Asylum seeker rights
Media and commentary related to our work on asylum seeker rights and ensuring access to health care in Australian immigration detention.
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FinanceCareer: Serco replacement picked
Senior Solicitor, Grace Gooley discusses the need for major reform in immigration detention centres as Serco loses 15-year contract.
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2SER: The End of Serco?
Serco’s time running immigration detention has been controversial, but Senior Solicitor Grace Gooley explains that reform needs to go beyond a change of contractor
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Australia’s new immigration detention contractor must not be allowed to repeat Serco’s failings
Under Serco’s 15-year watch, immigration detention facilities have been plagued by harmful and inhumane treatment of people detained.
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The Guardian: Flawed immigration detention risk assessment tool can’t be upgraded as ABF data ‘riddled with errors’
Principal Solicitor Jonathan Hall Spence provided comments about border force risk assessment to the Guardian.
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Guardian Australia: Australian immigration detainees’ lives controlled by secret rating system developed by Serco
Principal Solicitor, Jonathan Hall Spence, commented on an unjust risk assessment tool to the Guardian.
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UN committee report slams Australia’s ‘inhuman’ prisons
Australia’s prison and detention practices are inhuman, degrading and in some cases may amount to torture, a United Nations report has found. The UN has delivered a scathing assessment of Australia’s treatment of prisoners, immigration detainees and juvenile offenders, despite attempts to block inspectors from local facilities. … Public Interest Advocacy Centre principal solicitor Jonathan…
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PIAC responds to scathing UN subcommittee report on Australian detention
The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (‘SPT’) visited Australia in October 2022 to investigate Australia’s compliance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The SPT visited 6 prisons, 3 youth detention centres, 5…
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PIAC investigating a class action for people handcuffed in immigration detention
PIAC is investigating a potential class action lawsuit on behalf of people who have been unlawfully handcuffed in immigration detention. Current and former detainees who were handcuffed while in immigration detention are invited to share their experiences in a short online survey. Answers to 2022 Senate Budget Estimates showed that in one year the government…
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Australians need to better understand the reality of detainees’ lives
In my career as a lawyer and advocate, I have supported detainees whose social justice cases — some of the worst in the country — outline extremely distressing and difficult journeys. One resonant example is Yasir*, who sought protection in Australia in 2013 and has been in detention for 10 years. Like so many, Yasir…
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2SER: Uncovering misuse of handcuffs in immigration detention
The Commonwealth and its security contractor Serco have settled a case with PIAC client Yasir (named changed to protect client identity) after a three year legal battle in the Federal Court of Australia. PIAC has previously discussed the case on 2SER. Yasir is happy with the settlement of his case, but PIAC believes there may be…