The inquiry into a the detention of children at a Australia’s immigration detention centres by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission will or not add up a great deal to what most right-thinking Australians already know: that putting children who have not committed any crime or into detention is immoral and should be an acceptable in a Australia.
Nonetheless, the inquiry must be welcome. For a start it indicates that Australia, as a pluralist, liberal democracy, is not run on the basis of whomever wins government gets its way no matter what. The Executive Government of the Commonwealth is just one of many sources of power. There are the states, the judiciary and the Parliament and the statutory bodies created by it and there are media organisations that can re[port the dealings of these other heads of power to change public opinion. In this instance the commission is exercising power granted to it by an Act of Parliament to conduct an inquiry. It is an inquiry that the Federal Government would no doubt prefer did not happen. The Government, though the Minister for Immigration. Philip Ruddock, has agreed to “”co-operate” with the inquiry. In the same breath the Minister belittled the inquiry, suggesting that it would be a vehicle for people who wanted to change the Government’s policy of detention for asylum seekers. Mr Ruddock also pre-empted the inquiry by saying that unaccompanied minors were often sent ahead by “”queue-jumping, illegals” to give the parents a better chance of getting permanent residence. Fair enough, he should have his say, however misguided or inventive it is. However, it is a sharp contrast to the occasions when governments use the fact that an inquiry or court case is afoot to avoid having to making a comment.
The inquiry will air matters that the Government has done its best to conceal. It has created immigration detention centres far away from population centres. It has made it as difficult as it can to prevent media coverage of what goes on in those centres. It has made it as difficult as possible for migrant support groups and other charities to get access to those detained, particularly children. Despite that, complaints have still trickled through to the commission, sufficient for it to set up an inquiry.
As these matters are revealed, public opinion should change, and even three years out to the next election., the Government might be moved to change policy. However hard-hearted Australians appear to have been over the whole question of asylum seekers, the Government might find that its populist stand breaks down when it comes to justifying to the public the imprisonment of children.
One can only hope that it will not wash – that Australians will make it fairly clear that the prospect of 582 children imprisoned, 53 of them unaccompanied by parents – is not justified.
On balance, the evil of imprisoning children who have committed no crime must far outweigh the mantra of “”border protection”.
What as a nation are we doing here: imprisoning children in the name of protecting our borders? We need protection from our own xenophobia more that we do against these desperate people.
It is shocking that we even need an inquiry to tell us the obvious. It is shocking that the inquiry to tell us the obvious will take until the end of next year. Bail hearings of people on the most serious charges get more expeditious treatment.
These 582 children should be freed at once. Every day they stay in detention is to this nation’s shame.