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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4332 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

These basic rights are currently denied in a disgraceful way. Australia is the only Western country that has detention for all asylum seekers as soon as they arrive without a visa. They must stay in detention until accepted or deported. People who claim asylum after arriving with a visa are not detained. They are treated differently. The government has never, of course, explained this inconsistency.

Numerous inquiries have concluded that conditions in the detention centres are extremely poor, that the health and safety of detainees are of grave concern, that the length of detention is totally unacceptable, and that children in particular can suffer long-term trauma.

The reality of mandatory detention is worse that any prison in Australia. At least in Villawood, detainees can be supported by the various community groups which visit regularly. The fact that this government places detention centres in remote locations adds insult to injury, creating even greater trauma for already traumatised people.

Temporary protection visas are also an unacceptable part of current policy. Introduced in 1999, they appear to be designed to make sure that, even if it is acknowledged that a person is entitled to refugee status, only temporary protection is offered-and with qualifications which make life very difficult.

TPV holders cannot bring their families here and their right to welfare and language training is restricted. This is discriminatory, inhumane and detrimental to the health of the refugees, as well as the broader community in the long run. Reducing access to settlement services means we are losing an opportunity to welcome and benefit from the contribution many of these refugees can make to our society.

Border control legislation, or the so-called Pacific solution, is also a national disgrace. It is another example of the arrogance and lack of diplomatic skills of this country. Our Pacific Islands neighbours are not impressed at all. Many in the international community denounce it for the cop-out it is and recognise that, fundamentally, Australia is taking advantage of our most impoverished neighbours to progress its inhumane policy on asylum seekers.

My own travel as a CPA regional representative has enabled me to listen to the views of parliamentarians from many Commonwealth countries. In particular, developing countries which accept many more refugees but have much less capacity to support them, are scathing about Australia's position. The point is made over and over again that developed countries must think about the global situation, not just their own national situation.

At present, there are 71 countries which accept refugees in some way. The top three refugee-receiving countries in 2001 were Iran, Pakistan and Tanzania, which host over 3.6 million refugees between them. Australia is ranked 32nd of the 71 countries that accept refugees. In Europe, 300,000 refugees sought asylum, and in Australia there were 4,174 refugees who arrived by boat or plane seeking asylum. It is obvious that the world's poorest nations are carrying the biggest burden.

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