Yesterday evening Andrew and I enjoyed a chat and a drink with one of our asylum seeker friends, who I have written about elsewhere. Our friend is living down the road from us in a house with a wonderful view of the water, so we sat on the verandah together and watched the sun go down. Mid-conversation, he collected the mail and discovered a letter from the Department of Immigration, addressed to him. Just seeing the envelope had an appalling effect on him. He was obviously terrified, tried to collect himself, but opening the letter was a fierce act of will. It was, thank God, about an unimportant matter. He tried to laugh about it.
I reflected on that experience this morning when I read that the report into the case of Vivian Alvarez Solon has been released. Ms Solon is an Australian citizen who was deported as an 'illegal immigrant', while extremely badly injured, to the Philippines. There she was abandoned to the care of a charity for years. Her case is only one example of the contempt, hostility and abuse that has characterised the Department of Immigration's treatment of those deemed 'illegal'. You might think that the Ministers in charge of this Department over the last few years would bear responsibility. But apparently not. Both the relevant Ministers have made it clear that they feel no responsibility whatsoever for what has happened. Neither will suffer any consequences for the misery that has been inflicted on our friend and thousands of others.
Here is the wonderful Michelle Grattan really losing her temper about it all.
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