The Greens say former prime minister John Howard is hardly deserving of a Medal of Freedom from US President George W Bush, given his record on human rights.

Howard has been named as a recipient of the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, along with former British prime minister Tony Blair and Colombian president Alvaro Uribe.

The medal is the highest honour awarded to civilians, described by White House spokeswoman Dana Perino as being for “efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad”. Previous recipients include Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi.

“John Howard’s record on human rights is blemished, to say the least,” said Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

The Greens say Immigration Minister Chris Evans should not be opening the Christmas Island detention centre to detain recently arrived asylum seekers.

The $400 million, 800-bed detention centre on Christmas Island was built by the Howard Government but left unoccupied until now.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the Christmas Island detention centre should never have been built and should not be housing asylum seekers now.

“This facility, of monstrous size and cost to taxpayers, is not an appropriate way to accommodate people who have arrived in Australia seeking our assistance,” she said.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has welcomed the Federal Government’s introduction of a National Human Rights Consultation, but says that a bill of rights should be among the options considered.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland today, on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, announced that the consultation process would now commence, and be overseen by four independent committee members.

“The Greens welcome the National Human Rights Consultation, as a long overdue step for Australia to take,” she said.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says Australia, as a signatory to the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, still has work to do to fulfil its obligations.

Today, International Human Rights Day, is also the 60th anniversary of the Declaration.

“While we celebrate 60 years of such an important document, we should note that there is still significant work to be done in this area,” said Senator Hanson-Young.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has slammed claims that changes to Australia’s immigration policy has caused a surge in suspected asylum seekers reaching Australia in boats.

A boat carrying 44 suspected asylum seekers was intercepted off Broome yesterday, bringing this year’s total of detained asylum seekers to 127. Last year 150 asylum seekers arrived by boat.

“These are the same old scaremongering lines being trotted out by hangers-on from the Howard and Ruddock regime,” said Senator Hanson-Young.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the Government’s new Australian Customs and Border Protection Service must treat compassionately and humanely people who arrive by boat to seek asylum in Australia.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the formation of the new agency today, a day after a boat of 35 suspected asylum seekers was intercepted off the Western Australian coast and escorted to Christmas Island for detention.

“What kind of service will this new agency be offering to those who need our assistance and protection?” asked Senator Hanson-Young.

“We cannot forget: it is not illegal to seek asylum. It is a right under international law.”

Statement:

Petro Georgiou MP (LIB)
Senator Dr Alan Eggleston (LIB)
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young (GRN)

Authors of a dissenting report to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration’s Report, Immigration detention in Australia: A new beginning

“Immigration detention decisions should be subject to prompt independent review”

The Joint Standing Committee on Migration’s report, Immigration detention in Australia: A new beginning, makes a number of very important recommendations to improve the fairness and transparency of Australia’s immigration detention policy.

They include the recommendation to stop charging former detainees the cost of their detention. The sums can be very substantial and well beyond the means of people to repay and cause great stress. This is a fair and sensible recommendation and we encourage the Government to implement it as soon as possible.

The Committee’s recommendations relating to reviews by the Immigration Department and the Ombudsman will improve the current framework.

However, significant weaknesses remain. The proposed changes fall well short of ensuring rigorous and timely assessment of whether detention is necessary in accordance with the new policy.