Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

This is a response from the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Evans, to the Ombudsman’s reports. The report details the people who have been in immigration detention for prolonged periods of time. I want to emphasise the importance of being able to note these documents in the chamber and detail what is in them because these documents—and indeed the two previous ones that I have not spoken to for reasons of time limitations and have deferred for later—have been tabled precisely because of amendments made by this parliament to enable greater scrutiny of the processing of applicants for refugee visas or protection visas within Australia. Frankly, it is fairly pointless for the parliament to continue to pass amendments and put in place components within legislation requiring huge numbers of documents to be tabled in this place if, when they are, there is never any opportunity to note the fact that that has happened and examine and put on the record what is in them. It is a corollary of the parliament and the Senate putting in place requirements for reporting that there is an opportunity for the parliament to note what is in those reports. In so doing in this case, I again note the positive sense of urgency from the new minister for immigration, Senator Evans, with regard to people in long-term detention.

The particular response that I am speaking to that has been tabled today relates to the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report, which is the next document and which I will also speak to. It covers 47 people who have been locked up in immigration detention for more than 12 months, in many cases for more than two years. These are people who have not committed any crime, have not been accused of any crime, who are purely people who do not have a regularised immigration status, and yet have been in effect jailed for years.

Senator Evans to his great credit has indicated great dissatisfaction about the fact that there continue to be people in detention for prolonged periods and, indeed, has put a time line on himself to respond and try and deal with these people. As he said here, of the 47 people that were referred to in the Ombudsman’s report, 34 of them were in immigration detention when he announced his own personal ministerial review of long-term detainees on 12 March this year, with a goal to resolving those issues at the end of April. The other 13 had already been released from immigration detention. He states that, subsequent to the commencement of his review on 12 March, six of those 34 have had their immigration status resolved and, at this stage, 28 of those 34 remain in detention. An announcement regarding his consideration of these cases will be made very shortly.

The minister has not quite met his deadline, but he obviously is intending to come as close to it as possible. I think he deserves credit for putting in that transparency, rather than the weasel words we tend to hear from ministers of all persuasions and from all levels of government: ‘at the soonest possible available opportunity’, ‘in the fullness of time’, ‘as quickly as possible’, or ‘in the foreseeable future’. He actually put a deadline on himself. The fact that he might not meet that is worth noting but not a reason for criticism as long as there is still a clear intent to deal with it very quickly.

With regard to the number of immigration detention cases that have been resolved, one way or another, the minister noted in the report that the majority of them received positive outcomes—they have been given visas and are now able to contribute and be part of the Australian community in an ongoing way. I think that needs to be noted, given some of the wider debate around the minister’s use of his discretion in recent times. But it is still a disgrace that our Migration Act requires people, let alone enables them, to be locked up for very long periods of time, without their having committed any offence.

Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Bartlett, your time has expired.

Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.