Senator CONROY (3:11 PM) —I rise to take note of the answers given by Senator Vanstone in relation to this shameful and humiliating case involving the deportation of Ms Vivian Young. This Australian government has kidnapped one of its own citizens and deported her overseas. Days, if not weeks, later, when the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs is aware of it, she will not come into this chamber, face the Australian public and give a detailed explanation of the facts. She does not mind going on radio and TV, where she can dodge and weave and not give the answers. She will drip a little bit out here and a little bit out there, but she will not come into this chamber and do her job, which is to face up to the fact that this is her department and her responsibility is to tell the truth to the Australian public in here.

You might have thought it was not so bad, except that this is not the first time Australian citizens or permanent residents have been detained by this government illegally. This latest disgraceful episode follows on from the distressing Cornelia Rau case and the government’s admission that it has wrongfully detained at least 33 people. That is right: 33 people have been wrongfully detained—one kidnapped and deported—under this government. Enough is enough. It is time for this minister to stand up and accept responsibility, deal with her department and make the changes that are necessary in this shocking state of affairs.

Ms Young, an Australian citizen born in the Philippines, was deported by the department in 2001, leaving behind a five-year-old son. On top of the 33 people being wrongfully detained and the case of Ms Young, a five-year-old was abandoned because the Australian government had kidnapped the mother—and the child has been in foster care ever since. He has spent four years in foster care because this government is so incompetent it does not know what its own department is doing.

Following a car accident, Ms Young gave officials her maiden name of Alvarez. Without making satisfactory inquiries, the department concluded that she was an illegal immigrant and pushed her onto a plane. It has been reported that, at the time of deportation, Australian immigration officials had to light her cigarettes for her as she could not use her hands because of the car accident. The deportation of an Australian citizen with a mental illness is bad enough, but this case gets worse. Since August 2003, the department has had reason to believe that it made a mistake.

Senator Robert Ray —When?

Senator CONROY —Since August 2003. But what steps did they take to find her? That is what we want to know. According to the Australian today—which broke the story, and it does deserve congratulations—this is what happened:

An Australian government department noticed the mistake because an official happened to be watching Without a Trace. This department is without a clue, and this minister is without shame.

Yesterday, following the public outcry over this case, it was revealed that Ms Young had been found living in a Philippines hospice for the destitute and dying. This appalling episode exposes a number of issues. What happened when Ms Young was approached and had it explained to her that she was the subject of an international search? What was her reaction? When Father Duffin—the priest looking after her—informed Ms Young on Sunday that Australian authorities were looking for her, she reacted by asking, ‘Will I go to prison?’ What have we reached when an Australian citizen is so terrified of government officials that she asks, ‘Will I go to prison?’ when we are trying to bring her back to the country—if she wants to come? Why is it apparently so easy for an Australian citizen to be detained and then deported by the department of immigration? In this case there was clearly a failure by the department to properly identify a missing person. The Rau case and all of these other cases being investigated by a secret inquiry—(Time expired)