Kerry Nettle (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Vanstone, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Can the minister confirm whether the Afghan family who recently arrived by boat in the Torres Strait are still being held incommunicado in Brisbane? Is it true that the 11-year-old boy has a serious medical condition and has just had an operation with serious ongoing medical consequences? Is it also true that the Red Cross has requested access to the family to check on their welfare but has so far not been allowed to have any access? Will the minister grant this family a humanitarian visa or a residence determination so that they can stay in Australia, where their son’s medical condition can be cared for, whilst their asylum claim is assessed?

Amanda Vanstone (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

These people arrived on Saibai Island in the Torres Strait some time late in May—I think it was the 21st. It is true that the family were denied access to visitors while they were in detention—sorry, that people are entitled to decline visitors while they are in detention, and it is true that the nine-year-old boy is unwell. No decision has been made on whether these people will be removed to Nauru, and that is certainly not a short-term proposition. They did arrive at an excised offshore place and therefore, according to the laws that we have in place at the moment—that is, offshore processing—they are precluded from making an application under the Migration Act. As you were here when that legislation was passed, I am sure you will understand that, Senator. The department has facilitated the family’s nine-year-old boy going to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane because he does have a particular condition, which we are caring for, as you would expect we would.

Kerry Nettle (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Given that the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs responded to my question on notice last week by saying that persons in Nauru or PNG are not under effective control of Australia in terms of their day-to-day management, how can the government guarantee that refugees like this family, who, under the new immigration laws, would be shipped off to Nauru, will get proper assistance? What guarantees can the government provide that refugees left to languish in Nauru will have the support of international agencies when even here in Australia the Red Cross is being locked out from visiting these detainees and assessing their welfare?

Amanda Vanstone (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First of all, these people are not being dealt with under any new legislation. The new legislation has not passed. Thank you for the opportunity to remind the Senate that these people are being dealt with under existing legislation—it is not new legislation—because they arrived at an excised offshore place. We already have offshore processing. It has been the most successful border protection policy that we have had and it is important. What we are seeking to do in the bill that is now in the other place is simply apply that existing policy to those few people who manage to make it from an excised offshore island onto the mainland. I do not have advice as to any refusal of the Red Cross by the department. I have been told that they have declined some visitors, but it has not been indicated to me that they were from the Red Cross, and it is certainly not indicated to me in my brief that the department has declined a visit by the Red Cross. I will investigate that matter and get back to you on that issue.