Mandatory Detention Policy in Australia: A Review

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Running head: SOCIAL POLICY
SOCIAL POLICY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note
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2SOCIAL POLICY
Executive summary
This paper is a policy review and talks about the Mandatory Detention Policy that was
introduced in the year 1992 to curb the issue of unlawful immigrants settling the country.
This paper provides a brief history of how the law came into existence and the issues that
have cropped up which to some extent are unjustifiable. This paper also gives a brief insight
about the policy making process and how the policy that Australia till date is working on is
unethical on the rights of the people.
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3SOCIAL POLICY
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Discussion..................................................................................................................................4
Brief history of the Mandatory Detention Policy...................................................................4
Current Mandatory Detention Policy.....................................................................................5
Review of the policy..............................................................................................................5
Issues faced by unlawful non-citizens....................................................................................7
Mental health......................................................................................................................8
Physical health...................................................................................................................8
Children..............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
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4SOCIAL POLICY
Introduction
The Mandatory Detention Policy was a law that Australia introduced in the year 1992
as a reaction to the arrival of about 438 Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian asylum or boat
people in the shores of Australia from November 1989 to September 1994 (Aph.gov.au,
2019). This law ensures detention of the non-citizens who reside in Australia without valid
visa. This states that the Immigration officials have to detain unauthorized arrivals of the
people like people who arrive without visa and also people who become unlawful
subsequently because of the expiration of their visa or cancellation of their visa for some
reasons. This law does not make any distinction between children and adults and detains
everyone who breaks the law (Humanrights.gov.au, 2019). This paper is going to review the
policy, Mandatory Detention Law which was introduced by the government of Australia and
provide an insight about the law.
Discussion
Brief history of the Mandatory Detention Policy
With the support of bi-partisan in the year 1992, the Mandatory Detention Policy was
introduced in the country. Under the sections 196, 198 and 189 of Migration Act, all the non-
citizens in Australia who were living illegally were detained and kept in detention by the
immigration until they were granted a visa from the country or removed (Phillips & Spinks,
2013).
The law prior to 1992 made a difference between the unauthorized arrivals of the
people in the border and the deportees and illegal entrants. The unauthorized boats that
arrived in Australia before were detained in the open areas of the migration centers however
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5SOCIAL POLICY
they were not allowed to leave and it was compulsory for them to report daily to the
Australian Protective Service. On the contrary the illegal entrants who breached the
conditions of the visa as well as overstayed their visa could be detained for about 48 hours
but were liable to be deported to the countries from where they arrived. They could be
deported in seven days after permission was granted by the magistrate (Phillips & Spinks,
2013).
Current Mandatory Detention Policy
Changes were made in the Mandatory Detention policy which was reintroduced in the
year 1992, where the there were several classifications of illegal entrants, deportees and
border arrivals were replaced and a simplified distinction was made which was between the
unlawful and lawful citizens. The law or the policy did not discriminate between any one and
made sure that everyone who violated the law would be penalized and detained however
there have been arguments that state that the main target of the country were boat people. In
the new policy there is no time limit as to how long the unlawful non-citizens may be
detained in the country (Phillips & Spinks, 2013).
Review of the policy
The Mandatory Detention Policy that was introduced for the government of Australia
in order to eliminate the people who had come to the country unlawfully. According to the
aspects of the policy making process, the Mandatory Detention Policy has all the steps that is
necessary especially for building a public policy. The actions that are taken by the
government in order to solve a grave problem or to improve quality of life for the citizens of
the country are basically known as public policy. The government has to go through several
processes in order to introduce the policy to the citizens of the country. The first being
agenda setting where a policy can be made based on the problem. The problem needs to be
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6SOCIAL POLICY
grave in order to catch the attention of the government (Shanahan et al, 2018). Australia had a
high rate of illegal immigrant. This was necessary for Australia to maintain this as it had
become difficult for the country to maintain integrity of the borders and the country’s
migration program. This situation raised concerns on the security and employment amongst
the citizens of the country which led to many protests. This was a huge problem and the
people reacting to it were a huge step thus the government had to intervene which led to the
government making the policy.
The next step in making a systematic policy is policy formulation. It is important to
create a new policy that will help to eradicate the issue of concern especially the matters
regarding public concern (Gerston, 2014). Policy formulation also goes through stages like
the ruling party or the people who have authority in the government need to adopt the policy
or the law and pass the bill, and then only the law can be implemented in the government or
in any place. The Mandatory Detention Policy had to go through all these stages so that it
could later be implemented to detain the unlawful non-citizens of the country for the
betterment of the Australia.
After formulating and adopting the law the next step is to make sure the law is
implemented in the society or the country in a proper manner and this helps in serving the
main purpose (Hoggett & Stott, 2015). The Mandatory Detention Policy was implemented
effectively in the country and the immigration department had put out all the rules and
regulation and the repercussions that the people had to face and later Australia detained many
boat people during that time because of them being in the country without any visa. There are
different stages of the implementation process that one has to go in order to make sure that
the policy is successful and serves its main purpose. It can be seen clearly that the Mandatory
Detention Policy has gone through most of the stages but has skipped some of the stages that
is needed and is important during implementation of any kind of policy or law in a country.
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7SOCIAL POLICY
The first is the exploration stage, where it is important to get some time for exploration of the
stage where it needs to be checked whether the policy matches the needs of the community or
not (Vedung, 2017). This did match the needs of the other citizens who were worried about
their country and were concerned about their safety because of asylum seekers in the country.
The next stage is the installation process where measures need to be taken to successfully
implement change. During this time Australia with the help of the immigration department
did make strict guidelines and there were people who were continuously monitoring the
people who were arriving in the shores by boats unlawfully. The next is the initial
implementation stage where it is seen that whether the change is working or not and what
changes need to be made however most people criticized about the fact that main target were
the boat people and there was discrimination in this policy against the various types of people
which later led the country to differentiate the citizens in to two simplified ways one was
lawful non citizens and the other unlawful non citizens and there were no other further
distinctions made.. The Mandatory Detention Policy did help in detaining many unlawful non
citizens in the country. The next step is the full implementation where the changes were being
made so that this could help the country in the long run to safeguard them.
The next process is evaluation of the policy. This is mainly done in order to
understand the fact how the policy in the country is working (Vedung, 2017).. However, The
Mandatory Detention Policy did work to some extent but they have been unethical towards
the asylum seekers and the other non citizens which were highly disregarded as well as
criticized. Several issues cropped up in the country because of this policy and this shows that
the policy that was introduced was not acceptable.
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Issues faced by unlawful non-citizens
The Mandatory Detention Policy was needed in the country because of the rise in
non-citizens in the country unlawfully however the policy that was made was not an
acceptable one. The indefinite detention had given rise to several issues that deprived the
people of basic human rights.
Mental health- According to several researches it has been seen that the indefinite detention
has taken a toll on the mental state of the people. It has been seen that they are ill treated and
have to bare misbehavior (Silove & Mares, 2018). There have been reports of suicide
attempts, hunger strikes, protests and riots within the immigration detention centers (Hilary
Whiteman, 2019). People here are detained and there is no access to any kind of effective
remedy.
Physical health- It has been seen that people who are detained do not have access to basic
facilities. They have been deprived of their health and not provided with efficient doctors for
their health (Killedar & Harris, 2017). This has been a huge problem.
Children- There have been many children who have suffered and gone through this torture.
Protests have been conducted because of the detention of the children. This had led to petty
crimes that were mostly done by children (Zwi et al, 2018). However, the country has revised
their guidelines when it comes to children and has stated that children accompanying their
parents will be detained and the ones without family will not.
Conclusion
The Mandatory Detention Policy did help the country in curbing the issue of unlawful
immigrants settling in the country. However the policy that was introduced was unethical and
extremely vile that had made people suffer immensely. Most people had criticized the
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9SOCIAL POLICY
policies of the law and it has been seen that Australia is the only country to have had this law.
Moreover, the consequences of this policy have led to asylum seekers still suffer in the
country and are deprived of the basic facilities that are entitled to have. If the policy would
have been more systematic and structured then it would have successfully served the purpose
keeping the human interest in mind.
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Reference
Aph.gov.au. (2019). Chapter 5 - Mandatory detention policy – Parliament of Australia.
Retrieved 17 July 2019, from
https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate/legal_and_constit
utional_affairs/completed_inquiries/2004-07/migration/report/c05
Gerston, L. N. (2014). Public policy making: Process and principles. Routledge.
www.academia.edu/download/45800701/LARRY_N._GERSTONE-
PUBLIC_POLICY_MAKING-PROCESS_AND_PRINCIPLES.pdf
Hilary Whiteman, C. (2019). UN urges Australia to stop spate of migrant suicide attempts.
Retrieved 18 July 2019, from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/19/australia/australia-
united-nations-refugees-hnk-intl/index.html
Hoggett, J., & Stott, C. (2015). Post G20: The challenge of change, implementing evidence-
based public order policing. In Crowds in the 21st Century (pp. 64-74). Routledge.
www.academia.edu/download/16592348/Post_G20_the_Challenge_of_change.pdf
Humanrights.gov.au. (2019). 6. Australia's Immigration Detention Policy and Practice |
Australian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 17 July 2019, from
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/6-australias-immigration-detention-policy-
and-practice
Killedar, A., & Harris, P. (2017). Australia's refugee policies and their health impact: a
review of the evidence and recommendations for the Australian
government. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 41(4), 335-337.
https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/58145.pdf
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11SOCIAL POLICY
Phillips, J., & Spinks, H. (2013). Boat arrivals in Australia since 1976. Parliament of
Australia, Department of Parliamentary Services, Parliamentary Library.
sievx.com/articles/psdp/20130129BoatArrivals1976-2013.pdf
Phillips, J., & Spinks, H. (2013). Immigration detention in Australia.
https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2013/03/apo-nid33276-
1134381.pdf
Shanahan, E. A., Jones, M. D., McBeth, M. K., & Radaelli, C. M. (2018). The narrative
policy framework. In Theories of the policy process (pp. 173-213). Routledge.
https://www.eashanahan.com/s/Shanahan-et-al-2018-TOPP_NPF.pdf
Silove, D., & Mares, S. (2018). The mental health of asylum seekers in Australia and the role
of psychiatrists. BJPsych International, 15(3), 65-68.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/
E839F89C7414758D92F8A49129C2A269/S2056474018000119a.pdf/
mental_health_of_asylum_seekers_in_australia_and_the_role_of_psychiatrists.pdf
Vedung, E. (2017). Public policy and program evaluation. Routledge.
https://content.taylorfrancis.com/books/download?dac=C2017-0-52197-
6&isbn=9781351495615&format=googlePreviewPdf
Zwi, K., Mares, S., Nathanson, D., Tay, A. K., & Silove, D. (2018). The impact of detention
on the social–emotional wellbeing of children seeking asylum: a comparison with
community-based children. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 27(4), 411-422.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-017-1082-z
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