(1)   Has the Minister read the article titled ‘A department of mean spirit’ in The Sydney Morning Herald on 7 May 2005 which reported that in the past fortnight 50 East Timorese asylum seekers have received letters from the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs informing them that the Minister has decided not to use her discretion to grant them a visa and that they should now make arrangements to leave Australia.

(2)   How many of these applicants came to Australia as survivors of the Santa Cruz Massacre in Dili in 1991.

(3)   Can the Minister confirm that most of the applicants (a) have been living in Australia for at least ten years, (b) have learnt English, (c) have held stable jobs, and (d) have young families attending Australian primary and high schools; if not, why not.

(4)   Can the Minister confirm that other East Timorese asylum seekers, including some family members of the 50 applicants, have been granted permanent residency in Australia; if not, why not, if so, what are the details.

(5)   Will the Minister reconsider and grant the 50 East Timorese asylum seekers permanent residency in Australia; if so, when; if not, why not.

(1)   Yes.

(2)   Information provided to my Department indicates that at least 12 of the East Timorese claimed to have been present at the Dili Santa Cruz Massacre in 1991.

(3)   A manual examination of information available on the East Timorese who had been notified that their request for ministerial intervention was unsuccessful indicates that:

(a)   Twenty have lived in Australia for at least ten years;

(b)   Most of the individuals appear to have learnt English to some extent;

(c)   At least 25 of the individuals have jobs; and

(d)   There are five families with pre-school and school-aged children.

(4)   and (5) Some 1440 East Timorese asylum seekers had been granted permanent residence as at the end of June 2005. I have decided to reconsider the residual group of East Timorese cases on their individual merits. Forty-seven additional people have been asked to undertake further visa checks so that I can progress my consideration of the possible grant of permanent visas to them, leaving six of the group in respect of whom I have declined to intervene. These six people have relatives granted permanent residence in Australia. The six people have again been offered the Government’s reintegration package to assist them to return to East Timor.