DIMIA Annual Report 2001-02
Review by the Secretary
INTRODUCTION
The Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) continued to play a key role in managing and providing advice on migration and humanitarian policy, border control, Australian citizenship, multicultural affairs and settlement services.
The composition of the portfolio changed significantly as a result of administrative arrangements orders in November 2001, which saw the former Department of Reconciliation and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs amalgamated into the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs as the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (OATSIA).
In November, the Hon. Philip Ruddock was appointed Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Reconciliation. In recognition of the increased responsibilities of the portfolio, the Hon. Gary Hardgrave was appointed Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs.
INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
OATSIA continued to work closely with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and other agencies in the pursuit of better outcomes for Indigenous Australians, with a clear focus on pursuing the government's practical reconciliation agenda.
We have worked to develop the synergies between the different areas of the portfolio, in areas such as corporate services and public affairs, to enhance our work on Indigenous issues.
At the same time, we have maintained a distinct identity for this work.
As part of an initiative by the Council of Australian Governments, the government agreed to work with State and Territory governments in a number of Indigenous communities and regions to provide programs and services in a more coordinated and flexible way, based on priorities agreed with communities in a context of shared responsibility.
To achieve this, Ministers asked a group of Departmental Secretaries, assisted by a new Indigenous Communities Coordination Taskforce, to lead joint activity across Commonwealth agencies and work with Indigenous communities and State and Territory governments.
UNAUTHORISED ARRIVALS
The department's activities through the year were shaped by a number of key events:
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the surge in unauthorised arrivals and the government's decisions aimed at stopping the flow
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the events of 11 September. The department reviewed character screening and immigration alert systems and worked with other border agencies to strengthen airport and maritime security. Draft legislation was introduced which required airlines to provide advance passenger information to help identify people of concern to the Australian community
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a series of new laws was passed to strengthen Australia's territorial integrity and to reduce incentives for people to make hazardous voyages to Australia. The government's Pacific Strategy allowed Australia to meet its protection obligations by ensuring all asylum seekers had access to refugee status determination processes on Nauru and Manus Island (Papua New Guinea) as well as the Australian external territories of Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands
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no boats have reached the Australian mainland since August or Australian territory since December 2001.
The department's responses to these events were carried out in support of the government's clear intentions and under significant scrutiny by the public, the media and other stakeholders such as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC), the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and various Parliamentary Committees.
INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT
In order to meet the government's objective of stemming the flow of unauthorised arrivals facilitated by people smugglers, the department pursued an active program of international engagement.
This included working both multilaterally and bilaterally with source countries, countries of first asylum and transit countries, as well as other destination countries.
In February 2002, Australia co-chaired with Indonesia the Regional Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, which focused the attention of regional governments on people smuggling issues.
The department also supported the government's work on reform to the United Nations system.
This included active encouragement to UNHCR to pursue approaches to the management of asylum seeker flows and related irregular migration which would minimise incentives for people smuggling while making more effective the functioning of the refugee protection system.
HUMANITARIAN PROGRAM
The Humanitarian Program continued to give priority to people in greatest need of resettlement.
Australia's refugee and humanitarian resettlement program is one of the largest in the world and a total of 12,349 visas were granted during the year, including 8,458 visas issued offshore.
The priority areas for the program were Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and South-West Asia, reflecting UNHCR's international resettlement priorities as well as the views of community groups in Australia.
MIGRATION PROGRAM
Australia's 2001-02 migration program was delivered on target and was the largest and most highly skilled in a decade.
We issued visas to a total of 93,080 migrants, including the largest numbers of skilled stream migrants on record at 53,520 or about 58 per cent of the program.
This was two-and-a-half times larger than the skill stream of 10 years ago and made full use of the 8,000-place skill stream contingency reserve.
Our on-going challenge was to make the entry of people who met the legal criteria faster and easier.
At the same time, we ensured that applicants who did not meet the legal criteria were refused entry and/or removed from Australia.
CITIZENSHIP, SETTLEMENT AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS
The department continued its task of implementing initiatives flowing from the government's response to the report to the Australian Citizenship Council, Australian Citizenship for a New Century.
Amendments to the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 were the outcome of this process of review and community consultation.
The most significant of these amendments was the repeal of section 17 of the Act to allow Australian citizens to retain their citizenship if they acquire another citizenship.
A highlight of the year was the launch on 1 July 2001 of the national Australian citizenship campaign designed to promote acquisition of Australian citizenship and to enhance awareness of citizenship in the community.
The department achieved excellent progress on a number of initiatives to provide better quality and more responsive settlement services to its clients.
A model for providing intensive, on-arrival settlement support to Humanitarian Program entrants, the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy (IHSS), was implemented in all states and territories.
The Living in Harmony initiative continued to build on the success of earlier work and was extended for four years from 2002-03 at $3.5m. per year.
DETENTION
The year saw a drop in the number of people in immigration detention, but the complexity and management difficulties of cases increased. There were larger numbers of people in detention found not to be refugees and available for removal.
Asylum seekers also spent longer periods in detention while pursuing merits and judicial review.
By 30 June 2002, only nine unauthorised boat arrivals in detention had not received a primary decision on their protection visa applications.
The department moved to implement the majority of recommendations of the Flood Inquiry and the Ombudsman's Own Motion inquiries into detention issues.
In accordance with these recommendations, the department has undertaken a major review of and extensively revised the Immigration Detention Standards to underpin the delivery of detention services under the new contract.
The year has seen an increased focus by the department on children in detention, in particular those for whom the Minister is the guardian under the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act 1946.
The department prepared a major submission to the HREOC Inquiry into Children in Detention.
Departmental resources were allocated to meeting increased scrutiny of detention facilities including by HREOC and the Ombudsman.
We facilitated visits to detention centres by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Envoy of the UN Human Rights Commissioner.
The department adopted innovative approaches to deal with the needs of particular groups such as women and children and unaccompanied minors.
These include the Woomera Residential Housing Project for women and children and alternative detention arrangements put in place for unaccompanied minors in South Australia in cooperation with the South Australian Department of Human Services.
MEETING ONGOING CHALLENGES
While dealing with immediate challenges, the department has continued to invest in finding solutions to our business needs, both in the near future and in the longer term.
To achieve our goals we have developed a strategic plan, Business Directions 2002-2005.
The plan is dynamic and we will revisit it regularly to ensure it remains consistent with emerging trends.
We also settled on key strategies to improve our organisation, fine-tune our processes and hone our delivery.
We have committed ourselves to achieve this through our Investing for 2005 and beyond initiative.
A new people management strategy, Investing in People, recognised two important things:
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it is our people that achieve the department's business objectives
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we need a clear statement of priorities in people management.
Investing in People is a dynamic document which articulates our corporate values and details a number of projects at the corporate and local levels aimed at giving our managers, supervisors and human resource specialists tools and skills to help develop our people.
Along with Business Directions 2002-2005 and Investing for 2005 and Beyond, the document forms an important part of a simple, clear set of planning documents which guide our future and how we plan to achieve our goals.
PROCESSING ARRANGEMENTS
The department continued to modernise its processing arrangements for delivery of improved integrity and standards of client service.
Our key business process redesign initiatives included :
- global working, which involves the creation of centralised application receipting, client inquiry
and initial processing centres in Australia, thus freeing up resources at overseas posts to focus more on local integrity checking functions associated with these applications
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electronic lodgement and, where appropriate, decision-making. DIMIA is a leader in using the Internet to provide information to potential clients and enable applicants to lodge their applications electronically
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creation of Integrity/Monitoring Units designated to analyse and investigate specific caseloads to help visa decision-making
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improved links including electronic links with third parties who can help us in the process of immigration decision-making.
CONCLUSION
The department acts in partnership with other Commonwealth agencies, other levels of government, community organisations, corporations and individuals to deliver its outcomes. We appreciate the cooperation we receive.
We are a people-centred organisation and our employees, with their diversity of languages, culture and background, are an important national resource.
The outcomes we achieved could not have been possible without the dedication and professionalism of many DIMIA officers, both in Australia and overseas.
I pay tribute to their contribution to dealing with difficult and sensitive issues, as well as the day-to-day business of nation building which the department has carried on for more than half a century.