Solon was not an innocent victim. She had more names than a country town telephone book. And why would she care about an apology from the PM when she is going to get a load of loot from Australian taxpayers?

DIMIA is good when it allows itself to be conned by ‘refugees’, but is labelled as incompetent and bad by the loopy left when it makes a couple of mistakes, in no small way contributed to by Solon and another woman who lied about her identity.

This particular Howard-hater makes the most of the opportunity to get it all of her chest in one go by adding on the PM’s other sins: his personal agenda, the Iraq War, failure to apologise to indigenous people, unfair treatment of boat people, and industrial relations legislation. Just how many times do these people need to say the same thing?

She even belts poor old John over the head with Arthur Calwell – the man who said ‘two Wongs don’t make a white’ – a very unlikely ally for this Howard-hater.

All this Howard-hating bore has to say could have been said in four words: ‘I hate John Howard’. And who cares about that? Certainly not John Howard.

Leigh - nice to see you acknowledge the PM's other sins...yes we export Australian residents, and Australian citizens, however on the otherside of the ledger we have imported a peaophile to study at James Cook University from the USA, and one of Saddams bodyguards, so one balances out the other doesn't it. I mean who cares if the Dept makes a few mistakes, I recall Government Ministers being sacked for much less incompetency than this. It speaks volumes about this government's accountability, or rather lack of it.

Solon WAS an innocent victim, Leigh. She had done nothing wrong. Yes, she had several names, but she was traceable under both 'Alvarez' and 'Solon', which DIMIA officials later did when discovering they had deported a citizen. She was listed with 'Missing Persons', her husband called DIMIA to try and find her. Furthermore, she was injured and should have been in hospital, not on a plane to the Phillipines.

With Cornelia Rau, I can almost understand how the situation arose- Ms Rau was mentally disturbed, was speaking German, and gave a false identity. But not with Vivian Alvarez. Read the last chapter of the Palmer report, which deals with the Alvarez case. Ms Alvarez suffered incredibly from the incompetence and mismanagement of DIMIA, and should be compensated. "She'll benefit from the taxpayer now"... er, yes, as she should. The Government deported her, and took away years of her life, affecting her and all her family and friends. Her children should also be compensated for the mess they have been left with.

Your kidding are you not, I’m suprised you got the name right,You did not mention them in the article; there are several other names she is known by and used, and a false passport too boot. I think some people need to pack their bags and move to South America or Cuba; I get fed up with this Manipulative lying guilt garbage, especially when it is the mud throwers doing the crime, but in typical synchronization of the Moochers and Looters, truth becomes a casualty to the non existent entities of existentialism once more.
Don’t misunderstand the compassion issue, but just using it as a political propaganda mud slinging is not doing anyone any favors. At least you have held the public in contempt and make me and other hard working taxpayers accountable. Another 2 billion more victims in the world and Mandue Habib can become the new Prime Minister Hay. Intellectual Terrorist work is never done.

Leigh – you are one pathetic little minded ignorant apologist, who is quite incapable of even getting the facts of the story to even resemble anywhere near the truth in this matter. You bask in your own ignorance, all the while you scrape the bottom of your little barrel of pathos!

Speaking from very personal experience that has not only affected me, but also my own family, I know that DIMIA “officials” to be bald faced liars and arrogant little jumped up racist fascists, who ignore, fabricate and so obligingly falsify documentation to suit themselves and their political masters.

I have no doubt that Salon was an innocent victim, she was harangued, she was badgered by little minded “quasi gods” who decided she was a just another Asian prostitute and went from there – yet when they were caught out – they lied further and tried to cover their evil by more lies and ignored it.

Yes – she SHOULD be compensated and compensated well for the wrong done to her, but that is not enough, those bastards who perpetrated this evil on her should be made to go through exactly what she has been forced to go through, but without any compensation – maybe they will then begin the process of humanisation.

Vanstone is not only incompetent, she is a vicious incompetent and it is my belief that she should be taken, on a leash that is, to dogfights – just to break them up!

As for Howard, he should be made to apologise, but because of little minded vacuous gormless people like you, has risen to “godhead” where like Victoria Regina, has proclaimed “We will decide who comes to Australia…” – and which citizen we will deport.

I was considering starting a collection to raise the sum of $2 – you know, a cent here and a cent there, from really genuine people, and when that amount had been raised, sent the money to his parents so that they could finally get married. (and I really do apologise profusely to all the genuine bastards out there!)

Poor old John Howard, bet he was responsible for the tsunami as well.
I would like to hear a truthful,plain account of Ms Solon's entry into Australia, her life while she was here and how her family situation came about. How she came to end up in a wheelchair.
And I mean an honest account with no frills.
Also how much her lawyers stand to gain from her compensation.

Mickijo

John Howard is in charge of the government so while it may not be his personal "fault" it is certainly his responsbility.

For facts you could try reading the Palmer Report (although it is mainly about Cornelia Rau)
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media_releases/media05/palmer-report.pdf
and the Comrie Report (which is specifically about Vivian Alvarez Solon).
http://www.ombudsman.gov.au/publications_information/Special_Reports/2005/alvarez_report03.pdf
although for some reason I can never get this to load properly so I haven’t been able to read it – very annoying.

Re the lawyers - if DIMIA hadn't stuffed up in the first place, Vivian Alvarez Solon wouldn't have been entitled to any compensation and thus her lawyers wouldn't have got any money. So to avoid those evil lawyers ;-) being able to get their hands on the moolah don't deport Australian citizens!

All- can you provide a reference for the comment Ms Alvarez Solon had a false passport? I'm prepared to believe I may have missed that one. I recall a false passport being involved in the Virginia Leong case, but not with VAS.

The recent spate of enquiries into the actions of DIMIA and the embarrassing disclosures, have focused public attention on the Department. The Carmel Rau story, followed by the “catastrophic” manner in which Vivian Salon was treated are but public peaks in the deplorable performance of that part of DIMIA that has been responsible for detention programs and the handling of asylum seekers. Another distressful case has been the handling of the 52 Vietnamese ‘Boat People’ of whom all but one, have now after two years mostly hidden away on Christmas Island, have been recognized as refugees. The one remaining has been maliciously pursued through continual legal action by the Department and its Minister.

Many, including the Minister Amanda Vanstone (trying to duck shove?), have referred to a ‘culture’ operating within the Department and have started to extract blood.

But why is there such a deplorable ‘culture’ operating? I would suspect that the answer is partly deep seated within some echelons of the Department going back to Australia’s restrictive immigration policies of the past and the xenophobia that is not far below the surface of the Australian psyche. However to lump all the blame on the bureaucrats in the Department is just political scape goating. In my mind there has to be always a connection between political decisions and values and the subsequent policy implementation in the development of a culture. What we have experienced over the last few decades are a series of behaviours by Governments of both political persuasions that have help shape a culture in a department

So is it surprising there is an unacceptable culture in DIMIA? Our politicians have a lot to answer for. Only a hand full can hold their head high, in particular I salute the courage of Liberals, Petro Georgiou and Judi Moylan .

All- I think you'll find that Anomie is correct. I’ve read the Comrie report (which is now loading properly – yay!) and Vivian Alvarez Solon did not have a false passport. Her birth name was Vivian Alvarez Solon. She married an Australian (Robert William Young) in 1984 and became an Australian citizen in 1986. They separated in 1990 and divorced in 1993. Vivian obtained a passport in 1992 in the name Vivian Solon Young with her birth name recorded as Vivian Alvarez Solon. In 2000 she applied for a passport in the name Vivian Solon and gave her mother’s maiden name as Alvarez. The passport was issued but not collected so it was destroyed.

What’s wrong with having more than one last name anyway? I’ve got a birth certificate last name, a professional last name and a married last name, but that’s hardly an excuse for me to be deported….

The Comrie report clearly shows that Vivian’s deportation was not her fault as that DIMIA officers made an amazing amount of mistakes and then did nothing for a year when they knew that they might have deported an Australian citizen. DIMIA officers didn’t know how to do a proper name check or they couldn’t be bothered. I can understand that you would never associate “Anna Schmidt” with “Cornelia Rau” but you would associate “Vivian Alvarez” with “Vivian Alvarez Solon” or “Vivian Solon Young” plus she always gave her correct date of birth.

bagsyl, I'll second that Georgiou, and Moylan, at least had the guts to give their honest opinion, which is more than can be said for the balance of the Liberals. To my knowledge "the buck stops at the top" Minister Vanstone occupies that position, need I say more.