On-Line Opinion has a piece on "stereotyping asylum seekers" by Stuart Rees, which also examines the issue of culture.
I argue the culture of DIMIA and other areas of the Public Service has responded to the macho, bullying style of the government with like management approaches. Certain ambitious public servants have seen a way to further their careers by shaping this response. Having experienced this phenomenon, I can assure you that the impetus for cutting corners, aggressive prosecution of policies and callousness towards clients comes from Howard’s frontbench.
We now learn that a senior immigration official says the Federal Government is trying to cover up the bungling of up to 200 cases of wrongful detention, which are currently being investigated by the inquiry headed by former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer.
On ABC TV's Lateline program last night, the anonymous official known as "Jamie, said the Federal Government and its tough tactics are to blame for the Immigration Department's culture of hardline treatment of illegal immigrants.
Jamie says immigration officials are now dealing with five times as many cases as they were a decade ago.
The official says there has been major staff movement in the section responsible for the wrongful detention of Cornelia Rau and the deportation of Vivian Solon.
"That means if someone gets called, they might have only been in the job for a few weeks," Jamie said.
"They can only report on the systems they have now - they won't have any idea about what's been going on in the past."
Jamie says there is now a culture of getting numbers up and rewarding officials for being tough and brisk.
"That has basically meant not having to take so much care with day-to-day checks and balances that normally happens," Jamie said.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says the department's culture is troubled.
"I do want to make it clear," she said. "You can make changes to policy, to processes and legislation but these will be of little benefit without some cultural change."
A report from the Palmer inquiry is due to be handed to the Government soon.
The farce played out over the defection of a Chinese diplomat is another example of public servants running around trying to cut bureaucratic cloth to match Government policy made on the hop – ergo the nasty mess surrounding the Chen issue.
Bill Leak in the SMH
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