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Behind the razor wire - voices of the voiceless
Journal of a Futurist - 26 February 2002
The 14 wiley whoppers of Philip Ruddock
For the past weeks Australian politics has revolved around lies, hearsay and slander. During the election campaign, our country’s three most senior ministers repeatedly accused the boat people of using blackmail to try and breach our borders: “They threw their children overboard” . The Prime Minister, John Howard, inflated this rumour into a damnation of the entire refugee community: “We don’t want people like that coming to Australia.” Within 24 hours of its release, senior Defence officials tried to squash this rumour, but no-one wanted to listen. The person with responsibility for the welfare of asylum seekers, Philip Ruddock, Minister of Immigration, couldn’t wait to hit the airwaves with these fanciful allegations, not since withdrawn. Even today, Ruddock can’t understand what all the fuss is about.
Perhaps because the spreading of porkies is a tool of his trade. A few weeks ago, in response to concerns about the welfare of asylum seekers transported to New Guinea, The Minister claimed that those incarcerated were in good health. Questioned by a reporter, the local doctors confirmed at least a dozen cases of malaria.
A statement smuggled out of the Woomera camp arrives by email. It is from a delegation of inmates: “Might we take this opportunity to assure you that no adult person in this Centre sewed the lips of any child. We hope you will have the opportunity to set right the record on this matter which has offended our dignity very greatly”.
I started to wonder about other instances in which the rudderless Ruddock’s surreal approach to the truth had sidestepped scrutiny. Who better to ask than the voiceless victims? The following list of was quickly compiled by the those behind razor wire for over a year or two, waiting to be “processed”.
Feel free to suggest additions. The more whoppers we collect, the more Australians will realise why we don’t want Ministers like these running our country.
Whopper 1: Pinnocchio Phil claims: “The media have free access to detention centres.”
When anyone from the media approaches a detainee or a correctional officer it is treated as a “major incident”, according to those inside. The Immigration Department requires that such an “approach” be quickly reported to the centre’s senior management. In the past months, dozens of radio, TV and print journalists have formally requested to visit centres and conduct interviews. All have been rejected by Phillip Ruddock.
Whopper 2: Following publication of medical research on the dire psychological effects of Australian detention centres, Ruddock stated, “Head counts are not being carried out in Villawood Detention Centre in the middle of the night.”
Not true. They were, both at midnight and 3am, particularly unsettling for women and children, and those scarred from torture and repressive regimes. Following an upsurge of complaints, this has been revised to either a “muster” or a ”headcount” at 6 am, 11.30am, 4.30pm and 8.30pm.
Whopper 3: “There are no cells at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre” , claims our Minister for helping the suffering.
Unfortunately the FACT is, according to those who live there, solitary cells exist in every detention or Reception and Processing Centre in Australia.
Whopper 4: A whopper so huge it’s hard to believe. In July 2000, the water supply was cut off at the block in Villawood Detention Centre where detainees were on a hunger strike. The Minister claimed this had happened accidentally, when nearby earth moving equipment had severed the pipe
THE INSIDE STORY: Supply was cut by maintenance workers on the order of the Minister. A few hours later bottled water was distributed to the protesters by the management. This water had been laced with sedatives. The riot squad then stormed the building and removed protesters with little resistance.
Whopper 5: One detainee, herself a medical specialist, was bemused to hear in August 2001, following the Four Corners Program expose of conditions at detention centres, the Minister claim. “There is a psychiatrist specialist who works at Villawood Detention Centre.” Sadly, this psychiatrist has never been sighted.
Whopper 6: Those who have experienced all the hospitality this country offers to refugees were recently taken aback to hear the Minister describing the centres at Woomera, Curtin and Port Hedland as “Immigration Reception and Processing Centres”.
To insiders, these are regarded as punitive centres for asylum seeker from Iran and Iraq and for anyone else who tries to raise public awareness through peaceful protests and hunger strikes.
Whopper 7: After the mass break-out from Villawood Detention Centre in July 2000, the Minister claimed that all the escapees were “over-stayers”, having broken the law by infringing their visa time limits.
But according to other detainees who were there at the time, 30 out of the 46 escapees had been classed as refugees or asylum seekers.
Whopper 8: Ruddock claims that “Statistics comparing the acceptance and re-settlement rates of refugees in all UN countries reveal that Australia is among the world’s most generous nations”. Make you feel good? Alas, the majority of overseas applicants accepted by his department are selected on the basis of skills and family ties. They are not refugees.
Whopper 9: The Minister maintains that all refugees are processed on an individual case basis.
Thus those whose futures are hanging from a thread connected to the maze of Philip Ruddock’s mind were startled to read what the Minister told the Good Weekend in September 1999: “Thousands of asylum seekers apply every year to Australia; its not plausible all of them are refugees; only dozens of them are.” Thus he has already decided on a quota for accepting refugees even before the process begins.
Whopper 10: “Australia has one of the most thorough objective and independent system of processing refugees in the world” according to Ruddock. Experts take issue with that. They say that refugee processing levels in Australia constitute one of the following
- The case officer decision. This person is a delegate of the Minister. The decision is unsupervised by any other body and complies with the Minister’s direct instructions.
- The Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT). A one-member decision, absolutely personal and subjective. Not one of the members are a judge, or hold any qualifications specific to processing refugee claims. All of these members are contracted to DIMA under a three year contract or shorter. The minister is the ultimate person who selects them for renewal of their contract.
- Until 1994 the Federal, Full federal and High Court of Australia were entitled to review an RRT decision A) on the basis of fairness, reasonability of the decision and B) the basis of possible serious consequences to the applicant in case of return home, C)the narrow loophole to argue such a decision on error-of-law grounds.
In 1994 the Federal Government passed legislation denying the court such a right. It restricted argument to the grounds of Item C.
IN 2001 the Federal government passed legislation denying the Court to overrule the RRT decision on item C grounds even further. However, the minister is still boasting about his thorough, independent system.
Whopper 11: Many mothers behind razor wire were surprised to hear the minister claim (this was before the recent upsurge of interest in asylum seekers and the screening of smuggled footage,) that there were “No children in detention”.
However, insiders say that since late 1999, at any one time, there has been approximately 400 children and minors in detention in Australia.
The Five Star Hotel Whopper, 12: Could it be true that Ruddock claimed “Conditions in detention centres are better than those of many Australian homes..”?
According to Amnesty International, conditions in these detention centres are worse than in many Australian state gaols.
Whopper 13: The Minister for Lack of Compassion has complained that illegal immigrants arrive in Australia without any documentation.
Whereas the majority arrive with enough documents to establish their personal identity. The Minister deliberately mixes up the class of documentation required to obtain a visa with that required to establish an identity. A refugee who flees in haste cannot possible acquire a valid visa to Australia; as he well knows.
Whopper 14, though it’s more of a a self contradiction: In sensitive, thoughtful, spindoctor mode, after the Woomera rampage in August 2000, Ruddock said that he would really rather prefer “not to be involved” in the business of sending back home people who might be killed or tortured, a handkerchief dabbing his tear duct.
FACT: Philip Ruddock has done this countless times. Previously, on the Four Corners program of Feb 2000, he said that his department need not trouble itself about following up deported asylum seekers who may get killed or tortured, arguing, “It’s none of our business”.
Detainees watched in amazement as Ruddock claimed on 60 Minutes that he is not a racist or colour oriented person:
But some of them wondered, as many of us do, how it is that he is the Minister of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and yet he does not fairly handle indigenous people, or refugees within the guidelines of the Australian constitution.
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