Inside Australia's Immigration Detention

After the judgment, I took another pile of documents served on me during the judgment back to my room.  Since the judge did not close my case, I thought I was safe.  The Immigration would not do anything to me while a contempt proceeding is hanging over their heads, I assume. I told friends whom I ran across that I won the case and was going out.  Everyone was excited.  They are always looking for any indication that they too might be able to get out one day. When I was packing my stuff in big plastic bags, guards rushed to my room and told me that I had to go immediately.  I was booted out of my room very quickly and chased off to the Property.  Being a second timer, I knew this would happen.  So I organised my belongings in my room before the judgment. In the Property, I had to wait for ages to get my suitcase back.  Of course, I was complaining that the failure to return my bags kept in the Property constituted an unlawful detentio...

I was told this morning that the Immigration will fly me tomorrow with no wallet, no credit card, no money, no mobile, no computer, no key to the home, no nothing.   I seriously considered whether I should apply to the court for a variation of the order which the judge made on his return from holidays on Monday.  The order the judge made is that the Respondent produce the Applicant to the Court for the judgment in Brisbane.  What can I do if I get the order I am seeking, namely, the Applicant be released from detention forthwith?  I will be thrown out to the street with no money, no card, no mobile, not even the key to my home!  Contacting here and there and try to prepare for all the possibilities, my day has gone.   Then in the evening, I received an eye-popping email from the lawyers for the Respondent.  I am copying the first three paragraphs. 'We refer to the above matter and the Orders made Xday February 2018, requiring ...

My friend whom I call a 'problem child' here finally got a visa today and got out of here.  Thank goodness.  One less worry now.  Another friend eventually received a long-awaited notice today to be sent back to his country where some money he recently had got unexpectedly as inheritance or whatever is waiting.  Yesterday, another friend who is an overstaying tourist successfully negotiated with the Immigration about a visa to go back home.  Last week, my stateless asylum seeker friend got a visa and went out.  So people here are going one after the other.   But my judge is still on holiday... Grrrr! Decades ago, my Parter often ridiculed me by saying 'When Villawood Survivor is not happy, the entire world will know.'  That was not true at all but today, I decided to lodge a few complaints to let someone know that I was not happy.  So I went to the website of the Australian Human Rights Commission to make a complaint by an online co...

This morning, people were upset because three very peaceful pleasant guys had been taken to Christmas Island at 4 am this morning. One of them is a young black overseas student from an African country.  He was here at one time with her sister.  His sister got a bridging visa, I think, last year.  His application was knocked back.  He went to the court yesterday and was told that he would get a decision within 24 hours.  Before that time comes, he was taken to a remote island where no one can contact him.  Isn't that great?  Someone told me that if he wins, the Immigration will bring him back.  But I am not sure.  We will not be notified by the court whether he wins or not and he is not contactable (at least at this moment).  So no one will know anything from now on until and unless he gets back on the Internet from some place in the world.  I do not like the sneaky way of treating a very young overseas student.  Student...

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...

I don't know which complaints I had made worked but now I can access the website of the National Justice Project!  It's the site which the Federal Court order refers to.  It seems that after i reported the block to the National Justice Project, it raised the issue of contempt with the Immigration.  I could also access the Australian Human Rights Centre of the University of New South Wales Law School and the Australian Immigration Daily News, too.  Phew.  But I still cannot access the law firms and barristers' chambers for human rights and immigration.  If I fail to get out on Friday, I will make a hell of a lot of complaints again. Today, I received the other side's submissions.  They did what I had thought that they would do.  Good.  I should be able to celebrate Christmas with my guinea pig... only if I can get to the Court though...  I have not heard anything about my escort!

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...

It's day 31 today but in my mind, it's day 1 of the preparation to go  back home. I have decided to shift some of my stuff from my room's small lockable  drawer to my suitcase in the Property if possible.  I am hoarding not  only bottles of shampoo but also tubes of paw paw ointment, packs of  peanuts butter and honey etc.  I put a request form in to shift my  stuff but I don't know whether I am allowed to do so. When I leave for Brissie, I have to take my mobile, computer and  chargers for them with me by all means.  But I am not sure whether it  is possible.  If not, there will be a big fuss after I am released in  Brisbane. (Yes, for the moment, I have decided to believe I will be  released.)  Even if I can take these essentials with me, still there  will be a lot of left-over items. Last time, it took about a month and a rather large number of people's  help to get my left-over belongings back from...

Day 7.  I started very early.  At around 6:30am, I asked the guards to  scan a rather large number of papers.  They did not refuse to do it  this morning.  That's good. I spend almost all day in shuffling papers to look for a pro bono  counsel both in Queensland and New South Wales.  My case is currently  in the Queensland Registry of the Federal Court.  But because I am  here, if I find a lawyer here, the case can be easily transferred to New South Wales.  If I find a lawyer in Queensland, the matter will  stay there as my attendance is not necessary in this case.  A few  organisations are considering my case in both States and I also made a  few enquiries to lawyers whom I personally know.  So far, I was  knocked back by one in Queensland and one in New South Wales.  So two  down, but several more to go. My peaceful day lasted until I heard a detainee's voice calling me. ...

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....

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 ...