Sawari Family – Questions To Answer

Media Statement - 11 December 2002

A week ago, the Sawari family, comprising Mohib and Fatima and their four children, were taken from Launceston and placed back into immigration detention in Baxter, South Australia.

The Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) have stated that the family obtained their temporary protection visas fraudulently.

Any fraud issues need to be dealt with properly. Certainly, any visa obtained by fraud should be revoked.

However, there are a number of issues relating to the return of the Sawari family in to immigration detention that have caused community concern and require answers.

DIMIA states that the family failed to respond to a letter advising of the visa cancellation. However, it appears this letter was sent to an address in Sydney and never reached the family. It appears DIMIA had been notified of the family's real address and was obviously aware of the real address, given this is where DIMIA went to get family members for return to immigration detention.

Minister Ruddock should now confirm that DIMIA knew the correct address and explain why the letter regarding visa cancellation was not sent there.

In addition, it appears that family members were taken from their home, from school and from a workplace by a team of six people, including DIMIA officers and police. This appears to be an unnecessarily heavy-handed approach to use for taking a non-resisting family back into immigration detention. The Minister should explain why such an approach was taken in this situation.