Howard on spot over UN check
Sydney Morning Herald
By Andrew Clennell
The Federal cabinet will consider whether to grant a United Nations human rights envoy entry to the Woomera detention centre, but the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, says the request came only after representation from "raging and ranting" church groups.
One view from a government source was there was nothing to lose by giving the go-ahead for the envoy to inspect the centre, but others fear it would be just another opportunity for the UN to "do over" Australia.
Mr Downer and the Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, yesterday sidestepped questions as to whether former Indian chief justice Bhagwati would be allowed to inspect the centre after the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson, requested the envoy's visit.
At a meeting between Mrs Robinson and Mr Downer in Geneva yesterday, Mrs Robinson asked that Justice Bhagwati, a former human rights lawyer, be allowed to inspect Woomera.
She said later the request was because of her "serious concerns" about children being in detention, the psychological states of detainees and the self-harm being committed.
Cabinet will discuss the proposed visit on Monday.
Mr Downer said Mrs Robinson's request had come only after "she received representations from the ACTU and some other non-government organisations" at last week's World Economic Forum.
It had in fact come after a letter from prominent Victorian church groups delivered through the ACTU's president, Sharan Burrow, saying Woomera was a "concentration camp" and the Government was demonising asylum seekers.
"Various groups that have for a long time, for 10 years, been raging and ranting against the policy of detaining illegal migrants ... have been lobbying her [Mrs Robinson] furiously in the last few weeks and she feels under an obligation to respond," Mr Downer said.
Mr Howard dodged questions on the proposed envoy visit in Singapore, saying: "He's [Mr Downer's] handling it on behalf of the Government."
Mr Downer said an envoy's visit would not be embarrassing: "What would be embarrassing ... would be if we were party to a policy that gave people smugglers a financial bonanza and we're not going to do that".
Ms Robinson said after the meeting that human rights was not about whether a policy was popular or not and that the treatment of children and the "Pacific solution" were concerns.
"If I find there is reason to express concern [about human rights convention breaches] the first thing I would do would be to take it to the Government and talk to them seriously about it, and then after that there are a number of mechanisms," she said.
The letter which led to Mrs Robinson's request was written by a coalition of Victoria-based religious organisations, including Melbourne's Catholic Commission for Justice Development and Peace and the Uniting Church's director of Justice and World Mission.
Yesterday, the key Labor protagonist in calling for a softer stance on asylum seekers, Carmen Lawrence, failed to attend a shadow cabinet meeting in country Victoria, due to illness.
She appeared to be rebuked by her leader, Simon Crean, who said: "All I'm asking is that they [shadow ministers] consult with their colleagues before making statements ... they have got to show respect to their other
colleagues."
Mr Crean committed Labor to mandatory detention. "At today's discussion, no-one was arguing for the end to mandatory detention," he said. He and others would have "further discussions" with Dr Lawrence.
Mr Crean committed Labor to further boat people policy review and support for a coast guard and a limited refugee appeal process.