Inside Australia's Immigration Detention

Day 3 was an exploration day.  Holding a sheet of paper  entitled 'VIDF Induction Briefing' which I was given at  the Property, I went out of the Lima compound.  In front of the Lima  compound is a large oval field with several picnic tables.  The field  is green with lawn and clover.  I wanted to have Truth with me here.  He  would have enjoyed.  Surrounding the oval are a few layers of  footpaths.  If you follow the footpath to the other side of the oval,  there is the area called the Community.  The Community is comprised of  two dining rooms, one game room, one sports gym, one basketball court, one  tiny library, one canteen, one hairdresser.  There may be more but most facilities were not open on weekends so I did not know what else was or wasn't there. According to the VIDF Induction Briefing, the opening hours of the canteen called the Shop are 10:30am to  12:30pm and 1:30pm to 3;30pm 7 days a week.  But the notice was up on  the door of the Shop stating: '11;

The Lima compound where I was taken to at the night of 2 November is  nothing like the one in 2006.  A Department's webpage includes photos  of a detainee's room and a laundry. < http://www.border.gov.au/ about/immigration-detention- in-australia/detention- facilities > The real Lima looks just like that.  Other than a bunk bed and a  lockable locker with a key given to me (both appearing in the  Department's photo), there is a large desk with two chairs, a fan and  a heater in every room. The room is probably twice as big as my  bedroom in my unit. I placed my stuff in the locker and went out to look for a phone.  I  did not have to look for it because there were many on the outside  wall of the Lima building.  Every phone had a stool in front of it.  So  you can sit down while talking over the phone.  The roof of the  building covers the phone area so that we will not be wet even if it rains.  Calls to landlines in Australia are free.  But we cannot make  a cal

The induction started probably nearly 5pm. An Indian looking induction  officer came and asked me basic questions such as my name.  He asked me  what the offence was to cause the cancellation of my visa.  Actually, my case is not a visa cancellation case.  But it was too bothersome to explain so I simply said,  'Misuse of telecommunication.  Don't shout and scream over the  telephone and the Internet.'  The officer quietly said, 'In this  country, if an Asian does the same thing as whites, there will be  trouble'.  Gee.  It would have been useful if the Federal Court had an induction session like this for a self-represented litigant!! Since it was nearly the end of the business hour, we rushed to the Medical  Centre.  There, I was seen by a North-East Asian looking nurse.  Since  there was not enough time, she only asked me whether I had an allergy   and there were any health issues.  She asked me where I was picked up and I  told her that it was home.  She told

On 3 November 2017, I was dropped off at the reception of the  Villawood detention centre probably after half past twelve.  It was  surprising, to say the least, to see the new look of the reception  area of the Villawood Detention Centre.  Although this area is still  called 'the Property' in the same way as it was in 2006, everything  looks different. There is a TV lounge, a nice clean kitchenette with a  big fridge filled with all sorts of food for 'help yourself', an area of picnic tables, seating for detainees waiting for escort, three  separate interview rooms and a toilet, all new and clean.  But the  difference stops there.  When I asked one of the Property persons who  was, to my eyes, mucking about, to allow me to make a call to my Partner to  let him know that I came to Villawood, she replied to me, 'Not now,  I'm busy'.  It was the same attitude as that in 2006. From that time, I kept asking for a phone call every now and then and  was refused

After I was handed over to the NSW team of Serco in Kempsey, I gave up  having any sleep in the van.  It was just impossible.  So I decided to  gather as much information as possible about the survival in Villawood  by asking a question to the Serco girls.  We also had a chat about the  route to Villawood, the estimated time of arrival and so on.  They told  me that: there was no breakfast scheduled in this transport or in any  other transport these days so they would miss out breakfast; that was  the standard way these days; one of the girls got a call from the  company a night before while having a shower and rushed out to get  into the van to come to pick me up so that she had no preparation etc. After having these chat, the girls fell asleep.  I felt so bored that  I decided to have an early breakfast at about 4am with a pack of  the sandwich which I had been given as a dinner at the police station.   When I was almost finishing my half-dehydrated cheese sandwich, the  Serco girl

The chief of the Serco team to escort me to Villawood was called  Cxx.  Cxx explained the procedure to travel to Villawood. According to him, we would travel by a van and it was the standard  procedure applied to everyone that: I had to be in handcuffs all the  way; the van was allowed to stop only at police stations; for the  safety of the staff, the van had to stop at a police station every two  hours;  at the halfway, I had to move to another van which would come from Sydney to pick me up.  I was astonished.  For my last visit to  Villawood in 2006, traveling on road was my choice as I had a fear of  hight.  It was not the standard.  I was not in handcuffs and we stopped  at service stations whenever we felt like stretching our legs and  walking around a bit.  We had snacks, coffee, and meals and used a toilet at those service stations.  Apparently, that was a story of  good old days in the last century.  In 2017, obviously, the treatment  of detainees are far worse than that In

After the ABF uniform  left the interview room, several people came to see  me. One of the persons who came to see me was a GP.  I told her that I did  not like the fitness to flight assessment and asked her whether there was  a charter plane waiting for me at the Gold Coast Airport to deport me.   She said to me that the assessment was for the reception of a detainee  and because she did not have a passport with her, she did not think  that I would be deported. Then she started asking me the standard  questions that I was very used to being asked and to answering. The  assessment lasted very long but there was nothing particular except  for one thing.  She told me that she had brought Diazepam and  Quetiapine (Seroquel) for me.  I believe that any psychiatrist, let alone my own,  who hears that would strongly object if not wring her neck! Another person I saw was a guy wearing a vest indicating the  'Immigration'. I asked the person to scan the Notice of Refusal and  other

Arrived at the police station, I was taken to an interview room.  An  Australian Border Force uniform turned up with a sheet of paper in his  hand. I asked him to allow me to give a call to my lawyer, my partner, a  person who was supposed to come to collect my pet guinea pig.  The ABF  uniform told me that I could not make a telephone call straight away  but would be allowed to make a call later. I also told the ABF that I wished to make an application for a  Bridging Visa E and that I had my completed application in my bag to  give it to him.  He said to me that I could not make a valid  application for a Bridging Visa because the Minister personally I do not remember when the ABF uniform gave me a bundle of  documents including the Notice of Refusal.  But at some stage, he placed it on the table . I was not allowed to read  immediately.  He also gave me a paper entitled 'Very Important Notice'  and asked me to read.  This paper might have been given to me before  the Notice

My second time of immigration detention started on 2 November 2017  after dark on the Gold Coast. I was in my unit with my guinea pig .  I do not remember what time it was but I have not closed the  blinds so it must be some time between 6 and 7 pm when I  heard door knocking. I usually do not answer any door knocks.  So I did not answer.  But  since it was two weeks since I had got a signal but not a notice, from  the Department of Immigration, of a refusal of my permanent visa  application, I thought they had come to pick me up.  So I called my Partner  and told him to start filing my judicial review application with the Federal Court using the Court's online filing facilities. I had  already written that application and gave it to my Partner with the details  of instruction for him as to how to file and serve. Door knocking continued for a while and eventually I heard the  shouting voice, 'Police, Open the door'.  So I went to the door and  opened.  There were about