Conditions of detention will ensure the inherent dignity of the human person. Unauthorised arrivals would be detained on arrival for identity, health and security checks, but once these were completed the onus would be on the Department to justify why a person should continue to be detained. It was assumed that the majority of people would be released into the community while their immigration status was resolved.
Despite the change in policy rhetoric, long-term mandatory detention continued under the Rudd Government. As at 31 October , 39 per cent of the detention population had been in detention for more than 12 months. The Rudd Government also announced changes to the processing of unauthorised arrivals at excised offshore places the excisions from the migration zone were maintained. This was a change from the system under the previous Government, where unauthorised arrivals at excised places had no access to independent review or external scrutiny, but it still did not afford such people the same rights as those who arrived and were processed onshore with access to merits or judicial review through the Refugee Review Tribunal and the Courts.
The increase in boat arrivals during and placed significant pressure on immigration detention facilities.
One of the key changes to detention policy made by the Rudd Government was the removal of the statutory requirement that detainees be liable for the cost of their detention detention debt , a policy that had been introduced in with the aim of minimising the significant cost to government of holding people in immigration detention.
The Rudd Government argued that the policy was ineffective because recovering debts had proved to be extremely difficult—the level of debt recovery over the years averaged around four per cent.
The Act also had the effect of extinguishing all immigration detention debts outstanding at the time of commencement. In response to a new wave of asylum seekers arriving by boat in and , the Rudd Government began to introduce changes to its policies. On 9 April , citing changed circumstances in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, the Rudd Government announced that it would suspend the processing of new asylum claims from Sri Lankan nationals for three months and Afghan nationals for a period of six months.
Those affected by the suspension would remain indefinitely in immigration detention until the suspensions were lifted in July for Sri Lankans and September for Afghans. In July , following a change in leadership, the Labor Government under the new Prime Minister Julia Gillard continued in its efforts to reduce the number of people in immigration detention and deal with the problem of overcrowding—both on the mainland and on Christmas Island.
In particular, the Gillard Government continued to expand the detention network in order to ease the problem of overcrowding on Christmas Island by accommodating certain detainees selected for transfer to the mainland. Building on the work already underway in the Bali Process, today I announce that we will begin a new initiative. In recent days I have discussed with President Ramos Horta of East Timor the possibility of establishing a regional processing centre for the purpose of receiving and processing irregular entrants to the region.
Following the re-election of the Gillard Government in August , the newly appointed Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen, announced on 17 September that additional immigration detainee accommodation would be prepared for families and unaccompanied minors in Melbourne, and for single adult men in northern Queensland and Western Australia through an expansion of capacity at the Curtin Detention Centre that had been reopened earlier in the year.
On 18 October the Prime Minister and the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship announced that the Australian Government would expand its existing residence determination program and begin moving children and vulnerable family groups out of immigration detention facilities and into community-based accommodation. With pressure on the detention network continuing to increase, the Gillard Government announced several significant policy changes and initiatives in , including:. Under the proposed changes a person would fail the character test should they be convicted of any offence committed while in immigration detention and they would be prevented from applying for a permanent protection visa.
The Bill was introduced to the House of Representatives on 22 September , but was not pursued by the Government when it became clear it was unlikely to be passed by the Parliament. In particular, in October the Gillard Government proposed that some asylum seekers who arrive unauthorised by boat be issued with bridging visas just like most air arrivals and released from detention into the community while their claims are processed:.
As you know, we currently have been moving families and children into the community. That has been an ambitious task, but it has been a task that we have fulfilled, moving the majority of children into the community. In addition, there are a range of powers available currently to the Government that are used regularly for people who arrive in Australia irregularly by air or are visa overstayers and are used from time to time for people who arrive by boat.
Of course, they will be used more regularly as we manage the detention network so that we avoid opening more detention centres. On 25 November the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship announced that the first group of asylum seekers—all long term detainees—would be released on bridging visas under this arrangement. On 25 November , the Gillard Government also announced the end of a parallel refugee status assessment process for boat arrivals and a return to a single protection visa processing system.
Importantly, the onshore arrangements for application and independent review through the Refugee Review Tribunal RRT system now applied to all people seeking asylum in Australia, regardless of their mode of arrival. The decision that many IMAs boat arrivals would now be released on bridging visas just like non-IMAs air arrivals , together with the decision that there would be a return to a single protection visa processing system for IMAs and non-IMAs was a significant departure from previous arrangements.
As mentioned earlier, as at 31 October , 39 per cent of the detention population had been in detention for more than 12 months, but by 31 December the proportion of those in detention for more than 12 months had dropped to 8. In November the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship announced that due to the large number of arrivals in , people who arrived after 13 August would not necessarily be transferred offshore.
However they would still have the 'no advantage' principle applied to their cases onshore and if found to be refugees, may not be issued with permanent protection visas but instead could be issued with bridging visas without work rights:. Mr Bowen said given the number of people who had arrived by boat since 13 August, it would not be possible to transfer them all to Nauru or Manus Island in the immediate future.
They will not however be issued with a permanent Protection visa if found to be a refugee, until such time that they would have been resettled in Australia after being processed in our region,' Mr Bowen said. On 16 October the Gillard Government also announced an independent review process for those assessed to be refugees, but not granted a permanent protection visa as a result of an adverse security assessment ASA.
Mandatory detention has been the subject of vigorous debate since it was introduced in , igniting great passion in both its supporters and detractors. Numerous reports on the pros and cons of mandatory detention, from both the government and non-government sectors, have been produced since the policy was introduced in In the Joint Standing Committee on Migration conducted an inquiry into immigration detention, following public concern regarding the mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals seeking refugee status.
A Report from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission HREOC on the policy of mandatory detention argued that the policy breached international human rights standards and that when detention was prolonged many of the conditions in which people were detained became unacceptable. The report also called for children and other vulnerable people to be detained only in exceptional circumstances. Boat persons represent about 0.
Management of boat persons is thus in the order of one thousand times more resource-intensive than the reception of ordinary arrivals. In such an environment there are clear risks to the economy and efficiency of operations. The fact that DIMA had no explicit responsibility for monitoring whole of government costs of the management of boat people means that one of the pre-conditions for the control of these risks is missing.
In , former Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Philip Flood, was asked by then Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Philip Ruddock, to undertake an inquiry into immigration detention procedures. In his report he expressed concerns over conditions throughout the detention system particularly in the remote centre at Woomera and documented several instances of psychiatric problems, self harm and sexual, verbal and physical abuse of children in Villawood, Woomera, Curtin and Port Hedland immigration detention centres.
The report recommended that in its management of long-term detainees the Department should ensure that children are not held in detention for long periods at Woomera and that processing times for TPVs be reduced.
The report of a national inquiry into children in immigration detention , which was scathing in its criticism of the mandatory detention of children. The Inquiry found that:. The Inquiry further found that children in long term immigration detention were at risk of serious psychological harm, and that failure to remove children from detention with their parents constituted cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment.
In July the Inquiry into the circumstances of the immigration detention of Cornelia Rau the Palmer Report reported on the wrongful detention of Ms Rau. On 5 June the Joint Standing Committee on Migration was asked to conduct an inquiry into immigration detention at a time when there were very few unauthorised boat arrivals—only three boats arrived in —08 and there were only people in immigration detention in Australia on 6 June The presumption of detention that defined the policy of the previous Government has shifted to an assumption of release following minimum checks.
The onus will be on the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to demonstrate that detention is necessary. This Committee welcomes the announcement of these values and the commitment of the current Australian Government to a fairer and more humane system for asylum seekers and others who are detained in immigration custody Hopefully this will be not just a new beginning for people held in detention, but for Australian society in determining the detention time, nature and treatment of those who come to our shores.
However, the third report published after an increase in the arrival of people by boat noted that there were still serious concerns regarding the well-being of detainees both on the mainland and on Christmas Island:. The Committee acknowledges that the Australian Government has made positive steps to introduce more appropriate and humane accommodation and facilities through immigration residential housing and immigration transit accommodation.
However, the standard of the accommodation and facilities provided at immigration detention centres was of a serious concern, particularly Stage 1 at Villawood and the Perth immigration detention centre. The primary concern of immigration authorities should be one of care for the well-being of detainees.
After the Joint Standing Committee on Migration completed its inquiry into immigration detention the debate intensified due to the increase in the arrival of asylum seekers by boat and the corresponding rise in the number of immigration detainees on Christmas Island and in onshore detention centres.
These have included six deaths in detention five of which appear to have been the result of suicide , suicide attempts, serious self-harm incidents including lip-sewing, riots, protests, fires, break-outs and the use of force against people in detention on Christmas Island by the Australian Federal Police. These incidents have occurred in the context of a detention network that is under serious strain due to a number of factors, but most importantly because thousands of people are being held in detention facilities for long periods of time.
As of 11 March there were people, including children, in immigration detention in Australia— on the mainland and on Christmas Island. More than half of those people had been detained for longer than six months, and more than people had been detained for longer than a year. In June , a parliamentary inquiry into the detention network was established. The inquiry was initially proposed by the Opposition to draw attention to increasing levels of unrest and outbreaks of violence in detention centres.
Following some negotiation concerning its terms of reference, the motion to establish the inquiry was passed with the support of both the Greens and the Government. In the AHRC published another highly critical report, Immigration detention on Christmas Island , reiterating concerns outlined in previous reports. Since the s the detention of asylum seekers in often remote locations has received a great deal of public attention. In particular, the duration and conditions of their detention have been controversial issues that have plagued successive governments beginning in the early s when there were several hunger strikes, rooftop demonstrations and suicide attempts at Villawood and Port Hedland.
The issue of providing additional and appropriate accommodation to avoid overcrowding and a deterioration of conditions was a significant challenge for the Howard Government with the surge in boat arrivals in the late s and is proving to be the case again for the Labor Government following a surge in arrivals since —both governments have responded by making provisions for additional accommodation.
For the Howard Government, the conditions in detention centres, prolonged detention and the physical and psychological effects on detainees on Nauru and in onshore detention facilities, particularly Woomera, attracted a great deal of criticism. In the Howard Government funded researchers at the University of Wollongong to study the long-term effects of immigration detention on those detained.
Published in , the study showed that asylum seekers suffered more serious physical and mental health problems than those detained for a shorter length of time and for different reasons such as visa overstayers waiting to depart the country. Refugee advocates and other stakeholders have also been critical of the mandatory detention regime that has continued under the Rudd and Gillard Governments.
Since , overcrowding has placed extreme pressure on infrastructure and the detention network generally and DIAC has struggled to adequately house the various different groups of detainees. On 29 July , the then Commonwealth Ombudsman announced that his office would initiate an investigation into suicide and self-harm in Australian immigration detention facilities in response to growing concerns about the impact of long-term detention on the ongoing mental health of detainees.
On 29 November , the Government released an independent report the Hawke report commissioned by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship to review incidents of unrest at the Christmas Island and Villawood detention centres earlier in In February , the Australian National Audit Office ANAO released its audit report on the management of detention centres, Individual management services provided to people in immigration detention.
The Department of Home Affairs formerly the Department of Immigration and Border Protection publishes on its website monthly and yearly statistics about people it detains.
You can find the data using the links under each graph. For graphs that do not display numbers, you can hover over the graph to display data. You can also find and reuse these charts using Datawrapper River. Contents IntroNumber of people in detention in AustraliaWhere people are in detentionChildren in detentionLength of detentionReasons for detentionCommunity detentionWhere do they come from? We don't have the privacy to record or good instruments but we did our best with what we have.
I never thought they would kill themselves. But unfortunately they did. They left us and they are gone. So Tears in Heaven is like my situation, of losing people, being left behind. Mehdi — he uses only one name - and Adnan were teenagers when their families urged them to flee Iran , where they faced systemic oppression as members of the Ahwazi Arab minority.
The cousins, who had known each other in childhood but did not live near each other, left their country independently, travelling to Indonesia. By extraordinary coincidence, they found themselves thrust by people smugglers onto the same overloaded fishing boat bound for Australia. After four days at sea, their boat was intercepted by the Australian navy and escorted to Christmas Island, where they disembarked, initially euphoric at having survived. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning.
Less than an hour after setting foot on Australian soil, they were told they could not stay. While their vessel was at sea, the then prime minister Kevin Rudd had announced that all boat-borne asylum seekers would be sent offshore and would never be allowed to settle in Australia. There, Mehdi was judged to be a child, but Adnan, a bare handful of months older, was found to be an adult the age determination methods used by Australia have since been discredited.
In , Mehdi and Adnan were transferred to Nauru and Adnan was now recognised as a child. The pair were housed together in the family camp, and allowed to attend the detention centre school, a modest but vital enterprise, later shut down by the Australian government. Gabby Sutherland taught the boys on the island. She found them both polite and respectful, keen to learn but bewildered by the system that held them. Mehdi is a gentle soul, he was quite protective. If anything ever happened to any of the teachers, or the people that he cared about, he was always very concerned.
A total of children were in immigration detention in ; 1, children in ; 1, children in and children in Most of these children arrived by boat. The total number of unauthorised arrival children who applied for refugee protection visas between 1 July and 30 June was 2, Sign outside Woomera indicating ACM and the Department, June The highest number of children in detention at any one time between 1 January and 1 January was on 1 September Of this number, were at the Woomera detention centre.
When the Inquiry was announced in late November , there were over children in immigration detention. The number of children in detention has not decreased at the same rate since that time. There were still children in immigration detention in Australia on 26 December Where have the children been held?
Residential housing projects were opened in Port Hedland and Port Augusta near Baxter after the period of the Inquiry. Locations of detention centres in and around Australia After September , and the introduction of the 'Pacific Solution', children who arrived on Christmas Island, the Ashmore Islands or the Cocos Keeling Islands, or who were intercepted at sea by Australian authorities, were transferred to detention facilities in Nauru or Manus Island Papua New Guinea.
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