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March 31st, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda <!–
The Federal Government is under increasing pressure to adopt the recommendations from an immigration inquiry which would see asylum seekers spend a maximum of 90 days in detention. But the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, says many Government reforms already introduced have cut the length of time people spend in immigration detention centres.
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ELIZABETH JACKSON: The Federal Government is under increasing pressure to limit the time that asylum seekers spend in detention to just 90 days.
The 90 day limit is a recommendation of the parliamentary inquiry, established after last year’s riots in detention centres in Villawood and on Christmas Island.
The Committee says it’s most fundamental conclusion is that asylum seekers should detained for as short a time as possible.
Meredith Griffiths reports.
MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Some asylum seekers have been in Australian detention centres for more than two years.
Yet academics and psychologists told the parliamentary committee that mental health begins to erode after just three months in detention.
So the Committee is calling for that to be the upper limit.
But the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, told Lateline that won’t always be possible
CHRIS BOWEN: So we have got somebody whose identity couldn’t be established in 90 days for complex reasons, there’d be special cases.
Now we do aim to process people as quickly as possible, hence all the reforms that we put in place that have seen the number of people in detention fall despite a very big surge in boat arrivals at the end of last year – in the last few months of last year. We’ve still seen a substantial reduction in the number of people held in detention as a result of the reforms that we’ve introduced.
MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: The Refugee Council says the Government must legislate a 90 limit or people will remain in detention indefinitely.
The Council’s chief executive is Paul Power
PAUL POWER: The Department of Immigration has talked about this process being administrative detention, so that people are being detained not because of anything that they’ve done but for administrative reasons. And clearly in that situation people need to know how long they’re going to be detained for. And the bureaucracy needs to be given clear instructions about what the expectations are for some limits on detention.
And if the Government have a strong case to continue to detain someone, they need to be able to take that to someone independent of government, such as a court, and convince them that there is a need for a person to continue to be detained.
MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: The Refugee Council says the 31 recommendations provide a good pathway for reform.
Paul Power especially endorses the recommendation that someone other than the Immigration Minister become the legal guardian of unaccompanied minors.
Migration agent, Marion Le, hopes the government enacts the recommendation relating to ASIO (Australian Security Intelliegence Organisation).
The report recommends laws be amended to allow for the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review ASIO’s security assessments of asylum seekers.
It also calls for periodic reviews of adverse ASIO findings.
MARION LE: ASIO makes an assessment and then keeps it secret basically, except to say it’s a negative one, when it is negative, on people who come here from overseas, and then doesn’t allow them any ability to challenge the adverse assessment by ASIO. And that clearly is at odds with us as country that’s governed by democratic principles.
MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: The Immigration Minister says the Committee has delivered a substantive, considered report which he will now work through.
He aims to have a full response by September.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: Meredith Griffiths.
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