Refugee Advocates Slam Mental Health Assessment And Treatment Of Asylum Seekers
Refugee advocacy group Rural Australians for Refugees today called for an independent judicial review into the
assessment and treatment of mental health problems people in immigration detention.
"We are appalled by the latest information aired on ABC's 4 Corners program about the lack of adequate assessment and
treatment of Cornelia Rau by the Department of Immigration and Global Solutions Limited, which runs Baxter Detention
Centre." said Mira Wroblewski, spokesperson for RAR. "The department has clearly breached its own guidelines in many
ways, as well as breaching medical standards in its assessment and treatment of Ms Rau. Advice from a number of
psychiatric professionals was ignored, and she was subjected to treatment that was degrading and inhumane".
"The program also raised the larger question about how asylum seekers and detainees in Baxter are treated. I was
sickened to hear psychiatrist Howard Gorton say that the people he had seen in detention centres were the most damaged
people he had seen in his entire career. The worst thing is that these people did not come to Australia with these
problems- they have been damaged by the system of mandatory detention." said Ms Wroblewski. "There is no reason why
Australia cannot implement the system which is used in countries like Sweden, of releasing people to live in the
community while their claims are being processed. It is cheaper, more humane, and it works very well".
Commenting about this week's Federal Court case in Adelaide by two Iranian detainees from Baxter, Ms Wroblewski said "It
is shameful that in a first world country like Australia asylum seekers should have to resort to legal action for the
right to basic medical and psychiatric care."
Rural Australians for Refugees calls for the abolition of mandatory detention of asylum seekers, and release of all
asylum seekers to live in the community while their cases are being processed. We demand a full independent judicial
review into the way mental health is assessed and treated for those currently in detention.