[Greens-Media] SENATOR KERRY NETTLE: Mental health provisions in new migration laws in the spotlight as asylum seeker tries to hang himself

[Edwards, Jon (Sen K. Nettle)]

Mental health provisions in new migration laws in the spotlight as
asylum seeker tries to hang himself

07.08.06

Greens Immigration Spokesperson Senator Kerry Nettle today cited an
attempted suicide in the Baxter Immigration Detention Facility on the
weekend as further evidence that the mental health of asylum seekers is
being neglected and warned that the new migration bill before Parliament
this week will make things worse.

"I was deeply saddened but not surprised to hear that another asylum
seeker in Australia's care tried to kill himself this weekend," Senator
Nettle said.

"These kinds of tragic incidents are bound to happen when the government
has emptied the dedicated psychiatric ward in Adelaide that previously
cared for mentally ill asylum seekers.

"In a briefing I received today from the Department of Immigration about
the new migration laws it was confirmed that Nauru does not have the
psychiatric facilities needed for new asylum seekers arriving on our
shores and they may have to be transferred to a third country to get
treatment.

"The incident on the weekend further proves that the government is not
to be trusted to put asylum seekers health needs before political
priorities, because their track record is appalling.

"We know that the government has closed the Glenside facility after
senior psychiatrists spoke out against the affect that the detention
regime has on the mental health of asylum seekers.

"We also know that the psychiatric hospital that asylum seekers are now
transferred to from Baxter has the recent advisor to the Department of
Immigration on mental health as its head clinician.

"The Greens cite the ongoing mismanagement of the mental health of
asylum seekers on the mainland as a reason enough to reject the new
legislation and call on Coalition backbenchers to stand firm and reject
the bill."

Contact - Jon Edwards 0428 213 146