From the ABC

A report into the wrongful deportation of Vivian Alvarez Solon has found the Department of Immigration's handling of the case was "catastrophic".

Labor's Joe Ludwig says Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone and her predecessor Philip Ruddock should go.
"It seems clear that if the culture did start with Ruddock and Vanstone, then it is their responsibility to acknowledge that and step aside," Mr Ludwig said.
"It is not good enough for them to blame the middle-ranking bureaucrats."

Senator Vanstone has announced a $230 million program to address her department's failings, including the establishment of a college of immigration to train the department's staff

Gus news:
The Issue of special glasses to see detention and wrongful deportation in a different light is being considered.

The way that DIMIA officials abused their authority, to wilfully deport Solon, has chilly parallels with the way Germany's Nazis went about deporting various untermensch from conquered Europe in the 40s.

The Auschwitz series on ABCTV lays out the mechanisms used by the Nazis to get rid of the unwanted. This version of the story is set against a background of Nazi committees going about their business; uniformed businessmen, with vision, goals and a mission statement, in polite and purposeful discussion. The dialogue between the officials is always in German, presumably by native German-speaking actors, without subtext or direct translation. The words spoken in the background, like this, must have a chilling effect on viewers who can understand the language.

It must have been hard enough for the actors to reconstruct the ruthless efficiency of their grandfathers. But I reckon those German Jews who went through that experience must be affected in a different way. I imagine it could bring back memories of ordinary life in Berlin or Hamburg, where middle-class citizens were embedded in the culture, and had been a vital part of it.

It must be terrible to contemplate that your own existence meant so little to a whole apparatus, that men and women who shared in your own heritage could so dispassionately pluck you and your family out by the roots and consign you all to the dungheap. Their only generosity was that some of the strongest would have a chance to survive this process of economic necessity. 

"Cut me a slice of that lebenswurst, please, Bill, if you would be so kind. And pour me a glass of that sparkling freiheit, this DIMIA-werk is thirsty stuff. By the way, your public-service medal seems to have a glossy sheen today. An extra lick, or more spittle?"

On the debate in the Senate about the deportation of Scott Parkin, where Interjection leaves Stott Despoja in tears, it's all worth reading, especially -
Speech: COMMITTEES: Legal and Constitutional References Committee: Reference > Murray, Sen Andrew > 13:34:00
[ends] ... I say to the opposition—and I make this challenge to the opposition senators—that you have got to not step backwards. If your Leader of the Opposition says, ‘Trust me, chaps—I have had a briefing, I know all about it,’ do not trust him either. You do not know if he has been conned or misled by somebody who has made a mistake in intelligence gathering or assessment. We rely on you and you have to carry the flag with us.

Read the whole speech, and the others, it's only a click away.

Immigration staff plotted to distract a seven-year-old girl with toys so they could take her away while her father languished in solitary confinement.

The father was duped by a former manager of the Baxter Detention Centre, which closed in 2007, when the manager asked if he and his wife could take the child shopping.

"No problem, yes, go and enjoy yourself," the father replied.

In the meantime, another staffer made sure the father would never see his child, dubbed Y, again, and clandestinely spirited her back to Iran.

"If Y requests to say goodbye to her father I will advise her that it is not possible as it could stop her from being returned to her mother in Tehran. We will have several toys for distraction purposes," a file note said.

The "disturbing" case from 2003 was highlighted in a report by the Commonwealth Immigration Ombudsman, Professor John McMillan, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. It has prompted the minister, Chris Evans, to seek ways to compensate the family.

Professor McMillan said attempts to keep the father in the dark were deliberate. "The removal of Y was intentionally kept secret. The intentional removal of a child in the absence of a parent's knowledge or consent cannot be defended," he said.

Furthermore, the department had obtained legal advice warning that the father's consent was required to remove the child. Her mother in Iran had "only nurturing rights", lawyers had said. Their advice was ignored.

Before the separation the girl had witnessed her father being wrestled against a cupboard at Baxter while he resisted a pat search for keeping more sugar than he was allowed.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/detainees-daughter-was-taken-away-with-a-lie-20090514-b4t7.html?page=-1