In an article in the Age, Andra Jackson sheets home the blame for the trials and tribulations of Cornelia Rau, AKA ?Anna Schmidt,? to the Queensland Police.
Queensland police say they were unable to identify her, even though she was listed as missing with NSW police. They handed her over to immigration authorities after she gave an alias of “Anna” and spoke some German, leading them to suspect she was “an illegal non-citizen”.
The words even though she was listed as missing with NSW police don’t really mean much if the woman is talking German, doesn’t give her name and is carrying no ID. It was most probably reasonable to take the action they did – hand her over to immigration.
The words even though she was listed as missing with NSW police definitely don’t mean anything when the family hadn’t even submitted their missing persons report at the time of the Queensland police intervention. The Age’s timeline has her handed over to the police by the Aborigines at Coen in March and her family filing a missing person’s report with the NSW Police in August. (scroll down to the bottom of the page) So not only are the police guilty of thinking that someone who looks, talks and acts like an illegal non-citizen needs to be handed over to Immigration but they failed to check for a missing person’s file that hadn’t even been submitted.
I’m of the opinion that the initial problem in this terrible case is the State Governments abrogation of their duty towards the care of mentally ill people. Mental institutions are politically incorrect in these enlightened days with the result that more and more of the insane or mentally disturbed are pushed into standard hospitals that can ill afford the bed space or time to give them proper treatment.
‘Send them back on the street’ say the bean counters and we end up with ‘Anna’ walking around Coen jabbering in German.
During her detention she was subjected to physical restraint in Brisbane prison. At Baxter she was isolated for a week and then locked in her room for 18 hours a day, despite exhibiting highly disturbed behaviour.
Says who?
In another article in The Age Pamela Curr, co-ordinator of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne says;
…her (Anna’s)fate could befall Australia residents who could not confirm their identity, whether ill or not.
and she is most probably right.
If you look foreign, speak only in a foreign tongue, can’t ID yourself and generally act ‘iffy’ then you will attract the attention of Immigration. That’s their job and if one is found acting like an illegal non-citizen then it is the job of police hand such people over to immigration for them to make an assessment.
Pamela Curr and Andra Jackson are both supporters of illegal boat people and visa over-stayers who shop for the country with the best social security and consequently come here. Pamela, Andra and their kind will never forgive Howard for stopping the boat people cold in their tracks and look for every breech or supposed breech of their vision of how the country should be run as a means to attack the government.
Beazley talks of compensation
Speaking on Channel Ten’s Meet The Press, Mr Beazley said Ms Rau could well have a compensation claim against the Immigration Department.
Good idea Kim. Start with the Manly Hospital and the NSW Health Department.
The Democrats want a judicial enquiry and also demand a Senate enquiry. They will want that before June so it will be stacked with Labour, Democrats and Greens. They most probably see this as their last chance to embarrass the government.
Not to be outdone the Refugee Action Coalition want a royal commission with Vanstone?s head on a plate as the centre-piece.
The NSW Refugee Action Coalition has called for a royal commission into Ms Rau’s detention and for Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone to resign “for allowing such a brutal episode to take place in one of her detention centres”.
Roll on the Conservative Senate majority.
‘Anna’s” case is regrettable but terms of reference for any enquiry needs to centre on how she slipped through the system in the first place. What was her path from Manly to Coen. How does a psychiatric patient in such a bad way as has been reported, escape in the first place. Coen is a bloody long way from Manly – did no one notice a deranged woman, unable to speak English wandering around?
When she was in the Brisbane prison and ‘had to be restrained’ why wasn’t she subject to a full psychiatric assessment and treated accordingly. Kim Beasley might suggest the family sue Queensland Corrective services and Health Department as well as the NSW Health system.
I feel sorry for the woman and wish her and her family well but I think point- scoring by the banshees of the left needs to be toned down so we can look at all aspects of the case – starting with the contributions of the NSW and Queensland Health and Corrective Services departments and then by tracing her path of troubles all the way from Manly Hospital to Baxter.
