BY SARAH STEPHEN

Federal immigration minister Philip Ruddock was no doubt looking forward to a pleasant speaking engagement at the April 22 Commonwealth Lawyers' Association function in London.

A little awed by the illustrious status of the audience he was addressing, Ruddock began by saying: “My lords and ladies, I'm not used to addressing such august gatherings so I hope I've made no errors.”

After what the Melbourne Age's London correspondent described as a “bland 55-minute speech extolling the virtues of Australia's `multi-faceted' approach to migration”, Ruddock was grilled time and again by questions from the “lords and ladies” about statistics and his attitude to refugees.

The April 23 Age reported: “Audience members gasped audibly when [Ruddock] described the detention centres at Woomera and Curtin as having a remarkable level of amenities”, and quoted a participant's concluding remark: “Thank you for your forceful and robust defence of Australian policies. It is a policy which needs a lot of defence and very forceful defence.”

From Green Left Weekly, May 1, 2002.
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