Volume 176 - Issue 2
Asylum seekers and healthcare
Authors: Aamer Sultan, Kevin O'Sullivan and Debra Graves
Med J Aust 2002; 176 (2): 86. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04295.x
Published online: 21 January 2002
Published online: 21 January 2002
To the Editor: The article by Sultan and O'Sullivan on detention of asylum seekers in Australia in the 3/17 December issue of the Journal1 contains several errors of fact and distortions that I believe you have an obligation to address. While I am not addressing medical issues, this nevertheless goes to the issue of credibility.
The article made several claims that are factually wrong and would not have withstood even cursory examination had you sought verification. I will not attempt to deal with all distortions and factual errors, but your readers should be made aware of at least some elements.
Detention is not arbitrary. It is humane and is not designed to be punitive. Staff are provided with cultural-awareness training and are expected to interact with detainees in an appropriate manner. Further, the level and range of medical services available to detainees exceed those available in many regional areas of Australia.
It is true some people have been detained for some years. However, Sultan and O'Sullivan neglected to mention that these cases are ones where people have been found to have no lawful right to remain in Australia, but have been pursuing all legal avenues or have been refusing to cooperate with departure arrangements.
Another distortion and half-truth relates to a hunger strike where "power and water supplies were cut to the cell block . . . affecting uninvolved women and children". Firstly, there are no cells at Villawood and the alleged cell block was actually a recreation room. The water supplies were cut when earth-moving equipment outside the centre accidentally cut the mains supply to the area, affecting surrounding homes and the centre. Water containers were provided for the detainees until the water supplies were restored.
What Sultan and O'Sullivan do not tell you about the power supply was that it was cut when detainees ripped wires out of electrical equipment and threatened to use them to electrocute staff. This action obviously also posed a risk to the children who were moving in and out of the room.
A small number of protesting detainees were denied access to the visitors' area because of the disruption their actions would cause to the majority of detainees who were not involved in the protest.
Head counts have taken place at 2 am, but what you were not told was that these followed escapes and are not routine.
The claim that there has been a dearth of educational and resource material is a factual error. It is disappointing that a publication of your standing did not make even cursory enquiries on simple factual issues.
References
- Sultan A, O'Sullivan K. Psychological disturbances in asylum seekers held in long term detention: a participant–observer account. Med J Aust 2001; 175: 593-596. <eMJA full text>
- Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Human Rights Sub-Committee. A report on visits to immigration detention centres. Canberra: Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, 2001: 53. joint
- Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Those who've come across the seas: The report of the Commission's Inquiry into the detention of unauthorized arrivals. Canberra: HREOC, 1998: 182, 52. i1063045
- Steel Z, Silove DM. The mental health implications of detaining asylum seekers. Med J Aust 2001; 175: 596-599. <eMJA full text>
- Sultan A, O'Sullivan K. Psychological disturbances in asylum seekers held in long term detention: a participant–observer account. Med J Aust 2001; 175: 593-596. <eMJA full text>
- Walker V, Saunders M. Snub ACM jobs, psychiatrists told. The Australian. 2001; 10 December: 4. i1063047
- Sultan A, O'Sullivan K. Psychological disturbances in asylum seekers held in long-term detention: a participant–observer account. Med J Aust 2001; 175: 593-596. <eMJA full text>
- Sultan A, O'Sullivan K. Psychological disturbances in asylum seekers held in long term detention: a participant–observer account. Med J Aust 2001; 175: 593-596. <eMJA full text>
- Office of Basic Energy Sciences [United States]. Review and selection of research projects. http://www.er.doe.gov/production/bes/peerreview.html#pr (accessed December 2001).
- Van Der Weyden MB. From the Editor's desk . . . the Journal. Med J Aust 1995; 162: 344. ref3