The horror & ineptitude of Australian Immigration policy cont.

by Ashley Felderhof on July 17, 2005 08:48AM (EST)

Recent editorials in prominent Australian newspapers over the weekend re-inforce my view - that not only is the performance of the Australian immigration officials abysmal, but that someone should have taken responsibility at a political level.

For instance, Alan Ramsey, writing in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald -

"...where are you Mr Ruddock? The minister in charge of the disgraced Immigration Dept for 71/2 years is the same minister now responsible for the safety of the nation's key infrastructure against terrorist attacks. It was under Ruddock's authority that rank bureaucratic incompetence abused and misused the immigration detention system [to deal with illegal immigrants]...

As for the Westminster principle of ministerial responsibility, that is simply a farce with this Government. The years Ruddock was minister (March '96 - Sept 2003) were the years the detention system was politically corrupted and administratively debauched' -

... couldn't have put it better myself.

AF

Dark goings-on in Australian Immigration

by Ashley Felderhof on July 15, 2005 07:55PM (EST)

Bureaucrats gone mad?
Those of you reading this who are from Australia will know about the 'Cornelia Rau' affair - the woman who was wrongly imprisoned by the Australian Immigration Dept on the basis of (supposedly) being an illegal immigrant.

It now turns out that the Immigration Dept ignored signs that she may indeed have been an Australian citizen, and there is emerging evidence that someone from the dept may have (illegally) tried to tamper with the details of her case, so that their mistake could go unnoticed.

And yet the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr John Howard, calmly goes off on an overseas trip claiming that all is well.

What an outrage!
They have acted as a law unto themselves for too long. The Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone, should resign and those responsible within the immigration Dept should be sacked.