Senator Andrew Bartlett
Sunday, September 25, 2005
 
Inquiry into Migration Act starts public hearings
Tomorrow sees the first public hearings for the Senate Committee Inquiry into the administration of the Migration Act, which was initiated on a motion of mine back in June. I'm travelling to Adelaide tonight for the first hearing on Monday, followed by Melbourne on Tuesday. There have been a lot of submissions already received for this inquiry. You can read them, plus look at the schedule of hearings and the transcripts from them by going to this site.

My views about the inadequacies of the existing law and the implementation of it are already on the public record – including on this website. There are already ample examples of the human suffering and injustice caused by our immigration laws and how they are administered, so I'm not really interested in just seeing more examples of that. What I desperately hope can be achieved from this Inquiry is a recognition that there must be a change in migration laws and policies, and some ideas and common views developing about what those changes might be.

It is one thing to point out problems – and there are many in the immigration and refugee area – but it is another to provide ideas about what to do about it. I have been highly critical of the policies and rhetoric of both major parties in this area for the better part of a decade, but all of us that criticise them do have to acknowledge that migration law is a very difficult area which will always throw up hard cases and generate situations which cause heartache for individuals. That inherent difficulty is no excuse for the perversion of the rule of law and the brutalisation of human lives which the current government has willingly and knowingly overseen, but it is a difficulty that should be acknowledged none the less.

A Senate Committee has already tabled reports in the last couple of weeks into the case of the Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin, and deported Australian citizen Vivian Solon. These haven’t generated a lot of attention, but they all reinforce the fact that there is something seriously wrong with our immigration system. What I hope the wider Senate Inquiry that’s holding hearings this week does is not only show that there is something wrong, but what it is that should be done about it.

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Sunday, September 25, 2005 Permalink
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