Ombudsman releases report into immigration detention of Australian citizen
The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Prof. John McMillan, today released a report into the circumstances of the immigration
detention of a mentally ill Australian citizen.
Originally from Vietnam, Mr T is an Australian citizen who suffers from severe mental illness. Officers of the
Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) detained him as a suspected unlawful non-citizen on three
occasions between 1999 and 2003. On one of those occasions he was detained for a period of eight months.
The Report on Referred Immigration Cases: Mr T is the latest report to be published in a series of cases referred to the
Ombudsman by the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, following the inquiries into the Cornelia Rau and
Vivian Alvarez matters in 2005.
Prof. McMillan said: ‘Mr T’s case is disturbing as it involved the detention on three occasions of an Australian
citizen. Mr T’s mental illness, his homelessness and lack of an effective personal social support structure, his poor
English language skills and his ethnic background were all factors that contributed to the decisions taken by DIMA
officers to detain and continue to detain him as a suspected unlawful non-citizen’.
The report provides further evidence of departmental shortcomings previously identified in the Report of Inquiry into
the Circumstances of the Vivian Alvarez Matter and, in particular, identifies the difficulties that DIMA officers face
when dealing with people who suffer from mental illness.
Prof. McMillan noted that the default of DIMA in detaining Mr T was compounded by the circumstances of his release.
‘Despite DIMA being aware of Mr T’s mental illness, he was released into the community without any arrangements being
made for his ongoing support and care. It is incumbent on DIMA in circumstances such as these to acknowledge a
responsibility for a person’s wellbeing that extends beyond the person’s release from detention.’
In releasing the report, Prof. McMillan said: ‘It is pleasing to note that the Secretary of DIMA, Mr Andrew Metcalfe,
has already apologised to Mr T and offered to discuss how the issues resulting from action by the department might be
resolved’.
Prof. McMillan has made 11 recommendations intended to assist DIMA in addressing the deficiencies identified in the
report.