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Chapter 5 - Search and Discovery
5.1
This chapter examines the actions taken by DFAT and
DIMIA in the search for and discovery of Ms
Solon in 2005.
Search
DFAT involvement
5.2
Mr Smith
told the committee that DFAT was asked to help locate Ms
Solon on 21 April 2005. They were briefed by DIMIA on the full
circumstances of her removal to the Philippines
and they then coordinated the effort to find her.[147]
5.3
Mr Freedman
questioned what steps were taken to find Ms
Solon as Vivian
was found by Father Michael Duffin.[148]
5.4
A DIMIA file note indicates that on 22 April 2005 the Australian Ambassador
to the Philippines
convened an initial taskforce meeting of representatives from DIMIA, AFP and
DFAT and formed a taskforce comprising the DFAT, DIMIA and AFP officers. The
Head of Mission indicated that as a matter of urgency, all departments were to
engage their interlocutors in Philippine Government Agencies to identify other
organisations that might be in a position to help and make maximum efforts to
locate Ms Solon.
He pointed out that the task was a DFAT Consular matter and an Australian
Government priority. He also advised that the matter was extremely sensitive as
it had been raised with the Minister for Immigration by the ex-husband of Ms
Solon and he requested confidentiality be maintained.[149]
5.5
Documentation provided to the committee details the
activities undertaken by the taskforce to locate Ms
Solon. This included inquiries with the
Philippines National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of
Immigration, the Department of Foreign Affairs and relevant welfare agencies.[150] Regular updates on search activities
were provided from the Ambassador to senior officials in DIMIA.[151]
5.6
On 17 May 2005,
the press reported that a letter dated 10
September 2003, from the missing persons bureau of Queensland
Police was sent to Philippine authorities asking them to check records to
ascertain where Ms Solon
went after she arrived in the Philippines.
They reported that this request was never answered.[152]
5.7
In response, the Embassy of the Philippines
provided the following information in a media release dated 17 May 2005:
The Embassy understands that the Australian media interviewed
the officials of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Manila,
including its head, the Administrator. The Australian report stated that the
OWWA did not reply to the letter of the Queensland Police dated 10 September 2003 "asking for Ms
Young to be found". The Age and the
Sydney Morning Herald reports stated that the "Australian Government has
blamed mismanagement by the OWWA for the length of time it took to locate
her".
The Embassy checked with OWWA in Manila
and learned that the OWWA officials and personnel made themselves available for
interview to the Australian media in order to shed light on Ms
Alvarez' arrival in the Philippines.
OWWA clarified to the media the procedures for receiving distressed Filipino
overseas workers and other distressed Filipino nationals at the airport.
The Embassy learned from OWWA that the inquiry of the Queensland
Police failed to reflect in its 2003 letter that it was in fact looking for an
Australian citizen deported to the Philippines
in July 2001. OWWA was therefore not aware that the person who was the subject
of the search was an Australian citizen. OWWA explained that the initial search
did not come up with the results because Ms
Alvarez was not a returning overseas worker.
Subsequently, due to changes in personnel, OWWA was not able to complete the
process of responding to the letter. Since OWWA did not also receive any follow
up inquiry, the lack of response stayed. OWWA is now tracing the action on this
letter. The Embassy believes that an official inquiry/request coursed through
the Philippine Embassy in Canberra
stating the true status of Ms Alvarez
would have produced better and immediate results...
When the Philippine Honorary Consulate General interviewed Ms
Alvarez on 16 July 2001, she provided information about her
origins, the date of the marriage to an Australian citizen and the date of her
arrival in Australia.
The information Ms Alvarez
gave led the Consulate to believe that she could still be a Filipino citizen.
The Philippine Embassy wishes to clarify that Ms
Alvarez could not have possessed dual
citizenship at the time of her deportation to the Philippines.
Republic Act No 9225 allowing former natural-born Filipinos who acquire foreign
citizenship through naturalisation to regain their Philippine Citizenship did
not exist until 17 September 2003.
Immigration also presented to the Consulate a certification from
a doctor stating that she was fit to travel, as well as a letter from an
Australian social worker stating that she was able to take care of herself. Ms
Alvarez had said that she had nowhere to go
home to in the Philippines.
The Embassy requested the Department of Foreign Affairs (in Manila)
to ensure that the OWWA counter at the Ninoy
Aquino International
Airport would be able to assist
(ie. provide a wheelchair, transportation and provisional accommodation).
In view of the Immigration determination, the medical
certification and on the assumption that she remained a Filipino citizen, the
Philippine Consulate had no recourse but to issue her a Travel Document. As
part of its assistance to nationals, the Consulate also contacted Filipino
community leaders to inform them about the plight of Ms
Alvarez. They responded and were able to
collect a donation for Ms Alvarez.
However they failed to gain access to her and were not able to give her pocket
money. On 16 July 2001, the
Philippine Embassy also instructed the Consulate to make representations with
Immigration to give her "therapeutic counselling" and further
treatment for trauma before sending her home. The delay would also give more
time to look for a charitable organisation in the Philippines
that would shelter Ms Alvarez.
However, the deportation proceeded on 20
July 2001, with the Immigration [dept] informing the Consulate that
it had also contacted its Embassy in Manila
to assist in looking for a social welfare group that could take care of Ms
Alvarez.[153]
When did DFAT first become aware of Ms
Vivian Solon?
5.8
Statements from the Minister for Foreign Affairs on 16
and 17 May 2005 indicate
that his department advised him that they were not aware of Vivian's
case before 22 April 2005.
5.9
In an interview on 16 May 2005 regarding the Solon case, the Foreign Minister
responded:
Well, look. I'm not familiar with the story, except what I've
just heard on this program this evening. I can only say to you that as far as
my department is concerned, we didn't know anything about her case until the
end of last month, and when we were asked – our embassy in Manila – was asked
to try and find her, then they duly did that, and she, having been found, then
they provided her with the appropriate assistance. I really can't add anything
more to it than that...I don't suppose if I speak to my department about it,
they'll be able to throw any light on it, because I asked them a week ago or so
when they first heard about her and they gave me an answer. I think the date
they gave me was April 22. Prior to that, they didn't know anything about her,
according to the information they gave me.[154]
5.10
In a doorstop interview on 17 May 2005, the Minister for Foreign Affairs
reiterated:
...on the basis of the information they [the Foreign Affairs
Department] gave me, a week or so ago, my Department advises me they had no
knowledge of this case at all until April
22 2005.[155]
5.11
In another interview on 17 May 2005, Mr Downer
again stated:
Look I have not followed this case very closely in one respect
and that is that it hasn't really involved my department at all. It is
something that Amanda Vanstone
and the Immigration Department are handling. I did ask my department
nevertheless to provide me with information of when they first heard about this
case and their response was that they weren't aware of it until 22 April this
year. So they have not been able to give me any information that is of
particular value at all. But nevertheless they'll be able to talk to the Palmer
Inquiry and all of these different stories that were coming out, there was one
on the ABC Lateline Program last night, they can all be investigated by the
Palmer Inquiry.[156]
5.12
On 17 May 2005
the shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr
Kevin Rudd,
told the press that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade must have known
of Ms Young's
deportation after the Immigration Department's contact with the Australian
embassy in Manila. 'In other words,
if the Philippine Embassy statement is correct, then Mr
Downer's Department knew of the Young case
nearly four years before Mr Downer
claimed was the case'.[157]
5.13
A DFAT email dated 17 May 2005 provides clarification of some statements in
the above media release by the Philippines Embassy:
The Philippines media release...contains a possibly misleading
ambiguity in the last sentence of the third last paragraph on the second page
[Last sentence of second last paragraph above]...I rang the Philippines HOM, who
had sent me the press release to clarify. She confirmed the reference was to
the Philippines DFA, not Canberra DFAT.
Another clarification ref the last sentence of the penultimate
para on p2 [last sentence above], Immigration (Brisbane) informed the
Philippines Consulate in Brisbane that it had also contacted its Embassy (in
fact it was the DIMIA PMO at the time...who has confirmed it was him) to assist
in looking for a social welfare group for Ms Solon. (The DIMIA
PMO) contacted the OWWA and asked them to
meet Ms Solon
but did not go to the airport himself for her return, and she was only met by
OWWA.[158]
5.14
Mr Smith,
DFAT, clarified for the committee that:
I can confirm again that officers of this department, both in Canberra
and at the Australian embassy in Manila,
had no knowledge of Ms Solon's
whereabouts in the Philippines
until she was located on 11 May. There had been some earlier contact between
DFAT embassy officers in Manila and
the OWWA after 22 April. That of course is the time at which DFAT became aware
of the full circumstances of Ms Solon's
removal, when we were asked to help locate her. The advice we had from the OWWA
at that time was that they could not locate the file on Ms
Solon and the only mention that they had in
writing was an entry in a log showing that an OWWA employee had met Ms
Solon on her arrival in Manila
in July 2001.[159]
Summary
5.15
Evidence shows that Ms
Solon was known to DFAT prior to 22 April 2005. On 20 July 2001, a DFAT officer wrote an email to
officers at the embassy in Manila
to inform them of the concerns raised by the Philippines Embassy prior to the
removal of Ms Solon.
5.16
In September 2003, DFAT answered a request from the Queensland
Missing Persons Bureau, providing Ms Solon's
details and the details of the person who met her from OWWA so the Queensland
police could contact this person directly. At this point they knew she had been
wrongfully removed but they were not asked by Queensland
police to take any further action. This did not preclude DFAT from taking the
initiative and asking questions about the request from DIMIA and the Queensland
police and if they had done so it may have prompted the search to begin
earlier.
5.17
The committee is concerned to hear that this
information which was passed to Queensland
police was searched for by DIMIA in 2005, was not found and the same actions had
to be repeated. This added to the time taken to locate Ms
Solon and indicates poor record keeping.
5.18
Ms Solon's
story thus far has exposed poor processes, poor systems, poor training, poor
record keeping and a culture in DIMIA which does not empower staff to make the
best judgements. This confirms the initial findings of Mr
Palmer regarding inadequate systems and
training and the committee supports his initial recommendations.
5.19
The committee was unable to speak with those who dealt
directly with Ms Solon
and has left that task and the production of a detailed report and
recommendations to Mr Comrie
at this stage. The committee decided to concentrate on the written records
provided to the committee by DIMIA and DFAT to bring some coherence to them and
will produce a final report when Mr Comrie's
report is available. Regardless, the committee was very disappointed that DIMIA
officials were unable to provide the committee with a complete picture of what
happened in the department which allowed Ms
Solon's circumstances to arise and continue.
The committee considers DIMIA's lack of action throughout Ms
Solon's case to be of grave concern and that
it shows a department in need of a renewal of processes and culture to ensure Ms
Solon's experience does not happen to others.
Conclusion
5.20
Throughout this report, the committee has presented
evidence from various perspectives but none from Ms
Solon's. It is only proper that she have the
opportunity to be heard. On 19 May
2005, Mr Harry
Freedman spoke on her behalf. He told a
press conference:
First of all, she and her family are very grateful for all the
assistance that have [has been] given to her. She's been through some
extraordinary traumatic events over the last few yeas. She has been deported
from a country she's called home for fifteen years and this deportation
occurred at a time when she's been most vulnerable. It was two weeks after
she'd been admitted to hospital having suffered an accident involving skeletal
and brain injuries. There's also some evidence coming to light that she'd
suffered a seizure in the presence of an immigration officer a short time
before she was sent for deportation. There's further evidence that this sick
woman, having been deported improperly and removed from Australia
[was] effectively, left abandoned in the Manila airport
in a wheelchair.
Up until a few days ago, Vivian
was a lady without any possessions, money or other effects. Notwithstanding all
of the trauma she's been through, she's extremely thankful to so many people
who've provided her with assistance and comfort over these years. Father
Mike Duffin
and the nuns of the Sisters of Charity have looked after her for most of the
time since she's been back in the Philippines.
The Australian Consular's assistants have made arrangements for Vivian
to be reunited with her family and accommodated in Manila.
Vivian acknowledges the apologies made by the
Prime Minister and the Minister for Immigration as a result of her deportation.
...
It's a strong desire for her to return to Australia
as soon as possible. We/re presently making arrangements and enquiries to
secure accommodation, financial support, and access to medical treatment whilst
she is in Australia.[160]
5.21
At the time of finalising this report, Ms
Solon remained in the Philippines.
Her return to Australia
is still a matter of negotiation between Ms
Solon and her legal representatives and the
Australian Government. It is not the right time for the committee to make any
findings in this regard.
SENATOR
STEVE HUTCHINS
CHAIRMAN
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