Like senior public servants before him who had a leading hand in the implementation of the Government’s asylum seeker policies and who received awards and promotions, the head of DIMIA, Bill Farmer, has been rewarded with a Queen’s Birthday honour.
The disclosed mismanagement of key areas of the immigration portfolio has had no influence on this decision. The Government again signals that it considers DIMIA is doing a great job!
Writing in The Age yesterday, Russell Skelton paints a bleak picture of how this ‘great job’ is impacting the lives of those caught up in the immigration system. Following is an excerpt:
“While debate rages about the injustice of locking up asylum seekers for years, serious issues remain about the department and the conduct of its officers and service providers. The culture created by Howard and Ruddock survives, despite the embarrassments of Solon and Rau and the declining numbers in detention.
The culture is embedded in the Immigration Act, in the actions of officers and in the suspicious, authoritarian mentality that has developed. This has resulted in heartless and baffling decisions…There are many other instances of this, including the way "illegals" are rounded up, the treatment of emotionally disturbed detainees at Baxter and the splitting up of families.”
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