Preliminary Pages

Foreword

This is the third and final report of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration’s inquiry into immigration detention in Australia.

The first report of the Committee, tabled in December 2008, made a number of recommendations that were aimed at improving accountability and ensuring that release from detention centres followed health, security and identity checks. The Committee is extremely pleased to note that the Government has already taken steps to respond to the Committee’s recommendations from the first report.

The second report of the Committee, tabled in May 2009, examined the practicality of releasing people from immigration detention and recommended that the Australian Government reform the bridging visa framework to comprehensively support those released into the community, with appropriate reporting or surety requirements.

The Committee’s last report addresses the remaining terms of reference, namely:

n  options to expand the transparency and visibility of immigration detention centres (IDCs)

n  the preferred infrastructure options for contemporary immigration detention, and

n  options for the provision of detention services and detention health services across the range of current detention facilities, including IDCs, Immigration Residential Housing (IRH), Immigration Transit Accommodation (ITA) and community detention.

Australia’s immigration detention infrastructure has undergone significant changes over the past 30 years with the establishment of immigration residential housing, immigration transit accommodation and immigration detention facilities on Christmas Island.

The Committee acknowledges that the Australian Government has made positive steps to introduce more appropriate and humane accommodation and facilities through immigration residential housing and immigration transit accommodation.

However, the standard of the accommodation and facilities provided at immigration detention centres was of a serious concern, particularly Stage 1 at Villawood and the Perth immigration detention centre. Many detention facilities also have disproportionate and antiquated security measures such as razor/barbed wire, in particular at the North West Point immigration detention centre on Christmas Island.

The Committee has therefore recommended:

n  reconstruction of Stage 1 at Villawood remains urgent and a priority of the Committee

n  the upgrade of the Perth immigration detention centre proceed as proposed and the Australian Government examine long term options with the intent to establish a purpose built long-term facility

n  all caged walkways, perspex barriers, and electrified fencing be removed from the North West Point immigration detention centre and replaced with more appropriate security infrastructure, and

n  all razor/barbed wire fencing is removed from all immigration detention centres and replaced with more appropriate fencing.

This report also recommends that detention in immigration residential housing should be used in lieu of detention in immigration detention centres, provided that it is feasible.

In addition, the Committee received evidence from a number of organisations that highlighted some serious issues relating to the provision of immigration detention services across all immigration detention facilities. In particular, professional groups, stakeholders, advocacy groups and individuals within the community have voiced their concerns over the privatisation of detention services, immigration detention standards and inadequate health services provided to detainees on Christmas Island.

The Committee, and many other organisations, continue to have some reservations about the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s capacity to shift to a risk-averse framework where the onus is on establishing the need to detain. The primary concern of immigration detention authorities should be one of care for the well-being of detainees.

The Committee has made the following four key recommendations which are intended to ensure that people in immigration detention, both onshore and offshore, are provided the same level of appropriate service:

n  that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship engage an independent auditor, the Australian National Audit Office, to undertake a full review of the current immigration detention service providers and immigration detention facilities within the next three years

n  that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship introduce a mandatory ongoing training program for all staff of the immigration detention service provider

n  that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship publish the detention service standards, or the current equivalent, on its website and provide a copy of the detention service standards or the current equivalent, translated into appropriate languages, to all current and future detainees

n  that the Australian Government maintain appropriate physical and mental health facilities on Christmas Island commensurate with services provided at other immigration detention centres.

The Committee notes that the Australian Government has recently signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (OPCAT). If Australia ratifies the OPCAT it will need to establish an agency possessing functional independence to conduct visits-based inspections at all ‘places of detention’ within all parts of Australia, as well as relevant offshore locations such as immigration detention facilities. As the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) already conducts inspections of immigration detention facilities, the Committee recommends that the AHRC be granted a statutory right of access to all places of, and persons in, immigration detention in Australia.

Lastly, the Committee has also recommended that there should be improved transparency of immigration detention facilities by:

n  providing the media greater access to all immigration detention facilities, whilst maintaining the privacy of people in immigration detention

n  publishing regularly updated information on all immigration detention facilities, including statistics on the detainee population, on the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s website, and

n  developing a set of public media protocols that apply consistently across all immigration detention facilities.

I would like to thank all who have participated in this inquiry, particularly those who have written submissions or given evidence at public hearings.

I would also like to express my appreciation to my hard working colleagues on the Committee, and the long suffering secretariat, who have participated during the course of this inquiry and who are committed to ensuring that our immigration system treats all people, regardless of their status, in a humane and compassionate manner while protecting Australia’s borders in a robust and fair immigration system.

Mr Michael Danby MP

Chair

Membership of the Committee

Committee secretariat

Terms of reference

The Joint Standing Committee on Migration is inquiring into immigration detention in Australia. The Committee will examine:

n  the criteria that should be applied in determining how long a person should be held in immigration detention

n  the criteria that should be applied in determining when a person should be released from immigration detention following health and security checks

n  options to expand the transparency and visibility of immigration detention centres

n  the preferred infrastructure options for contemporary immigration detention

n  options for the provision of detention services and detention health services across the range of current detention facilities, including Immigration Detention Centres, Immigration Residential Housing, Immigration Transit Accommodation and community detention

n  options for additional community-based alternatives to immigration detention by

a)      inquiring into international experience

b)     considering the manner in which such alternatives may be utilised in Australia to broaden the options available within the current immigration detention framework

c)      comparing the cost effectiveness of these alternatives with current options.

 (5 June 2008)

List of abbreviations

List of recommendations

Immigration detention infrastructure

Recommendation 1

The Committee reiterates that reconstruction of Stage 1 at Villawood remains urgent and a priority of the Committee.

Recommendation 2

At the very least, the Committee recommends that the upgrade of the Perth immigration detention centre proceed as proposed. Given the limited lease arrangements, the Australian Government should also examine long term options with the intent to establish a purpose built long-term facility.

Recommendation 3

The Committee recommends that all caged walkways, perspex barriers, and electrified fencing be removed from the North West Point immigration detention centre and replaced with more appropriate security infrastructure.

Recommendation 4

The Committee recommends that detention in immigration residential housing should be used in lieu of detention in immigration detention centres provided that it is feasible.

Recommendation 5

The Committee recommends that all razor/barbed wire fencing is removed from all immigration detention centres and replaced with more appropriate fencing.

Provision of services in detention facilities

Recommendation 6

The Committee recommends that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship engage an independent auditor, the Australian National Audit Office, to undertake a full review of the current immigration detention service providers and immigration detention facilities within the next three years having regard to: