Inside Australia's Immigration Detention

Day 100 started normally in Villawood despite that I was supposed to be in Queensland by the order of the Federal Court.  Well, there was nothing I could do.  So I went to the Gym and learned a new way of using one of the machines from a trainer. After coming back from the Gym, I checked my emails.  There was an email sent by the Registrar but no doubt authored by a very unhappy judge!  His Honour required 'a suitably senior Immigration official' to swear an affidavit on the Minister's failure to produce me to the Court in Queensland.  Clear indication that a fun time ahead!! The judgment was by a video conference.  Surprisingly, I was allowed to bring my mobile with me.  The court must have told to the Respondent that I should be able to have my mobile with me.  I needed it just in case the immigration hands in another notice of refusal to me immediately after the judgment.  If it happens and I cannot contact anyone, I might be...

I got some documents from the Immigration through FOI.  It seems my litigation is looked after by a senior legal officer in the legal section.  The senior legal officer is taking instructions from the Directors of cancellation branch etc.  Obviously, I was severely demoted from 2006 when the Director of the legal section was taking instructions from the First Assistant Secretary who reported to the Deputy Secretary who had a meeting with the Minister regularly.  I am very happy with my rapid demotion in the last 11 years.  Hopefully, I will be demoted even further in the next week or two. Today, I tried an activity entitled 'Music'.  In that activity, a lecturer (the same one as knitting and ESL) distributed a sheet of paper which the lyric of one of Adele's songs was printed with some words were deleted.  Then while we listened to the song, we were required to fill in the missing words.  That's not music.  That's dictation!   ...

One of my friends received a notice of intention to consider the refusal of a  bridging visa under s 501.  I cannot understand why he can hold such a strong belief that the Immigration will grant him a visa soon when the notice he received clearly states 'intention to consider refusal', not the intention to consider the grant of a visa.  Just in case he may listen to me, I explained the situation.   As anticipated, he told me that I was wrong.  He knew better.   Actually, most people in Villawood are like him.  My other friend did not believe me when I explained to him that 'setting aside the decision' and 'quashing the decision' are the same.  According to him, setting aside a decision is good for an applicant while quashing a decision is bad.  He knew it because he read it and I was wrong. I stopped trying to figure out long time ago why those people got such misunderstanding.  None of them are psychotic but they are...

It was a busy day again.  I went to the gym for strength training with a personal trainer.  I usually do aerobics using a treadmill, a cross trainer, a bike and a rowing machine myself.  But I decided to learn how to use machines for strength training while I am here.  I booked a personal trainer at the induction yesterday for today's exercise.  So I was nearly murdered (?!) today.   Geez, those machines are so effective.  My stiff neck and sore shoulders have gone completely in a very short time.  I definitely need a membership of a gym after I get out.  Villawood is a nuisance, always costly.  Last time when I got out, I could not go back to the lifestyle without a bath thanks to VIDC which had baths for children in detention.  But the Australian Human Rights Commission did not include in the recommended compensation the sum of the difference of rents between a unit with a bath and a unit without a bath.  I thi...

The Chinese girl who does not speak a word of English and whom I tried to communicate with by writing Chinese characters (and dismally failed) turned to be a chatterbox!  She is very talkative and speaks to everyone.  Everyone listened to her with big smile and nods!  It looks as if everyone understood what the girls said.  But they came to me after the girl had left and told me that they could not understand what she said at all.  Sooo-oh funny! I went to the induction to the Gym today.  Every year, they require users to sign a medical consent afresh.  There were two Asian older men in the session.  Both look to me Chinese but it seems that they came from different countries since they did not speak each other.  The medical consent form does not have a translation.  Those two men do not speak English at all.  So the trainer started trying to translate it into kind of a sign language (?!).  I should not have laughed but I ...

I heard a rumour.  A very, very disturbing rumour.  Serco's contract is terminated.  Well, that's not disturbing at all.  But the ABF is taking over the operation of Villawood!  It's so disturbing.  I even became feeling sick.  If it happens, then VIDC will be like 2006!  No way.  I gotta get out quick... I roughly finished my final submissions to the Court.  So I knocked off pending chores today.  I had my complaints here piling up so I wrote half a dozen of complaint forms in one go.  I had to push the lawyers in the Attorney-General's Department who have been making an excuse one after the other to postpone making a decision on my petition.  So I emailed them to let them know that I would file a judicial review application with the Federal Court seeking mandamus directed to the Attorney-General and withhold the service on him to see whether they would keep the promise to make a decision by the end of February....