Senator NETTLE (3:55 PM) —I rise to speak to the report of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee entitled The removal, search for and discovery of Ms Vivian Solon, and in particular to the contribution to the report by the Australian Greens. The Australian Greens support the findings of the committee in relation to the way in which Vivian Solon was treated by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. We also acknowledge the work of the other inquiries into this matter carried out by Mr Palmer, Mr Comrie and the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s office. The Australian Greens conclude that the unlawful detention and deportation of Ms Solon, her treatment in the care of the department of immigration and the negligent lack of response after the error had been discovered are indicative of a department that is out of control and that is failing the Australian public.

The committee was provided with evidence and Mr Palmer uncovered a series of system failures. However, the case of Ms Vivian Solon indicates more than a series of system faults. It is clear that the prime contributor to the unlawful detention and deportation of Vivian Solon was the system of mandatory detention that sees people locked up first and then, somewhere down the track, questions may be asked about their detention. The other significant contributing factor to the case of Vivian Solon was a culture of suspicion and a lack of discretion and regard for human welfare within the compliance branch of the department of immigration. Mr Comrie summarised this culture by concluding:

The Australian Greens note that the department of immigration and the government have agreed to implement the recommendations of the Palmer report and the Comrie report and are attempting cultural change. However, we believe that the culture that produced the frightful case of Vivian Solon and numerous other scandals that have come to light is the result of departmental officials wanting to implement the wishes of this government—that is, to be tough on illegals. Until the culture of the government and the policy of mandatory detention and related policies change, the Australian Greens are not convinced that the attempt at cultural change will be successful.

The Greens are in agreement with the recommendations of the committee report, but we have a number of additional recommendations going to issues such as the fact that the powers of arrest, detention and deportation that are vested in the department of immigration officers are the equivalent of those in state police forces, yet the oversight of these powers is virtually nonexistent. State police officers must bring a detained person before a court within hours to obtain consent to continue the detention of the person. The validity of a decision to detain or to deport a person by a department of immigration official is not tested by an authority outside the department of immigration, and a detainee may be detained indefinitely under current legislation.

Various crimes acts, however, detail a series of minimum standards of treatment of prisoners and the rights of prisoners that police must follow. The standards of treatment and the rights of detainees are not detailed in the Migration Act. The Australian Greens’ additional recommendations to the committee report go to this issue—an issue we have raised in the Senate previously, when we have attempted to put in place these requirements and regulations within our Migration Act. The current Migration Act allows for such regulations to be made by the government and indeed a number of Federal Court judges in a variety of cases have called on the government to make those regulations so that it is stipulated if not in the legislation at the very least in the regulations so that the details are there.

The Australian Greens also have recommendations which relate to section 189 of the Migration Act. This is the section about which Mr Comrie noted:

The Australian Greens believe that section 189 of the Migration Act should be amended to ensure that unlawful detention cannot happen again. We recommend that it be amended such that we end the practice of mandatory detention. Until that changes, we will continue to have wrongful detentions. We believe this is the best way to ensure that unlawful detention does not occur again and to ensure an element of humanity is injected back into the immigration system.

We have other recommendations about the way in which this section of the Migration Act could be changed to compel the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs to seek the consent of a court before the expiration of a set time to continue to detain a person. We also make recommendations that detainees be informed of the reason for any medical examination and that medical examinations be conducted with the overt consent of the detainee. We go into some detail about the way in which this operates in other jurisdictions and the way in which this could also operate in the DIMIA jurisdiction.

The callous disregard for Vivian Solon after she was deported from Australia is perhaps the most shocking aspect of her story. The recent revelations about long-term permanent residents having their visas cancelled under section 501 of the Migration Act and being detained and deported to countries that they do not know have also highlighted a disturbing practice. The case of Robert Jovicic raises some parallel issues about the disregard by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs for human welfare in executing deportations. It also raises the issue of the interaction between the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which was the subject of this inquiry.

The Australian Greens are also aware of and are concerned about reports of cases of failed asylum seekers who have been deported back to countries that they have fled from or to third countries and who have faced renewed persecution and abuse on their return to or arrival in those countries. The department of immigration has stated many times on record that it does not monitor the people it deports. The Australian Greens, in additional comments on this inquiry, recommend that the department of immigration investigate the possibility of identifying deportees at risk after deportation and institute a system whereby the welfare of those deportees is monitored, either directly by Australian government agencies or through third parties such as the Red Cross. We also recommend that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the department of immigration establish a protocol, including notification and a division of responsibilities between departments, to deal with DIMIA operations that involve the deportation and removal of people who are or were Australian citizens or permanent residents or other people who face potential risk.

Toward the end of this inquiry, I had the opportunity to meet with Vivian Solon in Sydney upon her return to Australia. She was a woman whose eyes told a story and which seemed to be yearning in a way that showed the pain and the sadness of her experience. Her story should be a warning to all of us that human rights and human welfare should always be the priority: the priority of governments and the priority of government departments. Conferring the title of unlawful noncitizen on a person does not excuse any bureaucracy or individual from their responsibility to respect another person’s human rights.

When the parliament makes laws, it must not infringe on the human rights and on the human dignity of Australian citizens. Unfortunately, the current Migration Act and many aspects of it that have been supported by both of the major parties do exactly that. They infringe on the human rights and on the dignity of Australian citizens. It is important that we recall in these circumstances that borders and citizenship are an artificial construction. We should never forget that we are all human beings, and laws that deal with our fellow citizens need to respect this.