Unsubstantiated claims

Letter to the Editor - The Australian
14 October 2009

You make false and unsubstantiated claims in your report Boat people home and scared (10/10/09, p.6) that an Australian Immigration escort officer returning two failed asylum seekers to their home country (Sri Lanka) 'removed his badge and hid it', and failed to identify himself to Sri Lankan authorities as an Australian official.

Both of these claims – made by one of the two failed asylum seekers to your reporter – were strongly refuted when the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) was contacted as the story was being written by your reporter.

That you, and/or your reporter chose to ignore this response and instead opted to air baseless claims – which in turn slurs our staff and department – leaves your readers none the wiser about Australia's strong border protection policies, of which we are an integral part, or the lengths to which DIAC goes to investigate all claims for protection, which as demonstrated in these recent instances, are not always proven or successful.

Sandi Logan
National Communications Manager,
Department of Immigration and Citizenship

10 October 2009