Government welcomes bipartisan report on immigration detention
1 December 2008
The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, today welcomed the first report of the inquiry into immigration detention by the Joint Standing Committee on Migration.
Senator Evans said he was pleased that the Committee, which includes senior Liberal MPs and the Shadow Immigration Minister Sharman Stone, has endorsed the Rudd Government’s abolition of John Howard’s inhumane approach to immigration detention.
The Rudd Government has already begun implementing changes to immigration detention based on new detention values approved by Cabinet earlier this year.
The Government’s seven key immigration values are:
- Mandatory detention is an essential component of strong border control.
- To support the integrity of Australia’s immigration program three groups will be subject to mandatory detention:
- all unauthorised arrivals, for management of health, identity and security risks to the community
- unlawful non-citizens who present unacceptable risks to the community, and
- unlawful non-citizens who have repeatedly refused to comply with their visa conditions
- Children, including juvenile foreign fishers and, where possible, their families, will not be detained in an immigration detention centre (IDC)
- Detention that is indefinite or otherwise arbitrary is not acceptable and the length and conditions of detention, including the appropriateness of both the accommodation and the services provided, would be subject to regular review
- Detention in Immigration Detention Centres is only to be used as a last resort and for the shortest practicable time
- People in detention will be treated fairly and reasonably within the law, and
- Conditions of detention will ensure the inherent dignity of the human person.
The Committee’s report will help inform the Government and stakeholders in the formation of new legislation to be introduced next year which will give force to the changes in detention policies.
The Rudd Government is committed to ensuring that health, security and identity checks are all completed before people are released into the community.
The public is entitled to expect that only those persons who pose no danger to the community are able to live in the community while their visa status is resolved, which is why the Rudd Government is implementing a risk-based approach to immigration detention.
See: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/mig/detention/report/fullreport.pdf
URL: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au
/media/media-releases/2008/ce08117.htm
Last update: 02 December 2008 at 10:49 AEST