Australia's immigration department may have wrongfully detained a person for 1,272 days, or almost three-and-a-half years, an inquiry into wrongful detentions heard yesterday.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman, John McMillan, told a Senate inquiry he was investigating 221 cases of possible wrongful detention, ranging from less than one day to almost three years.
"One of the persons whose cases is being reviewed was in detention for 1,272 days and so the purpose of our inquiry is to examine whether any or all of that period was a period of wrongful detention," McMillan told the Senate inquiry.
"I can't give any more information at this stage," he said.
A damning report into Australian immigration bungles issued on Thursday found immigration officials covered up the wrongful deportation of a naturalized Australian citizen, Vivian Alvarez Solon, to the Philippines, and said the government's handling of the case was catastrophic.
"Many detainees find that once you fall into the immigration detention system it is extremely hard to get out," said Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle.
"And in this case, it appears that someone has been lost in the system for three and a half years. The government needs to ensure that the public is given information about this case as soon as possible," Nettle said.
Prime Minister John Howard rejected calls yesterday to sack Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone over Alvarez Solon's deportation and the subsequent cover-up.
Howard said while Alvarez Solon deserved an apology, Vanstone had not personally known about the mistaken deportation and the subsequent cover-up.
"If somebody in a remote part of a department makes a mistake, to automatically say that because of that mistake the minister has to resign would mean that to be quite frank, ministers would be resigning all the time through no personal failing of their own," he told commercial radio.
Alvarez Solon was deported as an illegal immigrant in July 2001, even though she was an Australian citizen and was suffering major injuries from an accident at the time.
Meanwhile, the UN's refugee agency criticized Australia yesterday for its policy of detaining asylum seekers, despite recent government moves to release children and families from detention.
"The UNHCR believes that detention of asylum seekers and refugees is inherently undesirable," David Wright, regional representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told the inquiry. "Since they have already been through persecution and suffered, they shouldn't be subjected to further persecution and suffering."
Australia has a strict policy of detaining illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, who can spend years at remote detention camps while their claims for refugee status are assessed.
The policy has been at the core of the conservative government's four consecutive election victories. But a revolt by backbench members of parliament forced it to announce in June that family groups and children would be allowed to live in the community.
Wright said detention should only be used while authorities checked identities, where travel and identification papers had been lost or destroyed, or to protect public security.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique