Inside Australia's Immigration Detention

Even the High Court justices heard migration cases in January but my Federal Court judge is still enjoying holidays.  It is February but he is still on holidays.   The High Court listed for the judgment in a migration case next week but my case in the Federal Court has no future listings because my judge has not even started working this year yet.  You are right.  I am cranky today. By the way, the High Court case which will be delivered next Wednesday is the Falzon case.  So if you are a migration lawyer, you have to keep an eye on the High Court page (www.hcourt.gov.au) next Wednesday. The Minister seems to want the public voting to select judges.  My inclination today is the partial support for the Minister's idea.  I propose a voting to strike off the judges of the Federal courts before a voting to select the State Courts judges.  Lazy judges should be struck off!  Yes, I am cranky today.  But I am also interested in w...

It's Day 88.  Still one week before the Federal Court will resume the hearing.  Some judges subcontract (?!) writing entire judgments to their Associates but in many cases, judges write the conclusion by themselves.  So chances are, until and unless my judge, after coming back from holidays on 5th, starts and finishes writing something, I will be here.  My judge is not the slowest worker amongst the ones who hear migration cases in Queensland.  But he proved to be lazy last year so I am worried....  The slowest worker in Queensland is definitely my other judge.  I have a pending case against some Government organisation in the Federal Court.  I filed the case in 2016 and have been waiting for the judgment since May last year!  This dispute occurred in March 2009 and ended up in the Federal Court first time in 2013.  I won the case in 2015.  After the remitter, the Government organisation made the same decision agai...

This morning, I collected from a guard my final submission to the Court which I had asked her to print out last night.  Then I immediately asked her to scan it.  She might have thought that I was bullying her.  But the Federal Court online document lodgment system does not accept a PDF file made by Google Docs.  So I have to print out a PDF file of my submission first and then scan it again to make another PDF file.  I was not bullying, really. Anyway, I filed my final submission this morning.  The remaining job for this migration case is to wait for the Registry to send me a service copy and serve on the other side.  It will probably happen on Monday.  After that, I will just wait for the judge to come back from holidays.  Since the court will resume on 5 February, he will start working from that week.  Given my case is seriously simple, it should not take so long to deliver the judgment.  But who knows. I finished st...

My morning routine eventually came back!   Yesterday, I was told that the coffee shop would open next day to test a new barista.  But it opened yesterday by a barista with 7 years of experience outside!  Today, even an assistant started working!!  So it is now officially re-opened!!!  My morning habit of reading newspapers while sipping a coffee in an air-conditioned room came back with a pleasant chat with these really professional guys.  Actually, this guy makes really nice coffee at exactly the same standard of cafes outside!  Lucky me!!   Uh?  Oh, I failed to get a job.  Oh, what a pity.  I couldn't gain new skills.  Well, in these circumstances, unfortunately, the sum of the damages I will claim has to go up for ... ummmm ... maybe injured feelings?  Yes, injured feelings!  I am really really sorry for myself for ...  well ... the false hope of becoming a barista?  Mmmmm... Do you thi...

I suspect that there are forty days before my lazy judge delivers the judgment.  I think I can wait because Villawood 2017 is nothing like Villawood 2006.   Having said so, I don't like the idea of missing out my guinea pig boy's entire childhood.  So I want to get out of here earlier if possible.  Particularly since I worked so hard to file all the documents early, I should not be required to be here to wait for the incompetent lawyers retained by the Minister.   So I asked all my friends to kick up a fuss.  It is not a right time since everyone is having a holiday.  But since my lazy judge said, at the end of the hearing, that the Minister might revoke the refusal decision after this hearing, someone should let him know. Will see how it goes.

On 22 December, I spent half of the day for telephone calls to all friends to whinge and cry and the rest of the day in bed at BITA (Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation) until at night.  The guards there talked to each other how difficult it is to win against the Minister in the Federal Court.  Apparently, they misunderstood that I had lost the case.  Bloody hell.  It's not difficult to win if the Minister's lawyers are not so incompetent as they were!!  Even then, I will win.  It just takes longer than it should have been.  Bastards. The ABF tried to fly me back to Villawood immediately after the hearing yesterday but I was too sick and tired and really did not want to travel.  So I went to the toilet with a sick bag and did not come out.  The guards seem to have considered to drag me out.  But one of the guards was a mature age law student probably one of the students whose exam paper I marked a few years ago.  She per...

Last night, after midnight, a guard came to my room and informed to me that I would fly to Brisbane on the next day leaving this centre at 1pm.  So I will go back to Brissie this afternoon. This morning, I took out one of the jeans I brought from home with me.  The largest pair.  I could squeeze myself in them only just!!  Oh, no... I put on weight a lot....  I thought I would wear a different pair of jeans tomorrow in court but I probably cannot fit in!!  Oh no.... I had brekkie with my Sri Lankan friends who are also leaving here today.  I gave one of them my email address as his son is going to Japan. Having had no contact with people in Japan for ten years or more, I am not of much use, to be honest, but since he was desperate, I gave my email address for a peace of mind. Then I had a chat with my African friend while having a cup of tea after brekkie.  I went to the library to print out one case which I will read in a c...

A busy week started.  The last few days in Villawood.  I still don't know when to travel but I suspect it is 20th.  So I have to wind up everything tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.  It seems that the Immigration does not tell me the date and the time of travel in advance.  However, according to a guard who does escort, since I will go interstate, the custody has to be transferred from Serco NSW to Serco QLD which means that I should be able to take all my belongings with me.  I hope that is correct. Today, I organised my court papers.  I also printed out the last documents that I might hand up to the judge.  Other than those bits and pieces, I read cases and had fun.  The Immigration never stop surprising the court (and the readers of the judgments like me).  They are astoundingly talented! Tomorrow, I will introduce my quiet kind Tamil friend here to my caring friend in Sydney when she visits me.  The day after tomorro...

Have you read the article about the delegation problem in the Immigration?  Were you able to access the page?  I can't!  Would you believe it?  The Immigration blocked the site after I accessed it! The Australian Human Rights Centre of the University of New South Wales Law School is now also blocked.  Law firms that accept pro bono brief in migration and/or human rights cases are blocked even though I can access the sites of all commercial law firms.  The websites of barristers chambers that accommodate barristers doing migration law and human rights law are blocked while those of other chambers are not.  Great....   Yesterday, there was a Christmas concert here.  I heard it was a beautiful piano concert.  Yes, I only heard about it after all finished.  I knew that there was a concert on 15th but I completely forgot because I had a deadline for filing my court document.  And as half anticipated, all sorts of human ...

It's day 38.  Eleven days to the travel to Brisbane.  Well, I have not been told when and how to get there even though I asked it to the Immigration soon after the previous hearing.  So I don't know whether I can really go back to Brisbane for the hearing.  But they are not going to ignore the order of the judge who is about to hear their case, I assume???  Mmmm, who knows what the Immigration does. Since last night, I don't have an appetite.  I think my old body can't take any more food.  I am fed too much too frequently.  I didn't eat three big meals a day outside.  Since arriving here, I haven't skipped even one meal.  No, I could not eat a lunch on the day of the first case management hearing.  But except that, I have not missed any.  It's impossible to skip a meal since there is not much else to do.  If I get fat, I will seek the additional damages for the cost of bigger clothes, extra health care, shorter lifesp...

Rainy day.  I have a garbage bag to wear so that I am not going to get  wet.  But I was given a raincoat in 2006 so my situation is worse than  2006. I put a request form in today stating: 'I need a court attire for my  Federal Court case against the Minister for Immigration on 21  December.  Dark suits and dark shoes are preferred.  However, any  business style is acceptable.'  I saw some detainee men walking in  suits from time to time so there must be something for court for men.   Then why don't they have something for women? My Japanese friend here went to the local court today as a witness for  the police.  She came back and asked me what happened in her court  case.  How could I know?  I didn't attend the court. According to her, she went to the court and waited in front of the  court room with another witness and a police officer.  The defendant  did not turn up as usua...

I was searching a few legal databases this morning and accidentally  found the article entitled: 'Truth, Justice and the Australian Way: Plaintiff S157 of 2002 v  Commonwealth'. My immediate thought,,, 'My piggies!!!'.   I remembered a remark by a  B&B owner where I often stayed.  When she learned my guinea  pig's name, Justice, she said, 'Appropriate name.'  I thought Justice  was a pretty name but may not sound so pretty for native English speakers. Anyway, what was I searching in the database?  Two pieces of  legislation. One, the amendment to the defective Migration Regulation  1994 newly allowing a student who won in the tribunal to apply for  another student visa even after the original student visa expired  while the lazy tribunal was mucking about without making the decision.   Two, the amendment to the faulty Migration Act 1958 to eventually  abolish the detention costs debts.  T...