Inquiry into Immigration Detention
Representatives of DASSAN appeared before the Joint Select Committee on Australia's Immigration Detention Network\ .on 26 September. DASSAN told the Committee, which includes Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young and Shadow Minister for Immigration Scott Morrison, that its members regularly visit people in detention who are suffering from serious depression and other mental illnesses as a result of prolonged indefinite mandatory detention. DASSAN urged the Committee to recognise that mandatory detention is inherently harmful and that processing asylum seekers in the community is a more cost-effective and humane policy.
The Committee was told that DIAC and SERCO are failing the approximately 800 asylum seekers detained in Darwin by not providing adequate mental health services and recreational activities within the detention centres. DASSAN also expressed its concern that the current problems at the Northern Immigration Detention Centre will be compounded by the imminent opening of the detention centre at Wickham Point, which is located 35km south-east of Darwin and has previously been found to be unfit for human habitation due to a severe and unbearable insect problem and a moderate risk of Ross River virus.
The Committee is conducting an comprehensive inquiry into Australia's Immigration Detention Network, including its management, resourcing, potential expansion, possible alternative solutions, the Government's detention values, and the effect of detention on detainees. The Committee is expected to report by March 2012.
Information about the Committee of Inquiry can be found here. Submissions can be accessed here . DASSAN's submission is number 51.
Andrew Metcalfe, Secretary of DIAC, questions mandatory detention in his speech to the Inquiry
The website also has links to statistics on Immigration detention 2007 -11, and detailed answers to questions on notice .
Representatives of DASSAN appeared before the Joint Select Committee on Australia's Immigration Detention Network\ .on 26 September. DASSAN told the Committee, which includes Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young and Shadow Minister for Immigration Scott Morrison, that its members regularly visit people in detention who are suffering from serious depression and other mental illnesses as a result of prolonged indefinite mandatory detention. DASSAN urged the Committee to recognise that mandatory detention is inherently harmful and that processing asylum seekers in the community is a more cost-effective and humane policy.
The Committee was told that DIAC and SERCO are failing the approximately 800 asylum seekers detained in Darwin by not providing adequate mental health services and recreational activities within the detention centres. DASSAN also expressed its concern that the current problems at the Northern Immigration Detention Centre will be compounded by the imminent opening of the detention centre at Wickham Point, which is located 35km south-east of Darwin and has previously been found to be unfit for human habitation due to a severe and unbearable insect problem and a moderate risk of Ross River virus.
The Committee is conducting an comprehensive inquiry into Australia's Immigration Detention Network, including its management, resourcing, potential expansion, possible alternative solutions, the Government's detention values, and the effect of detention on detainees. The Committee is expected to report by March 2012.
Information about the Committee of Inquiry can be found here. Submissions can be accessed here . DASSAN's submission is number 51.
Andrew Metcalfe, Secretary of DIAC, questions mandatory detention in his speech to the Inquiry
The website also has links to statistics on Immigration detention 2007 -11, and detailed answers to questions on notice .
