Understanding Compliance
Letter to the Editor - The Area News
16 February 2004
Dear Sir/Madam
A call to the department by Sally Demmery (Council to take action, 13 February) might have added some balance to her story.
Firstly, the department does not apologise for locating, detaining and removing people who live or work in Australia unlawfully. Australian law requires that we do this.
If people have information about the mistreatment of those we locate, they should present it to the department immediately.
In relation to the operation in question, at no time was a 23-year old woman locked in a car for an hour in 38-degree heat.
Our officers are highly trained, highly skilled, and those people who are located in breach of immigration law are treated with dignity, courtesy and respect.
The department does not detain people who are waiting for the results of an appeal. We only locate and detain those whose immigration status is clearly unlawful. Some people we locate or who present themselves to us are granted bridging visas to make their own arrangements for departure from Australia.
The department has facilities in place to allow people to present themselves at an office and discuss their immigration status. This is evidenced by the more than 7 700 who did so last year in New South Wales alone.
Immigration staff from our ACT Regional office regularly provide employer awareness seminars and information packs to employers in the Griffith area who want to know how to check the immigration status of potential employees. There is also a free fax service and telephone line they can use to check the status of people they may employ.
Foreign nationals who are working illegally are taking jobs away from unemployed
Australian citizens and residents.
Stewart Foster
Director
Public Affairs
DIMIA