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The Forum > Article Comments > Cornelia Rau - lost in a black hole > Comments

Cornelia Rau - lost in a black hole : Comments

By Debbie Kilroy, published 14/2/2005

Debbie Kilroy argues that it is about time Corrective Services were investigated by a truly independent inquiry

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The Cornelia Rau case has focused national attention on the appalling conditions inside the detention centres. Similar to the Habib case, the Rau case raises important questions about our attitudes as a nation towards arbitrary detention by the executive rather than the judiciary, and indefinite incarceration and torture in concentration camps here and abroad.

This is not a conversation that the Howard government wants us to have. Better that the loyal shock-jocks and their acolytes run riot whipping up the usual hatred and fear against individuals, as they are doing, right on cue. This obscures the more complex questions about where our nation is heading in disregarding our commitments to international laws and conventions on human rights.

The reason Verandah Sandstone announced a closed inquiry with limited terms of reference by Mick Palmer is to get the issue off the front pages as fast as possible. So fast that she was unable to answer detailed questions about the inquiry procedures at her announcement last week. A closed enquiry means that further public discussion on the wider implications of the Rau case are muted for the time being.

An open inquiry into the Rau case, such as a royal commission, would have opened the gate for continuing public debate about the morality and legality of the detention centres under the Howard government. Not safe for the government now that parliament is back in session.

Meanwhile, the condition of mental health services, deplorable as they are, have become the focus of discussion. A neat diversion because this keeps the pressure up on the State governments who have the major responsibilities in this area, and off the Howard government and the detention centres
Posted by grace pettigrew, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 11:31:50 AM
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The majority of this article (IE 90%) is on mental health treatment of “prisoners”, of which “detainees” are a small percentage (eg “Our agenda [Sisters Inside] is to shine a light inside hundreds of solitary confinement cells so the community can see the ill and disturbed people huddling there in pain and terror”).

The plight of mentally ill prisoners is also in many other articles in the press (EG “Rau is only an extreme example - our prisons are full of mentally ill people”)

at … http://www.smh.com.au/news/Opinion/Rau-is-only-an-extreme-example--our-prisons-are-full-of-mentally-ill-people/2005/02/08/1107625210505.html
Posted by Timkins, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 11:53:32 AM
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Grace,let's be honest here.The reason why most of these people are in detention centres is that they have been rejected as being true refugees, ie being persecuted by their Govt.or others.In the main they are economic refugees who want a better life.They are in detention because they are using our legal system to appeal time and time again.They can go home at will, but choose not to.

It is shame upon us all that Cornelia Rau was treated so badly,but don't try to draw parallels between those who have chosen their detention on grounds of appeal and the mentally ill who have been largely abandoned by us all.
Posted by Arjay, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 9:38:32 PM
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Sayeret - of the 9160 boat arrivals in the three years to June 2002, 90% or 8260 were found to be genuine refugees (Mike Steketee, The Australian, today).

That is, after years of cruel incarceration in our detention centres, where their trauma was ignored and mistreated in a similar manner to Cornelia's, it was finally concluded that these 8260 people, including many innocent children, had a well-founded fear of persecution or death if forced return to their homelands. Those countries of origin included Iraq under Saddam and Afghanistan under the Taliban.

These people were not economic refugees, or "illegal immigrants", they were genuine refugees who came to our shores seeking sanctuary.

Some of those found not to be refugees, are nevertheless to be detained "indefinitely", not because they don't want to get out of a country that treats them so viciously, but because they have no "homeland" to go to. Mohammed Qasim has been locked up for more than 6 years at enormous cost. This is longer than the average jail term for robbers and rapists. Why are we doing this?

Read Petro Georgiou's article "We Have Abandoned our Dearest Values on Asylum", in the SMH today.
Posted by grace pettigrew, Friday, 18 February 2005 12:21:43 PM
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Sorry, that was addressed to Arjay not Sayeret.
Posted by grace pettigrew, Friday, 18 February 2005 12:23:24 PM
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In her latest book "Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees", Caroline Moorehead has some fairly strong words on our recent treatment of asylum-seekers. She tells some stories that I hadn't picked up on from our local coverage, for example Philip Ruddock referring to Shayan, the traumatised Iranian lad, as "it".

She also mentions an organization I had not heard of, the "Professional Alliance for the Health of Asylum Seekers and their Children", which apparently has a roll of some 50,000 doctors and health workers, dedicated to alleviating their suffering.
Posted by Pericles, Friday, 18 February 2005 4:53:48 PM
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