Australia: Safe Haven For War Criminals

“The basis for Mr Al Tekriti's grant of a visa was a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), not the Department of Immigration. The AAT finding to the contrary [was] that he held at no time a position within the Iraqi regime which was involved directly or indirectly in any crimes which could in any way be said to be against humanity. That decision of the AAT has influenced and underwritten subsequent decisions including the decision to grant him a temporary protection visa on the June 21, 2005. The department did not want to give him a visa, but exercising his rights he went to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal overturned that decision by the department. I would say to any gathering critics of the Government on this issue they cannot have it both ways, they cannot demand a transparent process when it suits them but when it doesn't, criticise that transparent process on political grounds.”

John Howard, remarks to Parliament.

“PM steps in over Saddam’s minder,” Sydney Morning Herald, 12/05/05.

“The other reason why I’m particularly pleased to be here this morning is I have the opportunity right on the edge of the Indian Ocean to launch a policy which is very important to Australia’s future. And the policy is entitled – ‘Protecting our Borders’. …the policy I launch today commits the Coalition if it is re-elected to spend an additional $175 million over a period of four years in additional border protection measures. …The challenges that Australia now faces in relation to border protection includes people smuggling, often organised on an international scale; internationally controlled rings of illegal drug traffickers; well organised and resourced terrorist groups; transnational crime syndicates;…”

Announcement of Border Protection Policy. Hon. John Howard MP. Observation City, Scarborough, Perth. 11/23/01.

“Another point I’d make to you very strongly is that we’re not dealing here with a regime of ordinary brutality. There are many dictatorships in the world. But this is a dictatorship of a particularly horrific kind. His is an appalling regime: its torture, its use of rape as an instrument of intimidation, the cruelty to children to extract confessions from parents. It is a terrible catalogue of inflicting human misery on a people who deserve much better. This week, the Times of London detailed the use of a human shredding machine as a vehicle for putting to death critics of Saddam Hussein. This is the man, this is the apparatus of terror we are dealing with.”

Address to the Nation. The Hon. John Howard MP. Transcript, 3/20/03.

“…there's a fair bit of evidence that some of the ring leaders of international terrorism have had rather more privileged upbringings and circumstances than many…”

Address at the Australian Defence Force Academy’s “Safeguarding Australia – Frontline Issues,” Conference Dinner, Canberra, 7/31/03.

“… There are a number of people in our community who are a danger to all of us, not many but some, and we have an obligation to try and identify them, to neutralise them, to prevent them influencing others particularly the young, particularly the young, and in the process learn from the experience of working together effectively as Australians… Now I think the dimension of the problem in Britain is much much greater than it is in Australia but there are similarities and whilst we should keep perspective, we shouldn’t kid ourselves that it can’t happen here and our responsibility as Australians is to see that it doesn’t or to do all that we can to see that it doesn’t.”

Opening Remarks by the Prime Minister. Hon. John Howard MP. Meeting of Islamic Leaders. Parilament House, Canberra, 8/23/05.

“The immigration system pioneered by John Howard advances a more subtle argument against asylum… In practice John Howard has created a regime that divides asylum seekers into good and bad… At worst [refugees] are terrorist conmen who fake their identities and hold beliefs that are dangerous to western democracies… In reality it is not the asylum seekers who are choosing their safe haven but the country that is cherry-picking its refugees. The Australian government notes it has the "discretion" to choose its own refugees. Last week it welcomed 376 from Sierra Leone and Liberia, pointing out that 60% were Christian and many were young women taken under a "Woman at Risk" visa programme helping those who lack the protection of a male relative. To fearful voters these are a far more reassuring kind of refugee than the Muslim men who arrive under their own steam.”

Patrick Barkham. “The other Howard’s way won’t work here,” Guardian (UK), 1/25/05.

“TWO days after a 79-year-old woman visiting from Lebanon died of a heart attack — which her doctor blames on the Immigration Department — her grieving family received a letter from the department ordering her to leave the country. The blunder followed the department's failure to respond to a letter from Aziza Agha's doctor warning of the risk to her life if it insisted that she travel from Broadmeadows to the city for a visa-related medical check-up.”

Andra Jackson. “GP blames death on visa dispute,” Age, 8/25/05.

“Minister, please give consideration to granting permanent residency to Mr Mardoyo, or allowing an onshore visa application. This would ensure ongoing care for his mother.”

Juliati Mardoyo, fax to Minister AmandaVanstone, September 27, 2005.

Lee Glendinning. “Indonesian deported, despite plea,” Age (Australia), 11/20/05.

“…you are at [the Immigration Department’s] mercy and you have to trust that they know what they are doing. The Department of Immigration basically holds people’s lives in the palms of their hands. They just flippantly give information and don’t think about the consequences if it is wrong and, if it is proven wrong, they just bury their heads in the sand.”

Alaina Gubecka, American living in Australia who, though married to an Australian, has been threatened with deportation for overstaying her visa.

Andra Jackson. “Red tape replaces confetti for couple in visa fight,” Age (Australia), 11/24/05.