Close the detention centres!

Editorial: Close the detention centres!

Philip Ruddock, the federal minister for racism, has argued that
last week's protests by asylum seekers at the Port Hedland detention facility
were caused by a small group of “troublemakers” who were awaiting deportation.
This argument is blatantly untrue, as Ruddock himself has admitted by saying
that he couldn't guarantee a repeat of the protests.

The protests, like the protests at the Woomera facility last year, are
a direct result of the brutal inhumanity of the government's policy of
mandatory detention for refugees who arrive in this country “illegally”,
and the even greater inhumanity of the way it is implemented by the Coalition
government.

What Ruddock won't admit is that the reason so many people from the
Third World are coming without the “proper” papers and outside of the “proper”
channels is because of his government's restrictions on their chance to
come here legally.

Successive Australian governments have favoured skilled migrants, frequently
wealthy businesspeople, over those from poorer or less educated backgrounds.
This government has also slashed the family reunion scheme, making it increasingly
difficult for migrants and refugees to bring their families here.

It is no wonder that so many detainees have embarked on protests — hunger
strikes, mass breakouts, even centre occupations such as occurred at Port
Hedland.

Conditions at the detention centres are appalling. At Woomera, women
and children are taken to the park once a fortnight, the men never leave
the compound. Refugees are identified by numbers which are sewn onto their
clothing, not by their names. The children do not attend school, and there
are no language classes.

Although most of the refugee population have been through horrendous
circumstances, there is no systematic assessment for post-traumatic stress
disorders by trained psychiatrists.

Detainees have a sword constantly dangling over their heads. Many refugees
are deported on cruel technicalities: most frequently, that they did not
formally request asylum immediately on arrival or that they are deemed
to have not tried sufficiently hard to get asylum elsewhere.

These deportations occur with little public protest, because very few
Australians are aware of them. Many of the refugees deported are not even
aware of their right to appeal the decision to deport. Some are unclear
why they are being deported.

Contact with lawyers and humanitarian groups happens only when a refugee
makes a specific request, meaning that they are often starved of information
about their cases. Rumours are the main source of news.

By placing refugees in camps in isolated rural areas, and by restricting
access to those camps to friends and supporters, as well as humanitarian
organisations, the government has sought to limit sympathy for refugees
by isolating them, and information about them, from the broader community.

Nevertheless, for all the government's efforts, protests by refugees
at detention centres will, and should, keep happening. These protests are
attempts by refugees to break through the isolation, and highlight their
plight to the Australian population. Since the protests began, community
outrage over the conditions in the camps has increased — it must continue
to do so.

This outrage has already had some impact. Sections of the mainstream
media have started to acknowledge the problems in the detention centres
and have blamed them on poor management by the company which holds the
private contract for the Port Hedland compound, Australian Correctional
Management.

Even the Labor Party, which has sickeningly backed Ruddock's policy,
has now bowed to public opinion and stated support for an inquiry into
camp conditions.

But a review of the centres or a change in management is not enough.
Refugees arriving in Australia need to be offered sanctuary and the chance
to build a new life. For this to happen the detention centres must be closed
and refugees must be allowed to immediately settle into the community and
provided with a decent standard of income support, language classes and
professional medical assistance.

Until this happens, we will continue to see protests at refugee detention
centres.

From GLW issue 434