as refugees find it difficult to trust others, refugees? and TPV holders have additional issues, because they are given a policy and media message that they are not We need to ask is this about a policy message of welcome in our country. divisiveness. This audience is full of policy makers and service people. Were you invited to this meeting about Community tension is also caused because of the new the release of refugees from Detention centres? Is it not government policy of Unking onshore and offshore intake your business as well? Whose responsibility is the stranger numbers. There is a widow in AustraUa with two children, among us? who is waiting for her mother to be accepted as a refugee from Afghanistan. There were only 300 places a year Let me tell you about the size and needs of the existing available for Afghan people from offshore. Now there Afghan community, as a new and emerging community, will be fewer than 150 places. and its ability to take on this role of assisting refugees. What is your role and ethical responsibility towards Afghans first settled in Australia in the mid-nineteenth Afghan-AustraUans? To sit back and not to act because century. The community is currently 3,000 strong in somehow this issue is that of the stranger? Who will only Melbourne, including Australian-born children. Afghans be here a while, who only deserves Temporary Protection? in Melbourne live from Frankston to Preston to Werribee but live mainly in the south-eastern suburbs. They are a Or is it to watch a community of Afghan-Australians cohesive group, even though they represent five main trying desperately to support these people, while at the ethnicities. Almost all have arrived in Australia under same time this community is in conflict with the the Special Humanitarian Program. It is a small government’s bipartisan poUcy that echoes Hansonism? community, with diverse needs that is trying to integrate Where are you in this equation? and settle itself. Taking on the responsibility of settlement of these refugees places enormous strain on such a small As a responsible member of the Afghan community, an community. AustraUan citizen and a board member of the Refugee Council of Australia and a Charter member of the Nevertheless the community has done what it can to meet Brotherhood of St Laurence, I would like you to take up the current problems. Some examples of this include how the challenge of calling for: the community has worked with the EMC, helped by a small amount of funding from the Victorian Government, • an end to the TPV legislation; and with organisations such as the Victorian Foundation for the Survivors of Torture to provide some basic level • an end to the policy of mandatory detention; of support to the Afghan TPVs. • a judicial inquiry into detention; Having TPV status makes obtaining housing difficult. I needed to sign contracts in my own name, so I got my • the disentangling of onshore/offshore intake brothers to rent their own houses. We furnished the houses numbers; with the help of our friends and through the Internet, we ■ Australia to fulfil its quota for refugee/ visited them at night, taught them how to turn on the humanitarian entrants, particularly for ‘women power, where to shop, and where to go if they became sick. at risk’.

Where is the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy If each one of us does not take responsibility - simply watches without contributing, Australia will not be able now? Isn’t this the best multicultural democracy in the to be a mature democracy. It will be unable to keep its world? So where are the best settlement services in the world for these refugees? place in the international community as a just society built on immigration. The TPV legislation has resulted in tension in the Afghan community, due to exhaustion, due to not being able to Dr. Nouria Salehi of the Afghan Support Group is a doctor access other settlement services, such as education. It is of nuclear medicine and a member of the Board of the also distressing for this community to have to provide Refugee Council of Australia.

APRIL/MAY 2001 27 M igration A ction Haa, bur alar dan soruyorsun ? Oh, you ask about those places?

Idiz Yahya

Idiz Yahya is a refugee who spent time in two detention centres —first at Villawood (5 months) and then at Woomera (5 months). He wrote these poems about his experience of detention. He describes his time in detention, as being a ‘hostage’. The government welcomes refugees with all doors closed. He questions why the borders are so arbitrary. He says: ‘If you live through this experience you can understand it. If you don’t live it, it’s hard to describe’.

Haa, buralardan soruyorsun ? Oh, you ask about those places?

Valla neyi anlatayim bilmemki, ne bagimiz var ne Well I don’t know what to tell you, we have neither bahqemiz. Toprak, toprak degilki, bir cakir dikeni a garden nor an orchard. The earth is not the earth bile yok. Geqenlerde bizimkiler nereden bulmusjarsa you know, there isn’t even a thistle on it. A few bulmuylar, bir gul getirdiler. Onu evin (contenerin) days ago our people brought a rosebush, God yanma diktik. Gelenin su doktugii, gidenin su knows where they found it. We planted it near our doktiigii halde, o bile ikide birde boyunu biikuyor, house, the container. Though every passer-by pours herhalde havasmdandir. water on it, the rose drops its head in misery. It must be the climate. *** *** Eee... Buralarda havalar oldukqa gergin. Merabalar (tutuklular) la Fqsist Aga (ACM) arasmdakikavga Aah.. The climate here is somewhat tense. There is hiq bitmiyor, hep qeki§meli geqiyor, ve nedense her a never-ending struggle between the serfs seferinde Fasist Aga hakh qikiyor! (detainees) and the Fascist Lord (ACM). There is always conflict and somehow the Fascist Lord ends *** up being right each time.

Gecenlerde karyikoytin (general compound) Fasist *** Agasi kargasalardan dolayi, merabalardan bazilarma qoluguyla kdyden kovmug. Onlar da Due to some unrest, the Fascist Lord of the village qikip bizim koye (Sierra) geldir. Bizim kdyjin Fasist across the general compound expelled some of the Agasi sanki obiir koyiin Fasist Agasmdan iyimi ki? detainees from the village, with their children and Ondan binkat beter. all. They turned up at our village (Sierra). Is the Fascist Lord of our village any better than the Fascist Lord of their village? A thousand times worse.

28 APRIL/MAY 2001 M igration A ction

Merabalardan birinin iki tane kiigiik gocugu var. One of the detainees has two young children. The Kiigiik olani iig-dort yaslarmda, oyle sevimli ki bu younger one is three-four years’ old, as cute as a afacan, fildir fildir, sagda solda cirit atip duruyor. button urchin, active, keeps running around.

Bir ara bir baktimki bu afacan, papucunu eline Once I saw him screaming, holding his shoe in his almis avaz avaz baginp duruyor. Bu gigligma anasi hand. His mother came running, put him on her lap yetiyti, kucagma alip ayagmrn altma bakmaya and began looking at the sole of his foot. She bayladi. Afacana biyeyler minldayip, ayagmi whispered quietly in his ear and rubbed his foot. ovaladi. The ground is covered with gravel here, when the Bizim burada gakil tajn serili oldugundan, gocugun child’s shoe was tom, he began walking barefooted. papucu kopunca, ayagi yalm yiiriimeye baylar, gakil The gravel pierced his feet and he screamed. taglari batmca da avaz avaz bagirmaktadir. Child in her arms, the mother began showing the Qocugun anasi kucagma aldigi gocukla beraber, tom shoe to others, trying to find a solution. etraftakilere papucun kopugunu gostererek, papucun kopuguna bir gare aramaya koyuldu. We have no needles, no string, nothing to cut with. We don’t have a lighter for our cigarettes even. We Bizim ne ighemiz var ne ipligimiz, ne kesici aletimiz, are not simply broke. We are in poverty. hatta sigaramizi yakacak gakmagimiz bile yok. Biz yarim yamalak degil, tami tamma zugurtiiz. When the woman gave up on us, she knocked on the Fascist Lord’s door. Kadm bizden umudunu kesince, gareyi Faijist Aganm kapismi galmakta buldu. As if the Fascist Lord had his own children here before, or as if he had any affection towards Sanki Fapist Aganm daha onceden burada golugu children! Why would he keep a pair of shoes or a gocugumu vardi, veya gocuga karpi bir sevgisi mi few toys? Despite that he took pity on them and vardiki, bir gift ayakkabisi veya bir oyuncagi olsun. gave the child a pair of his old shoes. The shoes Ama yine de insafa geldi de kendi eski were bigger than the child himself. papuglarmdan birini verdi. Papucun boyu gocugun boyundan uzundu. The child took the shoes happily and inserted his tiny feet in them. Never mind that his foot did not Qocuk hemen sevingle onu aldi, minnacik ayaklarmi cover even half of the shoe. There was joy in his papucun igine soktu. Ayaklan papucun yansma sweet face and a spark in his eyes thinking that he kadar gelmiyordu, ama olsun. Btiyiik papuglan was a grown up now. Looking around him with giyerek buyudugunu sanip, gozlerine bir Isilti, ve o pride, he began dragging those enormous shoes. tatli yuzlerinde bir seving belirdi, saga sola bakarak, o koskoca papucu suruklemeye balad,si... I couldn’t help smiling to this sad reality a little, beneath the cover of my moustache. Bende bu aci gergege, biyigimm altmdan azda olsa giiliimsemeden edemedim. It was the fourth day of the hunger strike. They were coming to check us every hour. I was having Aglik grevinin dordtincu giinuydii, Fler saat gelip mixed up nightmares. My mouth was all dried up, yokluyorardi. Sigrayarak uyanmiqtim. Karmasik my breathing was heavier, I was soaked in sweat. korkulu bir riiya gdriiyordum, agzimm igi kurumuy, When I looked at the door the guard was there. He nefes alip veriyim yukselmis, ter igindeydim. Kapiya directed his torch to my face, he said ‘Sorry I woke dogru baktigimda. Gardiyan el lambasmi gozlerime you up’. tutmus ‘ozur dilerim uyarttim’ diyordu.

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Sinirden titriyordum. My nerves were shot; I was shaking.

Beni afallamiy, sinirli durumda goren gardiyan The guard who saw my confused and nervous state ‘iyimisin?’ diye sordu. asked, ‘Are you okay?’

Ben biryeyler soylemek istedim ama, sinirimden I wanted to say some things, but I was in such a konuyamiyordum, yutkunmak bile zor geliyordu, nervous state that I could not speak. Even ancak bagirarak ‘yess! ’ deyip, elimin tersi ile swallowing was hard. I just shouted ‘Yess’ and gitmesini isaret ettim... Daha sonra bir turlu waved the back of my hand to him to indicate that he uyuyamadim. Aklmim ucundan birsuru seyler gelip should go away. After this, I could not go back to gegti. Biraz sakinleytikten sonra, kalkip lambayi sleep. Many thoughts wandered through my mind. yaktm. Kalemi elime aldim, bir kagida yu misralan When I calmed down, I got up and put the light on. I siraladmi. wrote the following lines on a piece of paper.

Bilirmisin dostum sen? Do you know my friend GUnlerimin nasil gegtigini? How my days pass by? Gecenin alaca karanligmda Do you know of Uykumu bolen korkulu riiyalarm The nightmares that interrupt my sleep Nefes ter iginde sigramalan In the pitch darkness of the night? Yutkunmakta gektigim zorluklan And how I jump in sweat, breathless Bilirmisin dostum sen? Unable to swallow? My friend, do you know? Gecenin kohne karanligmda Gozlerin tavam delercesine In the decayed darkness of the night Dalga dalga hasretler iilkesinde Eyes boring into the ceiling. Sevginin hayalimde canlandigmi In the land of yearning, wave upon wave, Bilirmisin dostum sen? How love comes to life in my imaginings, My friend, do you know?

30 APRIL/MAY 2001 M igration A ction Woomera Part two

Peter Mares

This is the second part of Peter Mares’ article based be a simple matter to skirt the fence and walk on to the on his time in Woomera. Part One can be found in detention centre proper. The only thing that stops me Migration Action Vol XXII, No. 3, 2000. doing so is the presence of a uniformed guard sitting sentry in a pre-fab hut next to the gate. In mid-February, Lynton Stephens chose not to continue the work at the detention centre, which is now One side of the gate is open, allowing vehicles to trickle performed by doctors from the mining town of Roxby in and out; builders in utes and four-wheel drives, trucks Downs, 80 km further north. He has also written to delivering supplies; lawyers or DIMA officials in city ACM, telling the company that, with 1400 inmates, sedans. Most just honk or wave at the guard and drive the detention centre requires the services of a full-time cheerfully on. It is evident from the guard’s interest in medical practitioner. He points out that the medical the number plate of Tom’s car, which she notes down issues in the camp are further complicated by the fact assiduously, that I won’t be granted the same liberty. that many of the detainees are victims of severe torture My official request for permission to visit the camp and trauma; on several occasions during treatment had already been rejected in Canberra. sessions, Dr Stephens came across the scars of Taliban whips on the chests and backs of detainees from I park the car and walk away from the gate and around Afghanistan. I sought a response from ACM to Dr the back of the Wagnitz office. Here a semi-trailer is Stephens’ concerns, but my phone calls and e-mails busy delivering a load of metal and a broad young bloke went unanswered. in a bulldozer is scooping up sand to mix concrete. Wagnitz is evidently doing well from the expansion of As well as taking me on a tour of the town, Uniting Woomera West. I ask the bulldozer driver for Church Minister Tom Atherton is kind enough to lend permission to walk across the property to get a closer me his car so that I can drive the few kilometres out to look at the detention centre. He gives me a sunburnt the detention centre. I would have walked, but I thought grin and waves me forward, a security pass dangling that trudging up the highway would make me a bit from the belt loop of his jeans. ‘Don’t get too conspicuous in a town that seems to have more cars adventurous,’ he says, ‘or they’ll be out after you, quick than people. I need not have worried, because I am smart. ’ destined to be conspicuous anyway. Behind Wagnitz lies a tangle of old junk— scrap metal, I drive as far as I am permitted. There is a gate across second-hand timber, an abandoned school desk sinking the road, with a large red stop sign and a warning: ‘NO into the red sand. There is also a ramshackle collection UNAUTHORISED ENTRY. BEYOND THIS POINT of outhouses and bare dirt paddocks housing bored TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED’. The gate ponies. I feel like a skulking schoolboy as I make my is a more of a symbolic than effective barrier. To the way along the fence line, but I also enjoy a boyish left, it abuts the property of the local earthmoving firm, sensation of victory as I realise that I am now well past Wagnitz Building Contractors. To the right, it is the gate on the road and on to forbidden territory. attached to a cyclone fence which stops abruptly just 15 metres beyond the bitumen. The truncated fence line I push forward as far as I dare to get a closer look. The is forlorn against the vastness of the desert. It would perimeter fence is at least 4m high, the tips of the posts

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angled inwards and topped with a forbidding coil of at the ground. I give a quick nod and he lets the paper barbed wire. One section of the fence is sagging; drop. The bus drives off and, endeavouring to affect an presumably at the point it was pushed over during the air of nonchalance, I saunter over to retrieve his missive. disturbances of 10 April when two detainees absconded. It is an envelope with ‘S.O.S Please help us’ scrawled A banner in Persian is strung against the wire: red on both sides. Inside are two letters. The first, again writing on yellow cloth; not a protest banner, but a under the heading ‘S.O.S’, contains the following devotional exhortation to mark the tenth day of request: ‘Dear my friend. We are homeless immigrant’s Muharram. Behind the fence, I can see low-slung that we live in Woomera detention centre. We have no buildings. As the camp population has rocketed things to live and we are in bad situation please call upwards, the original 1950s brick barracks with their UN office for us. Thank you for your kind.’ ‘flow-through ventilation’ have been augmented by prefabricated, transportable buildings that are equipped The second letter is in the same handwriting, and is with air-conditioning. There are also two rows of large, more personal: ‘Dear my friend, I’m Iranian homeless dark-green canvas tents. The tents appear empty and I immigrant, my name is A and nobody know that I have learn later that they are intended to accommodate the arrived to Australia or not. please call my phone number overflow, should there be a sudden influx of new in Iran on humanity, thank you for your kind, this is a arrivals. big help for me.’

A cooling breeze takes the heat out of the day and keeps There are two names and two Iranian phone numbers the sticky South Australian flies circulating. I am too at the bottom. far away to make contact with anyone, but I can catch a glimpse of life behind the wire. A child sitting in the I was not alone in receiving this kind of plea from shade; a woman carrying a blouse just washed, a young detainees at Woomera. Lawyers, migration agents, man with his head wrapped in a T-shirt as a shelter medical staff and others visiting the camp told tales of against the sun. They are stick figures beneath an similar folded notes tucked discretely into their palms, immense and glorious sky. out of sight of the guards. Most were requests to contact relatives in the Middle East. Some recipients dared not The boss at Wagnitz is friendly, but turns down the fulfil the request, believing that it was a federal offence offer of a chat. I want to know what he is actually to do so. Others went ahead and made the phone calls building out at Woomera West. He waves a fat contract (as I did). in the air which he’s just received from the construction company Thiess. ‘There’s lots of legal stuff in here and One request came from an Islamic cleric, or mufti. His I haven’t read it yet,’ he says. I get the impression that, request was carried out, and after months of wondering had I arrived earlier, before that intimidating contract what had happened to him, of no news and of fearing landed on his desk, then he may have been more the worst, the mufti’s family was at last alerted to his forthcoming. whereabouts. The mufti was a big austere man with a beard to match his position—a man of authority and That reluctance to talk about what goes on at Woomera stature among the detainees, but when he learnt that West is shared by other contractors at the site. Most, his message had indeed got through to his family, he like the guards, have signed secrecy clauses, and are broke down, his relief bursting forth in tears. required to report any media approaches to ACM management. Still, word filters out, in various ways. According to clause 11.1 of DIMA’s own Immigration Detention Standards, ‘Contact between detainees and It is 2pm in the afternoon when I walk past the offices their families, friends and the community is permitted of the Woomera Area Board, where the sign in the and encouraged except when in the separation window says ‘Dog licences may be paid here’. Across detention.’ the road a blue and white minibus pulls out of the community hospital. The driver is wearing the ACM Indeed, in Port Hedland detention centre in Western uniform and the four or five passengers look like they Australia, in Maribyrnong in Melbourne and in hail from the Middle East. One wears a black Nike Villawood in Sydney, detainees have access to a pay baseball cap and trails an arm out the window, a piece phone. By working in the kitchen they can earn money of paper folded carefully between two fingers. The man to buy a phone card, or else they can buy one with catches my eye, glances from me to the paper, which whatever money they had with them on arrival in he waggles almost imperceptibly, then glances away

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Australia. The camp at Curtin airbase in Western office. When I raised the issue of mail with DIMA, a Australia also has a pay-phone. It was only installed spokesman told me, ‘There are no restrictions on after hundreds of detainees went on a hunger strike in detainees’ correspondence at any detention centre.’ early February. A handful of the detainees even stitched their lips shut in protest at being held incommunicado. I pressed the matter and rephrased my question. ‘Had there been any such restrictions in the past?’ I asked. In Woomera, after four-and-a-half months of operation, The answer came back, also rephrased: ‘DIMA’s there was no public phone for the detainees to use. The communications policy in respect of detainees at all explanation given for this is that Woomera West is still detention centres allows for them to send and receive ‘a site under construction’. A spokesman from the mail. This policy has been in place for a considerable Minister’s office told me that alternatives were being time and pre-dates the opening of Woomera.’ investigated, such as the use of mobile phones, until a fixed phone line can be installed. A fundamental question remains unanswered: if DIMA policy was implemented at Woomera, if detainees had But there is another obstacle to phone contact, and this the right to send out mail, and were informed of that is where the ‘except when in separation detention’ of right, then why were they surreptitiously pressing secret clause 11.1 comes into play. It is DIMA policy to hold notes into the hands of visitors, or dropping them from new arrivals separate from detainees who have already the window of a minibus? passed through the primary stage of an application for political asylum. One reasonable justification for ‘Some of the detainees have said to me that they feel separation detention is that it allows new arrivals to be lost,’ says Reverend Tom Atherton. ‘They have fallen screened for infectious diseases, but this is a matter off the planet and their relatives back home in Iraq or that can be resolved quickly. The other aim of wherever might think that they are dead. And they might separation detention is to prevent ‘coaching’. DIMA think that they are dead also, because boats do sink.’ believes that if new arrivals mix with longer-term residents, or are able to contact people outside the camp While I was in Woomera in mid-April, Immigration by telephone, then they will be ‘coached’ on their Minister Philip Ruddock said that he believed that up rights—rights of which they are not otherwise to 220 boat people had died while attempting the informed. For example, detainees may learn that they crossing from Java to Christmas Island, after their have the right to see a lawyer and to apply for refugee vessel went missing in monsoonal seas. Obviously such status. DIMA also fears that they may be ‘coached’ on news must cause acute distress to families back in Iraq how to handle the crucial first interview of the asylum or Iran, who know that their brother or son or process, an interview which can transform their official granddaughter had attempted that same journey. Yet at status from the damning classification of ‘illegal Woomera, the Minister’s department was holding 1400 immigrant’ to the liberating identity of ‘refugee’. people incommunicado, and some of them had been in Detention centres like Villawood and Port Hedland that situation for at least three months. have different sections for different classes of detainee. But as of mid April, Woomera had only one combined Prisoners of war are able to access the Red Cross so area, which meant that all detainees were effectively that basic information can be communicated back to held in separation detention, regardless of how far their their homeland. Convicted criminals in Australian jails refugee applications had progressed. can make and receive phone calls. Yet these people, who have not been charged with any offence, have been DIMA’s preoccupation with ‘coaching’ suggests that denied that fundamental right, the right to reassure their there is little official confidence in Australia’s much- family that they are still alive. vaunted refugee determination procedures, or in the capacity of departmental delegates to distinguish In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that between a genuine story of persecution and one quickly trouble should break out in the detention centre. Father stitched together after a few quick words of advice. Monaghan draws a parallel between the uncertainty And problematic as the Department’s logic may be, experienced by the townsfolk of Woomera and the the coaching issue does not explain why detainees did plight of the detainees up the road. not even send out letters. The detention centre opened ‘As Woomera began to say goodbye to the Americans at the end of November 1999, but it was mid March, and as various facilities began to close down and as three-and-a-half months later, before any mail from the various organisations in the town began to lose numbers detainees started passing through the Woomera post

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and so on, the feeling of uncertainty gave rise to lots of second stage at the detention centre. Detainees could rumours. One of the classics is about the bowling alley. now be divided into two groups: those who had entered In the space of a few weeks we heard that the bowling the refugee determination process, and those who had alley was getting sold to Western Mining Corporation failed to cross that initial threshold and who now face and shifted to Kalgoorlie. Then no, it’s being sold to removal from Australia. Initially some 180 detainees some entrepreneurs in Alice Springs and it will be going were separated out, causing considerable distress in the to Alice. No, Western Mining have bought it and its camp. In some cases members of the same family found going to Roxby Downs. Then finally, no it’s not going themselves on different sides of the wire. At least anywhere, it’s staying right here. These sorts of things detainees with the money to buy a phone card can now are very debilitating in the life of a community. It is make use of the one telephone that was installed in the hard for people, it takes energy out of you when one camp in late May; visitors describe long queues as rumour is very hopeful and millions are going to be detainees wait their turn to contact anxious relatives. spent and then straight after that you are saying goodbye to your next-door neighbour and it is all brought home After the June protest I rang Father Jim Monaghan to again.’ get his perspective on events, but he said he could no longer speak to me about the situation in the detention Father Monaghan says that the tribulations of the centre. Since our meeting in Woomera in April, DIMA Woomera locals hint at the much greater turmoil that had made it clear that the Priest was not exempt from must be in the hearts of the detainees: ‘With very little the conditions applied to other people going in and out information coming in to them, apart from scraps here of the camp for professional reasons. Contact with the and there, rumours, gossip, a few words from a guard media was not appropriate. and recalling what they might have heard in Indonesia on the journey or what the people smugglers might have DIMA blames the problems experienced at Woomera told them, and their experience with the various layers on circumstance; on ad hoc arrangements in a detention of bureaucracy that they are meeting, it must be terribly centre still under construction. The Minister points to draining and internally it must lead to a real imbalance the strain on the system caused by a sudden huge of emotions in people.’ increase in boat arrivals in 1999, and the inevitable delays in processing asylum applications that result. In early June that ‘imbalance of emotions’ tipped right But what if Mr Ruddock’s worst nightmare came true off the scale. After three days of protests, hundreds of ? At the height of the boat arrivals in November he detainees pushed down a perimeter fence and marched told a press conference that “whole villages” in the into town, carrying banners and chanting “freedom”. Middle East were packing up and that “as many as ten There were some clashes during the initial break out; thousand people could be .... trying to access Australia”. three ACM officers were reportedly injured and several What if ten thousand ‘boat people’ did arrive on our detainees claimed to have been beaten. Later in the town shores ? After all, around the world, war and torture centre another ACM guard was punched to the ground show few signs of abating in the new millennium. Nor and kicked. Overall though, the protest was well does unauthorised migration. DIMA has suggested that organised and peaceful. The authorities acted with Woomera may become Australia’s main holding centre restraint, and waited for the passion of events to run its for asylum seekers and illegal immigrants in the future. course before negotiating a return to the detention If ten thousand ‘boat people’ arrived, would we isolate centre. them all under lock and key in the desert ? What would that cost, in human misery and in tax payers dollars ? According to sources in the town, the protest coincided And if we cut them off from news of their families, with a rumour in the camp that no one would be given condemn them to boredom and uncertainty, must we a visa until after the Sydney Olympics. The story was not expect escalating protests and increasing conflict ? baseless, but its spark fell on dry tinder. After six months of operation, not a single person had been On the wall of the dining room of the Eldo Hotel, released from Woomera. Detainees believed the clashing violently with the electric blue carpet, is a huge Olympics rumour because it was consistent with their patchwork quilt made by local school children. The situation.. quilt celebrates the history of Woomera. It shows black gibber stone against the sandhills and native animals Other events may also have contributed to the around a waterhole; there is grey-blue saltbush and uncertainty. In May construction was completed on a the brilliant red of the Sturt Desert Pea; there are the

34 APRIL/MAY 2001 Migration A ction domes of the satellite base and its radar dishes, and the dramatic centre piece - a two metre long, three dimensional black and silver rocket, with cloth flames spewing from its tail. If locking up asylum seekers is to be Woomera’s next industry, then I can’t help wondering how the quilt might one day be updated. How will the children of Woomera depict the detention centre up the road and the cloud of secrecy that hangs over it ?

This article was first published in July 2000 by Eureka Street magazine. The following month tear gas and water cannon was used to quell a riot at the Woomera detention. The wire fence around the detention centre was subsequently augmented by much stronger steel palisade fencing. Children are now occasionally taken out of the detention centre on excursions, and detainees have access to four pay telephones (unless they are in separation detention).

Peter Mares presents ‘Asia Pacific’ on ABC Radio National and Radio Australia. His book Borderline: Australia’s Treatment of Refugees and Asylum Seekers was published by UNSW Press in March 2001.

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