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The Association of Major Charitable Organisations welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.

DR OZDOWSKI: Good morning everybody. I would like to formally open this public hearing which is the last, hopefully, of the series held around Australia. My name is Sev Ozdowski and I'm the Human Rights Commissioner and to my right I've got Professor Trang Thomas, who is Professor of Psychology at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Today the Commission will be assisted by counsel Michael Wigney and Mr Jonathon Hunyor of the Commission and I would like to ask for the benefit of the audience that the counsel for DIMIA and ACM would introduce themselves.

1. The adequacy and effectiveness of the policies, agreements, laws, rules and practices governing children in immigration detention or child asylum seekers and refugees residing in the community after a period of detention

Catholic Welfare Australia is a Commission of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference and is the peak body that represents the social welfare apostolate of the Catholic Church in Australia at a national level. It is a national federation of Catholic social service organisations that operate in local communities. Membership of Catholic Welfare Australia is drawn from the Catholic social welfare organisations operating under the authority of a diocesan bishop or a religious order and from Catholic lay associations.

2008-09 has been a year of positive developments in the human rights area. While many human rights challenges lie ahead, as Human Rights Commissioner, I have been excited by the progress that Australia has made in human rights, both domestically and internationally during the year.

In the contemporary world, especially amongst first world economies, the culture of civil liberties, freedoms and non-discrimination are reasonably well established and these precepts have clear links to innovation, creativity and the broader concepts of economic productivity and a well-functioning civil society.

Two Assistant Commissioners have been appointed to assist the Inquiry. Prof Thomas and Dr Sullivan will assist the Inquiry in providing advice in their respective fields of expertise and will assist with public hearings.

The Commission would like to thank the children and young people who participated in the project and demonstrated great courage in allowing us to hear and tell their often painful and traumatic stories, in a hope that things would change for the better.

Australia's Immigration Detention Centres are contradictory to the human rights of the child. The Immigration Detention experience is extremely harmful to children and has effects of traumatisation and re-traumatisation during the Detention experience and continuing after release. Concerning alternatives to Detention, the present options are also not geared towards the best interest of the child.

As organisations with a strong commitment to social justice, and in particular to the education of young people, the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Parramatta, and the Edmund Rice Centre, are most appreciative of the opportunity to make a submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.

"Protection is not a simple concession made to the refugee: he is not an object of assistance, but rather a subject of rights and duties. Each country has the responsibility to respect the rights of refugees and assure that they are respected as much as the rights of its own citizens" [1]

1. Introduction 2. Adequacy of current educational provision 3. Educational programs in NSW government schools 4. Temporary Protection Visa Holders enrolled in government schools. 5. Cost of educating child asylum seekers and students on temporary protection visas 6. Support for children and families who have been released from detention 7. Recommendations Appendix 1

The Multicultural Council of the Northern Territory's research indicates that as at 24 November 2001 a total of 7933 unlawful non-citizens were admitted to Australian detention centres in the 2000-01 financial year.

The immigration status that results in the detention of children under Australian law also affects their entitlements to various services on release from detention, after they have been recognised as refugees. As discussed in Chapter 6 on Australia's Detention Policy, most children detained in immigration detention facilities for long periods are detained because they arrive in Australia without a visa (unauthorised arrivals). More than 90 per cent of those children are subsequently found to be refugees and are therefore released on temporary protection visas (TPVs).

COMMISSIONER OZDOWSKI: We would like formally to open this Public Hearing in Melbourne on 31 May. My name is Sev Ozdowski and I am the Human Rights Commissioner. I am assisted by two Assistant Commissioners - to my right is Dr Trang Thomas who is also Professor of Psychology at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and to my left is Mrs Robin Sullivan, who is the Queensland Children's Commissioner. Also at the table are two counsels assisting.

Dr Jonas has focused this report on young Indigenous people young between the ages of 15 and 29. The Indigenous population is young, with a median age of 20. Over the next decade a high proportion of Indigenous people will reach working age and be ready to take on adult responsibilities. From this group will emerge Indigenous Australia's future leaders.