24-hour Immigration Department helpline

Letter to the Editor – Sydney Morning Herald
22 December 2010

Dear Sir/Madam

In response to Ann Grant (Letters, December 21), the 24-hour Immigration Department helpline – in operation since the afternoon of December 15 – was set up for people in Australia and abroad who believe they might know someone on the vessel that foundered on Christmas Island.

Department case managers and staff are sensitively and carefully managing clients who survived the tragedy, which includes dealing with those issues associated with the fate of those on board. Where a confirmed match for a survivor has been identified, relatives from within the detention network are connected with each other.

Sandi Logan
National Communications Manager
Department of Immigration and Citizenship