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IMMIGRATION Minister Amanda Vanstone has defended leaving some children locked up in detention despite the surprise release of a three-year-old girl and a newborn boy. The Government on Monday agreed to release Naomi Leong, 3, and her mother Virginia from Villawood detention centre in Sydney. It also agreed yesterday to allow newborn Michael Andrew Tran and his Vietnamese asylum-seeker parents to stay in community detention in Perth rather than return to Christmas Island. ABC radio today reported another three-year-old girl remained locked up at Port Augusta and a two-year-old was still being held on Nauru. Asked why the Government had released some children from detention and not others, Senator Vanstone said each case was considered individually. Ideally, no children would be held in detention, but at the same time they could not be separated from their parents who were locked up, she said. "And we don't want to say to people smugglers, `If you pick customers who have children you will be able to guarantee that they can get to Australia and walk around freely'," Senator Vanstone told ABC radio. "So this is a sort of a rock and a hard place if you like. "But the circumstances of each family, the legal action they're involved in, the entitlements of the child might vary according to their immigration circumstances, so there isn't a simple blanket rule." Senator Vanstone also criticised Liberal backbenchers behind private member's Bills calling for the release of asylum seekers from long-term detention. The Bills, to be introduced by Liberal MP Petro Georgiou, have received backing from party colleagues including Judi Moylan, Bruce Baird, Russell Broadbent and Marise Payne. Senator Vanstone said she had not seen the Bills but expected they would be filled with problems. "I would have hoped that members would recognise that the policies we've put in place have been effective, that is just obvious – the boats aren't coming like they were in 1999, 2000, 2001," she said. "I'd hope they'd look at that and say, 'Well look, this is a government that's moving with the times, that's acknowledging change and moving ahead', and they'd stick with us. "But if they want to make their point, that's what the Liberal Party's about, we don't kick people out because they have a different view." AAP (26-5-2005) |
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