Detention Cases Raise Concern About Our Society

CANBERRA - The Commonwealth Ombudsman says the cases of three Australians wrongly detained in immigration centres raise questions about Australian society's attitude towards mental illness and national identity.

Professor John McMillan was speaking about the high-profile cases of Australian resident Cornelia Rau, citizen Vivian Alvarez and the more recent case of a man known only as Mr T.

Mr T is a Vietnamese-born man suffering from schizophrenia who was locked up in Villawood detention centre on three occasions.

"There are worrying similarities in the Rau, Alvarez and Mr T cases of a person who is suffering difficulties in the public arena, is apprehended by state police, is clearly suffering mental illness, the Department of Immigration has been contacted, the person's identity can't be established, and the person is wrongfully taken into immigration detention, and some months elapse before the person's identity is uncovered," Professor McMillan told ABC TV.

"The cases prompt not just the immigration department, I think, (but also) all of us to ask some deep questions about how well our society handles mental illness, and even about who we regard as Australian.

"Two of the people were Australian citizens and one was a long-term permanent resident.

"The fact that the department of immigration was called in as part of the solution raises some worrying questions about national identity."

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has apologised to Mr T for her department's bungling.

Professor McMillan last night indicated his investigation of more than 200 other detention cases of concern was unlikely to throw up any more instances of mistreatment.

"The early indications are that the two cases on which my office has reported, Vivian Alvarez and Mr T, are the worst of the cases," he said.

"There's a handful of cases on which we will report soon, that deal with mental health.

"Most of the other 200 or more cases deal with issues like data matching problems and the like.

"The three cases we've seen are the worst of the cases."