Two people held in Australian immigration detention longer than necessary due to email mishaps
At least two people were held in Australian immigration detention centres for longer than necessary after emails for their release were missed by staff, an independent watchdog has revealed.
Another three people had been “inappropriately detained” on incorrectly issued visa cancellations, which used the wrong template or did not provide enough reasons.
The findings, published on Tuesday in the commonwealth ombudsman’s report on people illegally detained in detention centres between July 2022 and June 2023, come amid scrutiny of the Albanese government’s management of immigration issues.
The report shows the numbers of those inappropriately detained are improving on previous years, with five inappropriate detentions identified across the financial year, compared with 18 in 2021-22.
It is also the lowest rate of inappropriate detentions recorded since the ombudsman started monitoring the occurrences in 2007.
The improving figures, however, were overshadowed by the home affairs department’s mishandling of three visa cancellations.
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In one case, the department “detained the noncitizen after their release from criminal custody, on the grounds that their visa had been either cancelled or refused before or during their imprisonment”, the report read.
“However, the department subsequently found, as part of its quality assurance processes, that the notices it provided the noncitizens of their visa being cancelled or their visa application being refused were either incorrect or insufficient to meet the requirements of the Migration Act.”
The ombudsman, Iain Anderson, found on one occasion, the department used an incorrect template to notify a person of their visa cancellation, which included the wrong timeframe for them to seek a review of the department’s decisions.
In another example, the department failed to provide sufficient reasons for a person’s cancelled visa.
In all three cases, the individuals remained detained between one and three days while the department resolved the visa notification issue – a scenario the ombudsman said was inappropriate, because the “notification errors meant they continued to hold valid visas while in immigration detention”.
In two separate incidents, individuals were kept detained for days longer than necessary because staff at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) had sent decisions overturning visa cancellations after business hours.
Home affairs department staff had stopped checking inboxes for the day, resulting in an individual remaining detained overnight. In one case, the AAT sent a decision after close of business on a Friday, which wasn’t seen until Monday. While the individual was meant to be released soon after the email was sent on Friday, they spent the weekend detained before being released on Monday.
“Depriving people of their liberty in error is serious,” Anderson said. “My report identifies improvements that can be made to ensure more accurate and timely assessments of an individual’s immigration status.”
He recommended that the department should resolve all visa status issues for noncitizens who are being released from criminal custody at least two months prior to release. The department agreed to this recommendation in principle.
The AAT said it “regrets” its involvement in a person being detained for days longer than necessary but said further training and communication between the tribunal and department had seen incidents decline.