Mandatory detention has long term costs

THE mental health cost of mandatory detention will be $25,000 for each asylum seeker, says a Church report.

THE lifetime mental health cost of mandatory detention will be $25,000 for each asylum seeker, a Catholic Church report estimates.

Centacare Catholic Family Services director Dale West said detaining asylum seekers for long periods exacerbated the trauma and mental-health problems with which most arrived in this country.

"Uncertainty for human beings is like a psychological cancer," he said.

The link between long-term mandatory detention of asylum seekers and mental health problems has been documented but a new report by the Yarra Institute for Religion and Social Policy has "conservatively" estimated the lifetime mental health costs.

Mr West said the process of locking up asylum seekers for unknown periods further traumatised asylum seekers, more than 80 per cent of whom become Australian citizens.

The report says mental health treatment costs about 50 per cent more than regular medical treatment and once asylum seekers are assimilated into Australian society, their medical costs are paid for by taxpayers.

"So why would you, at the political end, and for deterrence, cause people those extra health problems when it's going to cost you to support them and to provide the health support services into the future?" he said. Mr West welcomed asylum seekers being detained at Inverbrackie but said asylum seekers still had no idea how long they would be kept there.

"From a Christian point of view, it's about how we treat one another and if we were in a circumstance where we were fleeing terror ... we wouldn't hope to be treated by being stuck in a detention centre and left there for four or five years," he said. "It's about respecting the dignity of each human being regardless of their race and, simply put, we're not doing that."

The report says the immigration system has wide health checks for migrants seeking to come to Australia to protect public expenditure on health and community services.

"Mandatory detention of asylum seekers has the direct effect of increasing public expenditure on health and community services," it said. "The Federal Government can save long-term health costs of a similar magnitude by minimising the time in detention."

Source http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/mandatory-detention-has-long-term-costs/story-fn6t2xlc-1226180904500

Links between sex industry and Australian student visa program to be investigated

The Australian Government has launched a targeted analysis of the student visa program following allegations of links to sex trafficking and prostitution.

Australian immigration minister Chris Bowen has announced the details of risk and integrity analysis about to be conducted by the Australian Federal Police and Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), to investigate expolitation of the Australia visa program.

"My department routinely conducts compliance operations in the sex industry, generally as joint operations with the AFP, to ensure the owners are not employing foreign nationals working without a valid visa or in breach of work conditions,” Mr Bowen said in a statement released this week.

"This is the situation as with any other industry. But following particularly serious and disturbing allegations, it is only appropriate that a thorough analysis now occurs.

"Australia is committed to ensuring the integrity of its migration services and visa programs. Allegations of illegal work and the exploitation of workers in any industry by unscrupulous employers or migration agents are taken very seriously."

The minister explained that the upcoming project will be aided by a new unit that will specialise in maintaining the integrity of the visa system.

"My department's detection and prevention activities have been enhanced with the establishment of a specialist integrity analysis unit that detects, measures and recommends treatments to mitigate against integrity risks identified within our visa programs and operations more broadly," he said.

Source http://www.visabureau.com/australia/news/19-10-2011/links-between-sex-industry-and-australian-student-visa-program-to-be-investigated.aspx

10 teenagers missing from community detention

TEN Vietnamese teenagers under community detention have gone missing.

A Department of Immigration spokeswoman said the unaccompanied minors are all aged between 15 and 18.

Nine were in community detention in Victoria while the remaining teenager has gone missing from WA.

"The Department of Immigration can confirm 10 children have absconded," the spokeswoman said.

She said the Red Cross was the contracted service provider for community detention.

Seven other unaccompanied minors are in community detention in Victoria and WA.

There are fears that the teenagers may have been trafficked.

Liberal Senate Leader Eric Abetz said the Labor government must explain how this happened.

"Why is their system failing yet again?" Senator Abetz said today in Canberra.

Australian Greens senator Bob Brown said the news was worrying.

"It's very concerning," he said.

Senior Labor left figure senator Doug Cameron said the incident should not be a reflection on the merits of community detention.

"What I've seen of community detention in Australia and around the world is that it works, it's cost-effective and the most humane way to deal with refugees," he said.

A spokeswoman for the Red Cross said the charity was not responsible for the security of asylum seekers but was involved in providing housing, support services and English lessons.

She said the security of asylum seekers in detention was a matter for the Department.

Source http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/teenagers-missing-from-community-detention/story-e6frf7jx-1226169427969

Migration agents suspected over sex slavery

AUSTRALIAN immigration officials suspected of involvement in sexual slavery, gangs and illegal brothels operating government keep their licenses despite being involved in police investigations.

Age was found complaints and information in the police documents revealing the alleged involvement of two licensed migration agents, Yasmin Bao, Melbourne, and Xu Li Xu, Sydney, in Australia's illicit sex trade.

Police have said that the age of state or federal authorities have discovered a dozen corrupt immigration officials, but the federal government is not acting on the information gathered.

The Victorian Government has announced that current laws to replace the Consumer Affairs as the lead agency in charge of monitoring the sex industry and the police station in charge. The announcement follows reports in the Age that exposes the failure of state government to act against licensed brothels after the state or federal police obtained evidence implicating the halls of the allegations of sexual slavery or crime organized.

Federal Interior Minister, Brendan O'Connor, told ABC Radio that evidence of sexual slavery transmitted as part of an age of four sets of research Corners was disturbing. Regarding''licensed brothels are regulated by the state and must be properly regulated,''said Mr. O'Connor.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the government granted licenses for brothels and migration agents should be discontinued if there is strong evidence that the police engaged in traffic.

''There has to be a much more rapid decision when there is evidence, either in brothels or immigration agents. We are talking about people who have their lives taken away, because they have been trafficked and forced into sexual slavery. I struggle to see how a light approach is acceptable.''

Victorian Consumer Affairs Minister Michael O'Brien has rejected the age of an interview on the subject for the second day.

The Australian Federal Police confirmed realizes que''se complaints by immigration agents involved in the sex industry,''the traffic, but that questions about the licensing of these agents for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

The department said que''no no evidence to suggest any immigration agents have been linked to human trafficking in the sex industry in the last five years.''

Ms. Bao, registered as a federal agent migration in Melbourne, has allegedly been working for months with a syndicate operating illegal brothels in apartments in CBD of Melbourne. The brothels are seen by Asian women on student visas. When contacted about the complaints, Ms. Bao - whose behavior has twice been referred by the complainant to the Victoria Police and once to the federal police, admitted that some Asian women working as masseuses offering sexual services to customers.

Sometimes the client''instructs the girl [to provide additional services] because the girls are young. They are very easy. Some customers to deceive.''

When asked about the age she could act as an immigration agent - agents are required by federal law to have a good reputation - and allegedly being involved in illicit sex industry, Ms Bao said, Would you like to leave''massage or do you want to stop immigration official business?''

Immigration agents are registered by the federal government and has powers to help people get visas and according to the Department of Immigration. They are intended to be governed by a strict code of conduct.

Xu Li Xu is an immigration agent in Sydney referred to several times in the federal police documents recently submitted to the Melbourne Magistrates Court in the prosecution of a woman who allegedly kept as sex slaves in a brothel in Melbourne.

AFP documents allege that Ms. Li willing student visas and applications from school for two women victims of trafficking by international crime syndicate from Asia to Australia in mid 2009. The union alleged trafficking in women and then forced them to work as sex slaves in brothels in Sydney and Melbourne.

A federal police statement witness one of the comfort women, said Ms. Li of course was working with two senior union figures. ''I realized that she [Ms. Li] should be working with them and be in charge of all student visa applications.''

Last year, federal police raided facilities connected to Ms. Li, although it has not been charged with any crime and has denied the accusations, claiming she was also a victim of human trafficking syndicate.

Director of Immigration Agents federal Registration Authority, Christine Sykes said no agents in the last 10 years had been sanctioned by the allegations of sexual slavery or trafficking. Since the office began operations in July 2009 after a review of the law of self-regulation of the migration advice profession, 17 registered migration agents had been disciplined for other violations. Neither Mrs Li Bao, or the lady has been punished.