<< back to archive index Adjournment Speech Date: 24th June Subject: Refugee Policy "Last Sunday I spoke at a rally of 1,000 people who marched from Hyde Park to Belmore Park to support refugees in Australia. They believe that refugees are being treated most cruelly by the Federal Government. Carmen Lawrence, who attended the rally, was embarrassed by the policies that are being pursued by the Labor Party-"small target" policies that do not differ very much from the Howard Government's refugee policies. Bob Brown from the Greens and Thomas Keneally-who recently wrote a book on this subject-also attended the rally. One of the other speakers was a public prosecutor from Tehran whom I met while he was still at the Villawood detention centre. At the rally he read some poetry. It was unfortunate he did not tell his own story as he thought it would be too egotistical. In his early thirties he did very well as a public prosecutor in Tehran. However, he soon realised that many of the people he was prosecuting were innocent. He pointed that out to people around him who also recognised that fact. He then protested that it was bad to prosecute people who were innocent. When he did that he effectively crossed the Rubicon, and he was arrested and put in gaol. He was subsequently released on bail and he then fled the country. He spent almost two years at Villawood. The suggestion was that he would be sent back, but he was eventually granted asylum and he is staying in Australia after being given a permanent visa. He is aware of the situation in Iran and that innocent people are being prosecuted in Tehran. Obviously, that is a great danger for people who are sent back there. The deal with Iran is being discussed in terms of what will happen to the refugees in Australia. I put it to the Government that Villawood is in New South Wales. The mental health problems of refugees in Australia are well documented, and children are getting a bad deal. How bad a deal is hard to assess. I believe they are now getting schooling but not what we would regard as normal, complete schooling. When I went to Villawood I met a very nice 12-year-old boy who seemed perfectly normal, but he had only just arrived a couple of weeks before. I wonder how he is now, some 12 months later. I believe Villawood detention centre is this State's responsibility. If the people in Villawood are traumatised, we will wear the problem on our consciences. We will wear the results of their trauma in their relationships with their families, their future families, and the community as a whole. If they sue us, as the stolen generation has, what defence will we have? I believe that we are culpable by not doing what we should do to help these people. The Minister told me that she has a departmental opinion to the effect that it is the responsibility of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [DIMIA], and that she must ask the DIMIA for permission to intervene if she has evidence of children being harmed in Villawood Detention Centre. I do not think that is the case. I challenged her to get a Solicitor General's opinion rather than a departmental opinion. I do not believe that a departmental memorandum of understanding, which I have not seen and which I do not believe goes to this issue, can override the constitutional responsibility of the New South Wales Government for Villawood detention centre. It is time there was an inquiry, that we look at what is happening in Villawood, that we accept that this Parliament is responsible, that we do not think that a memorandum between two Government departments-if it does or does not exist-can override the Constitution and override the fact that this Government is responsible for what happens in this State. The Carr Government cannot hide behind the Howard Government. It cannot simply make a small target and say, "We can blame it on the Howard Government. We don't go into the constitutional aspects of who is responsible for Villawood too closely." We cannot simply say, "It is all up to the DIMIA. We can't do anything." I have a number of opinions from reputable lawyers from the refugee cause who believe that Villawood is the State Government's responsibility and something should be done about it. We must stop turning our backs on these people. It is time we had a New South Wales Government inquiry into what is happening to refugees in Villawood detention centre, and the sooner the better."

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