Government sinking in refugee policy quagmire

by Peter Mac

The Howard Government has got into further difficulties with its cruel and 
inhumane approach to asylum seekers: its contempt for the judiciary, its 
attempts to excise Australian territories and apparent contempt for the 
small island state of Nauru.

Leading members of the judiciary have for a long time expressed grave 
misgivings about the wisdom and justice of the Government's asylum seeker 
policy. Last year the Government introduced legislation removing the rights 
of asylum seekers to appeal to the Federal Court over adverse decisions by 
migration tribunals.

Last week Justice Hill of the Australian Federal Court incurred the 
government's wrath for stating that human rights and freedoms of Australian 
citizens were at risk from a government that was contemptuous of the 
judiciary.

Neatly proving Justice Hill's point, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock 
immediately declared that, in effect, the judiciary should keep its nose 
out of political matters. He declared with lofty disdain that judges who 
wished to do so should "resign from the bench and stand for parliament."

Ruddock's remarks were then subjected to severe criticism by the Law 
Council of Australia and the Australian Bar Association.

He later expressed regret that his comments had been "misconstrued" — 
after receiving advice that his statement could be interpreted as an 
attempt to influence the court. (The Federal Court is currently hearing a 
number of cases involving the Minister and his portfolio.)

Just to clarify exactly what he really meant, Ruddock soon afterwards 
launched into another attack on the judiciary, and justice Hill in 
particular.

The Government has always defended its asylum seeker policy as entirely 
consistent with international standards. However, Justice Louis Joinet, the 
head of the UN's special Working Party on Arbitrary Detention, is said to 
have been shocked at the conditions he found on a recent visit to 
Australian detention centres.

The Government was acutely embarrassed by revelations of conditions in the 
centres. The most recent of these concerns a woman inmate of the Woomera 
centre whose argument with a camp guard resulted in her being forcibly 
interned with her children in the camp's solitary confinement area.

Joinet expressed deep concern about the mandatory detention of children and 
other vulnerable individuals.

He commented acidly that criminals were treated better in Australia than 
asylum seekers, who suffered from living day in and day out with agonising 
uncertainty about their eventual release, which eventually resulted in a 
"collective depression syndrome".

He also issued trenchant criticism of the detention management system, in 
particular the government's policy of awarding management contracts to 
private prison organisations.

Foreign Minister Downer's response was to declare defensively and 
belligerently that Australia's policy was never going to be determined by 
"outsiders" and "Geneva bureaucrats".

As for the Government's attempts to excise certain island territories, ALP 
leader Simon Crean was critical because it would not achieve the 
Government's objective, refugees would simply travel further to the 
mainland.

Greens Senator Bob Brown pointed out that the logical next step would be 
the excision of parts of the Australian mainland.

The UN Refugee Convention is intended to apply to all territory within a 
nation's borders. Senator Brown pointed out that the Government's refugee 
policy may well be in breach of the Refugee Convention, which states that 
refugees are entitled to the same access to the host country's legal 
processes as its own citizens, and forbids discrimination on the basis of 
method of arrival in the country.

The Australian Senate has the power to block the excision legislation. 
Senator Brown has indicated that the Greens will continue to oppose the 
Government's policies.

The ALP's position remains unclear. Crean stated last week that it would 
not be determined until they had received a briefing from the Prime 
Minister!

The Government's credibility was further dented last week when Nauruan 
President Rene Harris declared that the Australian Government's "Pacific 
solution" was turning into a "Pacific nightmare".

President Harris asserted that the Australian Government had asked his 
Government to accept the refugees until May, but nothing had been heard 
from Canberra since the deadline expired. Moreover, the promised shiploads 
of provisions that Australia had offered as payment for Nauruan hospitality 
had largely failed to materialise.