2 Australian citizens sent to offshore detention - Border force out of control?

Incompetent Dutton, RWNJ immigration minister

The Keystone Cops

Two Australian citizens have been sent to the Christmas Island offshore detention centre by the Border Force. It was only after it was realised that they were actually Australian citizens that they were released. 

They, like many Australians, were dual citizens. In this case born in New Zealand but taking on Australian citizenship here. As am I.

This is a stupendous blunder by what I would estimate is a dept out of control. It sounds more like the Keystone Cops than a responsible dept adhering to process and regulation. How on earth could it escape them that they were Australian citizens? How did it get to the point where they were actually sent to Christmas Island? I beggars belief that people could be so incredibly stupid. 

It's not the first time either that blunders have come from the dept of immigration, as reported on the case by The Guardian:

A subsequent inquiry by the former AFP commissioner Mick Palmer found a “serious cultural problem” within the department. Palmer said the department showed weak leadership, with untrained and incompetent staff given “exceptional, even extraordinary powers” and focused on detaining and deporting people without any concern for due process or checks.

 The commonwealth ombudsman further investigated 221 cases of Australian citizens being wrongly and illegally detained by immigration officials. One was illegally detained three times for a total of eight months.

 Sweeping changes were made to department processes and oversight for deportation and detention orders but department sources have told Guardian Australia these have been steadily eroded or reversed.

Prof George Newhouse, principal solicitor of the National Justice Project and the lawyer who acted for Rau and Solon, said he had seen lives destroyed by bungling in the department.

 “Over a decade ago the Department of Immigration were criticised for acting like a bunch of cowboys because of their failure to implement due process and to make proper investigations – all because they were under pressure to deport people and please their political masters.”

 Newhouse said the changes to impose oversight on bureaucratic and ministerial decisions were sensible and had made the process more robust, but these had been rolled back for political purposes.


“It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest if the Turnbull government and Peter Dutton are going back to those bad old days. The Guardian