Shut down Woomera advisers tell Ruddock
The Age
By MARK FORBES
CANBERRA
Tuesday 29 January 2002
Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock's advisory group has unanimously called for the closure of the Woomera detention centre and other measures to help avert a "human tragedy of unknowable proportions".
The Immigration Detention Advisory Group, which has been negotiating with hunger strikers at Mr Ruddock's request, called for an end to the "demonisation" of asylum seekers and said the crisis at Woomera could not be allowed to deteriorate any further.
The group, in a statement yesterday, said asylum claims should be decided quickly and that there was evidence to support claims that it would be unsafe for Afghan detainees to return home.
Pressure on the Federal Government also increased, with Catholic bishops and the Red Cross expressing sympathy for detainees and calling for a more compassionate approach. The Democrats called for the closure of Woomera and the Federal Opposition demanded that the government compromise.
Lawyers for the detainees said 11 children at Woomera were threatening to commit suicide unless they were released. They said more than 370 detainees were on a hunger strike.
A spokesman for Mr Ruddock said any calls from the advisory group would be considered, but the immediate closure of Woomera was not feasible as there were no alternative accommodation places. Prime Minister John Howard said he would not be altering detention policies.
The group's statement appeared to target recent criticism of detainees by Mr Howard and Mr Ruddock, stating: "The detainees are not devious and clever manipulators seeking to change Australian immigration policy. They are not barbarians."
Members of the advisory group will travel to Woomera today in an attempt to resolve the dispute. They said they would try to persuade hunger strikers to begin removing stitches from their lips.
The group's chairman, former Fraser government immigration minister John Hodges, said the group believed Woomera should be phased out as a detention centre and its inmates moved - a key demand of the hunger strikers.
The group's spokesman, retired air force chief Ray Funnell, said there were "better places in which to accommodate people".
The joint statement said detainees wanted "to be treated more humanely than is possible in the stark and intimidating environment that is the Woomera centre.
"Let's get some action right now. Decisions can be made ... to phase out Woomera as a centre for initial processing of asylum seekers."
Action was vital to "avert the looming tragedy" and "this nation cannot allow the crisis at Woomera to deteriorate any further", the group said.
In contrast to some portrayals, detainees had been "invariably calm and courteous ... to characterise them as other than humane and caring is simply not accurate," the statement said.
The group also said there was evidence to support claims that "Afghanistan remains an unstable and unpredictable place that is anything but safe".
The new Afghan government representative in Australia called for talks with Canberra on the crisis. Honorary consul Mahmoud Saikal said there was widespread anger in Afghanistan over Australia's hard line against immigration detainees. "I'm afraid the common understanding over there is that a bad image is developing of Australia," he said.