EVIDENCE IGNORED AGAIN

The lawyer for a Chinese-born Australian wrongly held in a detention centre has warned overseas-born Australians to carry proof of their citizenship at all times. Sydney solicitor Nick McNally said his client, whom he identified only as "Howard", was held for three days at Sydney's Villawood detention centre in 2002 despite showing immigration officials a valid driver's licence. The man's girlfriend and three-year-old son were also held for 48 hours at the centre.

The case follows the wrongful deportation to the Philippines of Australian woman Vivian Alvarez, who says she was kicked out of the country after she was unable to prove her citizenship. Mr McNally, who has filed a civil lawsuit, said Howard showed the officials his driver's licence, Medicare card and proof of employment but did not have his passport on him at the time. He was freed only after a lawyer took his passport to the immigration department.

Mr McNally issued a warning to overseas-born Australians. "If you're not obviously not someone from overseas you need to carry conclusive proof of your citizenship status at all times," he told ABC Radio. "Howard was carrying his driver's licence which was not regarded as good enough and if you need some stronger proof of your identity the next thing in line is a passport."

Mr McNally said legal action was the only option available after his client's rights were infringed. "At the end of the day there are fairly limited ways of keeping the government accountable. How does one really hold the authorities accountable if your rights are infringed other then to bring it to the courts?"

Mr McNally said Howard's girlfriend from China, who had overstayed her visa, was later deported. He said he would not object if Howard's case was investigated under by the inquiry into immigration bungles, which is looking at the Alvarez case and that of Cornelia Rau. Ms Rau, a German-born Australian resident who has schizophrenia, was mistakenly detained as an illegal immigrant for 10 months.

Source


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