Australia’s political leaders need to rebuild the way we think about refugees, around the world and here at home.
As Fraser’s former minister for immigration and ethnic affairs, Ian McPhee has watched with dismay the shift in Australian public attitudes to refugees over the past two decades.
It’s not just in offshore detention centres that Australia’s cruelty to asylum seekers has been laid bare. It’s seen across the country’s immigration detention system, which is built around punishment and exploiting unfounded fears in the community. And this has been illustrated in recent revelations of police interference in the deportation decisions of the government, and in the knee-jerk reaction last week to the High Court’s decision on indefinite detention.
Behrouz joined Jo Trilling on Drive to talk about the continuing plight of refugees and the High Court ruling last week which found it was unlawful to indefinitely detain people in immigration detention.
"We should recognise that this system, that I call a dictatorship system towards refugees, damaged many people for many years."
The Home Affairs Department paid $80 million to Papua New Guinea’s government to look after the refugees left there when Australia’s offshore processing regime ended, but less than two years later that money has been spent.
Seven service providers to about 60 former Manus Island detainees are now threatening to stop looking after the men entirely, including the Pacific International Hospital, which provides mental and physical health services.
A letter from the service providers to PNG’s Chief Immigration Officer, Stanis Hulahau, threatens to stop all accommodation, transport, security, food vouchers and immigration advice to the men from November 23 if the PNG government does not pay outstanding invoices.
The letter says the providers have “grave concerns regarding the ongoing viability” of the country’s refugee humanitarian program.
“We regret the necessity of such action,” says the letter, which was dated last week but only made public on Thursday, “but the many assurances we have received of payment being imminent has not yielded any result.”
The threat comes amid a dispute between Australia’s Home Affairs Department and the PNG government over who is responsible for funding the ongoing needs of the former Manus Island refugees.
The amount paid by Australia has never previously been disclosed, but sources who have knowledge of the details but are not authorised to speak publicly confirmed it was $80 million.
The money is part of hundreds of millions of dollars questionably distributed as part of Australia’s offshore detention program, and the revelation will put more pressure on the Albanese government as it digests a scathing secret report by ex-spy chief Dennis Richardson into the Home Affairs Department’s large-scale mishandling of contracts.
This masthead [The Age/SMH] has already reported extensively on allegations of corruption in the offshore processing system, including that offshore processing contractor Paladin paid millions of dollars to a businessman who was associated with allegedly corrupt PNG officials as well as the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang.
In a statement, the Home Affairs Department said the Australian taxpayers’ money had been paid out in full by June 2022 to deal with what it called the “residual caseload” of refugees after the decade-long regional resettlement arrangement with Papua New Guinea formally ended on December 31, 2021.
The amount, which was part of a confidential agreement between the two countries, was enough to manage all the individuals in PNG to “self-sufficiency” and the “arrangement does not envisage ongoing funding”, the Home Affairs statement said.
The arrangement, made under former home affairs minister Karen Andrews, allowed “flexible budget management by PNG”, the statement said.
It was sufficient to settle people who wanted to live permanently in PNG or send others to third countries, it said.
A refugee who spent much of the past decade on Manus Island and is now living in Port Moresby said, “I think things will get much worse” if the service providers made good on their threats.
“It is getting very stressful in here,” said the man, who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely about his situation.
“Some people are not feeling well. There are people here who are totally out of their mind, mental issues, and if they kick them out from the accommodation I don’t know where they will end up.”
Asked about Australia’s role he said: “I like Liberal because they’re not hypocrites – we know they hate us and do not want to help us. Labor is full of hypocrites. They say ‘we’re humanitarian’, but it’s been a year and we’ve got almost nothing.”
PNG official Hulahau has previously said the money from Australia had run out.
“If Australia wants the refugees to continue to remain in Papua New Guinea, then they have to fund the program, or we will shut the program and send the refugees back to Australia to manage,” he told The Guardian last month.
He has also previously denied there was any corruption in the government program. Hulahau was approached for comment about the latest threat from the service providers.
The Home Affairs statement said Australian and PNG officials were in discussions about the issue.
The hospital alone claims to be owed almost $40 million, and the seven service providers say in their letter they had not been paid since November 2022, only months after Australia says the final tranche of the funds was paid.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said it was Labor’s responsibility to fix the issue.
“Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil must act to provide the funds needed to support Australia’s refugees, even if she has to fund the service providers directly.”
A whistleblower within the PNG Immigration and Citizenship Services Authority recently claimed the residual program, the PNG Humanitarian Program, had been corrupted, prompting the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Immigration Minister, John Rosso, to order an audit of the authority’s spending.
In the space of 12 hours on Thursday, the Australian Parliament passed legislation about what remains, to the public, a largely ill-defined and unknown group of people — but variously described by some of our MPs as "hardened criminals" and "absolute animals" — in a legislative exercise alarming in its chaos and deeply concerning in its origins.
Refugee Advice & Casework Service (RACS) is concerned about the human rights ramifications of provisions in the Migration Amendment (Bridging Visa Conditions) Act 2023 (the Act), which was rushed through Federal Parliament on Thursday. Several of the measures introduced by the Act are draconian and significantly encroach on people’s right to liberty.
A legal challenge to emergency legislation responding to the high court’s decision on indefinite detention is likely, with advocates warning the Albanese government the changes may be unconstitutional.
Alison Battisson, the director of Human Rights For All, and David Manne, the executive director of Refugee Legal, have both warned the changes may amount to “extrajudicial” punishment.
You have to ask whether this country will have a collective moral injury about the perpetual demonising, stigmatising and politicising of asylum seekers.
It’s gone on for decades. The often-successful exploitation of this vulnerable group for political purposes has led to ignorant claims that only Greens and crossbenchers care about human rights.
If we’re willing to imprison outsiders for life, we must ask: Who are we? Julia Baird, SMH
The Australian government claims it funded the humanitarian program in full to finalise the resettlement of all refugees in PNG or in third countries, and that those remaining are now the responsibility of the PNG government.
But PNG’s immigration authority said the resettlement of refugees has been much slower than forecast, largely delayed by Covid border closures. As a result, more refugees and asylum seekers remain dependent on Australian-funded support.
The 64 refugees and asylum seekers still held in Port Moresby are the final cohort remaining from Australia’s unlawful offshore processing regime in PNG.
“The PNG farce has gone on too long. The assurances from PNG CMO Stanis Hulahau that the interruptions to services ‘will be resolved in the very near future’ are worse than a joke. Refugees cannot live on empty promises.” Ian Rintoul
PNG refugees face eviction as all services cut. By Ian Rintoul, Refugee Action Coalition
Britain's Supreme Court has ruled that the government's scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful, dealing a crushing blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before an election expected next year.
Court rules UK government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is illegal. Reuters, ABC News
Labor appears set to criminalise the breach of bridging visa conditions as the first plank of its legislative response to the high court’s decision that indefinite immigration detention is unlawful.
A classified inquiry by ex-spy chief Dennis Richardson has provided a scathing assessment of how Australia’s Department of Home Affairs managed hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for the offshore asylum seeker processing system.
Whistleblowers also confirmed that Richardson said he would pass their details to the National Anti-Corruption Commission after they raised allegations of graft and crime during his Albanese-government commissioned inquiry into contracting under the so-called Pacific Solution.
The revelation that the review is highly critical of the way the department managed Australia’s offshore processing procurement regime was confirmed by official sources who have read Richardson’s still-secret report but are not permitted to discuss it publicly.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil received Richardson’s report weeks ago but declined to answer questions about whether it would be released, stating only it was under review. “The Richardson inquiry is currently under consideration by government,” a spokesperson for O’Neil said.
It comes amid fresh corruption concerns surrounding controversial contractor Paladin, which was paid hundreds of millions of dollars to run the Manus Island detention centre.
This masthead has obtained documents, including court files and financial records, that show Paladin made suspicious payments to a businessman with links to both the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang and to allegedly corrupt officials in Papua New Guinea.
According to Paladin paperwork, payments of at least $3 million were made to the businessman’s offshore account which Paladin expected would secure backing from PNG politicians as it sought to overcome resistance to its delivery of its Home Affairs contract on Manus Island.
A former Paladin director, Ian Stewart, has also revealed he reported the offshore Paladin payments “externally to agencies as suspected bribes”.
Separately, a Manus Island clan leader and former Paladin business partner has alleged in court documents that the Australian firm may have defrauded him while paying millions to the family of a powerful PNG politician who then “dished” it out to others.
The classified report by Richardson, a former director general of ASIO, examines how Home Affairs engaged with contractors such as Paladin and Brisbane firm Canstruct, along with the dozens of subcontractors, that were paid billions of dollars to run Australia’s offshore processing system.
Richardson’s inquiry was ordered by the Albanese government in July after this masthead and 60 Minutes revealed in the Home Truths investigation detailed allegations that firms contracted for offshore processing may have been corrupted, with suspect payments funnelled to foreign politicians in Nauru and PNG.
The official sources with knowledge of Richardson’s findings said his report concluded that serious failures within Home Affairs had led to the engagement of contractors and subcontractors with alleged links to dubious business dealings or foreign officials.
Richardson found Home Affairs did not conduct adequate due diligence on some contractors, a problem exacerbated by information sharing failures between departmental officials and agencies such as the Australian Federal Police.
The sources said Richardson closely examined the decision of Home Affairs to continue to contract with a company closely linked to Australian businessman, Mozammil Bhojani, after Australian authorities charged Bhojani with bribing Nauruan officials to gain mining favours.
Home Affairs retained Bhojani’s company in Nauru even after he was convicted, court and departmental files show.
Richardson also interviewed former Paladin employees about their concerns about the way the company operated in PNG.
Home Affairs paid Paladin $530 million in taxpayer funds to run the detention centre for just over two years between 2017 and 2019 but from the beginning, the company had difficulty with PNG officials in obtaining visas and work permits.
An ongoing investigation by this masthead can reveal that Paladin paid at least $3 million to an offshore account in 2018 and 2019 to get the backing of senior PNG officials.
In a statement to this masthead, former Paladin director Ian Stewart described the payments as “very likely” to be bribes paid to ensure Paladin could obtain visas and work permits. He said he had reported his concerns to Australian law enforcement agencies.
Payment records show the funds were sent to the Singapore account of a Chinese-Malaysian businessman with interests in Queensland and PNG and who entered into a business arrangement with Paladin that Stewart now alleges was a sham.
The businessman is now at the centre of a federal police investigation involving Paladin and allegations that some of the $3 million paid by Paladin was used to get favours from PNG officials close to the businessman.
The Chinese-Malaysian businessman, who this masthead is not naming for legal reasons and who did not respond to efforts to contact him, has a chequered history that has also been unearthed by this masthead.
His home was recently shot up in an alleged outlaw bikie drive-by and detectives subsequently alleged in court he had business dealings – that had soured – with a company owned by a bikie and which police claimed is controlled by the Comancheros motorcycle gang.
The issue of offshore processing remains a sensitive one for the Albanese government, which wants to avoid accusations from the opposition that it is soft on asylum seekers who attempt to travel to Australia by boat.
Other payments Paladin made in PNG are separately under scrutiny.
Rodney Pokapin, a Manus Island clan and business leader who partnered with Paladin to manage security on the island’s detention centres, claims the Australian firm did not pay his companies millions of dollars it earned running Australia’s offshore processing system.
Pokapin said in an affidavit filed in court that Paladin had instead “paid a lot of money in millions to” another company it partnered with to run offshore processing and which is controlled by the family of a powerful and still serving PNG politician.
“Funds from the [unnamed politician’s family] company were dished out to any person or event without proper recordings,” Pokapin’s statement alleges.
It also claims that in May 2019, the politician “was seen and filmed dishing out cash” they had earned through partnership with Paladin. This masthead is not suggesting that Pokapin is corrupt.
The Richardson inquiry is the second investigation into Home Affairs that remains confidential, after the government separately commissioned former Public Service Commissioner Lynelle Briggs to investigate the conduct of suspended Home Affairs chief Michael Pezzullo.
Pezzullo oversaw much of the Home Affairs offshore contracting as the department’s chief, but the Briggs inquiry is limited to examining his private dealings with lobbyists.
On Tuesday Dutton claimed the government should not have released people from immigration detention on the basis there was “another” – unspecified – “option available” to prevent their release and still comply with the court ruling.
Asked if those released were in “taxpayer funded accommodation”, Giles responded that detention was also “taxpayer funded” and defended expenditure of commonwealth funds as an important measure to “maintain community safety” because it gave “some control over where an individual lives”.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles says the Commonwealth had argued against the outcome but is prepared for their releases, with the AFP and Border Force involved in the process.
On Monday Andrew Giles sought to allay community concern about the releases, which have included Malaysian hitman Sirul Azhar Umar, by saying “all [80] are on appropriate visa conditions” including regular reporting.
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, and Giles have said the government “is considering other measures that may be appropriate to ensure community safety”, but have not said what regulatory changes might be on the table.
Dr Ghezelbash (Deputy Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW ) says international precedents show Australia can protect the community without resorting to indefinite detention.
"The principles at play here - they go beyond an individual case, and go beyond the immigration detention context. I think it's general principles of justice we should all hold dear. One of them being that, no one should be able to be detained indefinitely, regardless of their visa status, at the whim of the government."
Australia’s offer to host its South Pacific neighbours marks a new step towards the recognition of climate change refugees.
It was not always like this. Before 1994, persons suspected of unlawful immigration status could be arrested and detained by migration officials. However, they had to be brought before a magistrate within 72 hours and thereafter every 7 days until their status was determined. Incarceration had to be for a purpose relating either to determination of their status or their removal from the country. This is the regime that should be restored. If individuals pose a threat, they should be dealt with under the criminal justice system. This already allows for preventative detention, release on condition and intensive oversight through control orders and the like.
Mandatory immigration detention is a policy that has caused indiscriminate harm, including death, and permanent incapacity. It has been rightly described as our national shame.
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