The Immigration Detention Advisory Group Members

The Immigration Detention Advisory Group consists of a Chairperson and Members.

The Hon John Hodges (Chairperson)

The Group is chaired by the Hon John Hodges, who has had a political career with the Liberal Party spanning more than 30 years, during which time he served as the Federal Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (1982 to 1983).

He has had a long association with migration issues, notably as:

• a foundation member of the Migration Institute of Australia
• a member of the Reference Group on the move to Statutory Self Regulation of the Migration Industry (1997)
• Chair of the External Reference Group on Independent and Skilled Australian Linked Points Tested Migration Categories (1998)
• a member of the External Reference Group on Statutory Self Regulation (1999).

As a registered pharmacist, he has been a pharmacy owner (with his wife, Margaret) for more than 35 years. For nine years he operated the John Hodges & Associates Migration Consultancy (1987 to 1996).

Dr Mohammed Taha Alsalami

Dr Alsalami is the Chair of the Organisation of Human Rights in Iraq and a prominent leader in Sydney's Muslim community. He is also Chair of a local Community Refugee Settlement Scheme (CRSS) group and is involved in a number of Muslim community and cultural groups in New South Wales. Dr Alsalami is a former member of the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council (RRAC).

Mr Paris Aristotle AM

Mr Paris Aristotle AM is the Director of The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture Inc. He has been actively involved in a number of organisations and government committees dealing with refugees and issues relating to rehabilitation of torture and trauma survivors.

Mr Aristotle is currently an executive member of the International Society for Health and Human Rights. He is also a co-convenor of the National Forum of Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma, and a former member of the Australian Refugee Council and the Settlement Advisory Council. He has been a member of the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council (RRAC) since 1997.

Air Marshal Ray Funnell AC (Retd)

Air Marshal Ray Funnell joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as an officer cadet in 1953 and served until 1992, the last five years as Chief of the Air Staff.

He brought into being Australia's own strategic-level college, of which he was Principal from 1994-98. He retired from public service in January 1999. During 1999 he was a member of the External Reference Group on People Smuggling.

Air Marshal Funnell is a graduate of RAAF College, RAAF Staff College, the United States Air Force War College and the Royal College of Defence Studies. He holds a Masters Degree in Political Science and a Graduate Diploma of Administration. He has written and lectured widely on defence and security issues.

Major General Warren Glenny AO RFD ED (Retd)

Major General Warren Glenny AO RFD ED (Retd) is a former Chair of the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council. He is a former Chief Executive Officer of AUSTCARE, a non-government organisation undertaking assistance to refugees and displaced persons overseas. He is also a former General Manager with Coles Myer having commenced with Fosseys in 1968.

The Major General has a distinguished career in the Army Reserve spanning more than 40 years. He commenced as a cadet with the Royal New South Wales Lancers and retired in 1994 as Major General commanding the Reserve 2nd Division. During his Reserve service he spent time in the United Kingdom, Germany, South Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Malaya and Indonesia.

The Hon Gerry Hand

The Hon Gerry Hand was a Member of Federal Parliament for 10 years, during which time he served as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs (1987-90) and Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs (1990-93).

Mr Hand has long been interested in refugee and related issues and recently represented Australia at a round-table meeting called by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Government of Thailand to discuss refugee issues in Thailand. The meeting was also attended by representatives from the United States, Europe, Thailand and Cambodia. In the past he has undertaken visits to refugee camps in Africa, Europe, and South-East Asia.

Professor Harry Minas

Professor Harry Minas is Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne's Department of Psychiatry. He is the Director of the Centre for International Mental Health and the Victorian Transcultural Psychiatry Unit at the University of Melbourne, executive member of the Board of the Mental Health Council of Australia, Chair of the Council's Research, Projects and Policy Committee and is also a member of the International Advisory Council of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Professor Minas has had a long-standing interest and involvement in immigrant and refugee mental health issues, and in the human rights of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

The Hon Margaret Reid AO

The Hon Margaret Reid AO has had a long and distinguished career in politics. She was elected as representative of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in the Senate from May 1981 prior to retirement mid-way through her 2001 term. During her time as Senator for the ACT, Ms Reid was Deputy President of the Senate and Chair of Committees from 1995 to 1996 and also served as President of the Senate from 1996 to 2002.

Ms Reid was instrumental in many achievements during her career as representative of the ACT in the Senate. These include:

• the development of the National Museum of Australia
• the upgrade of the Canberra Airport to international status
• the redevelopment of the National Film and Sound Archive
• upgrades to the Australian War Memorial and Old Parliament House
• the development of a new Russell Office complex.

Sister Loreto Conroy

Sister Loreto Conroy, a North Sydney Sister of Mercy, served six years as Chair of the Mercy Foundation, resigning in April 2004. She has long been associated with global migration and humanitarian issues. During the period 1990 to 1993, Sister Conroy, through secondment to the UNHCR, was responsible for some 2000 unaccompanied minors (UAMs) in a Vietnamese refugee camp. During this time she also assisted in the voluntary repatriation program for UAMs.

Sister Conroy's involvement with migration and humanitarian issues is also evidenced through her involvement in the NSW Ecumenical Council with resettlement of refugees issues (1993), religious service position at Villawood IDC (1993), as Manager of the Refugee Program for the National Council of Churches Australia (1996) and as a member of the Inter-Government Committee for Non-Government Organisations (1996).

Sister Conroy continues to be involved in a voluntary and educative way in matters relating to refugee, asylum and immigration detention issues.

Mr Tsebin Tchen

Mr Tchen served in the Australian Parliament as a senator for Victoria from 1999 to 2005. During his term he served on a number of Parliamentary and Senate Committees, including the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, and the Senate Standing Regulations and Ordinances Committee, which he chaired between 2002 and 2005. He also chaired the Government Members' Policy Committee on Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs between 2000 and 2004.

Mr Tchen is an urban and regional planner by profession with more than 30 years of experience working in strategic and statutory planning with a number of State and local government agencies in New South Wales and Victoria. He was a member for the Victorian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal from 1995 to 1998.

Before entering politics, Mr Tchen was actively involved in Victoria's Chinese and multicultural community, and has served as an elected member of the Executive Committee of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria.