The UGLY FACE of AUSTRALIA and the CALLOUS ATTITUDE of the HOWARD Government
Read here full story by Kathy Marks in The Independent (UK) An Australian woman was wrongly deported to the Philippines. She may have lived in Australia for up to 18 years before she was expelled, ABC TV's Lateline program has revealed.The new revelations have put authorities on the defensive as they come under pressure to explain the bungle. It was revealed on Wednesday that the woman, now know to be Vivian Alvarez, had been deported in 2001 to the Philippines. Now Lateline believes the woman, who also goes by the name Vivian Solon, was living in Australia for up to 18 years before being expelled. She has two children and that her Australian-born husband goes by the surname of Young. It is thought that she suffered injuries in the accident that made it difficult for her to adequately explain herself and her movements to authorities. Three days after her accident, immigration officials handed over Vivian Alvarez to Queensland police who carried out the deportation. It is understood she was confined to a wheelchair when she was deported from Brisbane Airport.Read here for more The kidnappers of Australian engineer Douglas Wood on Friday gave the Australian government Canberra a 72-hour ultimatum to start withdrawing troops, Al-Jazeera satellite television reported. "The group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq, which is holding Australian hostage Douglas Wood, gave Australian authorities 72 hours to start withdrawing their forces from Iraq," the Qatar-based news channel said. Read here for more Click HERE to view video of Wood's plea to save his life She wants to lie in her mum's arms and be nursed all the time. She watches her mum like a hawk. She's been brought up in prison, in a highly abnormal environment with highly distressed people. It's not an environment conducive to child development."
Read here related article in The Age (Australia) and HERE 
6 May 2005
Article by Kathy Marks:
Australia's treatment of asylum-seekers is under scrutiny again following revelations about a three-year-old girl who is suffering from serious mental health problems after spending her entire life in mandatory detention.
Professional advice that Naomi Leong, a Malaysian, should be allowed out to visit a local playgroup for two hours once a week has gone unheeded.
Of the 74 children being held in immigration detention centres around the country, she has been incarcerated the longest.
Her case was uncovered by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which reported that Naomi - once an alert and extrovert little girl - was now profoundly disturbed.
Dr Michael Dudley, a child pyschiatrist who visited her in Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre, told the ABC:"She's in a very anxious and distressed state. She's banging her head against the wall, she's gazing into the distance at times, she's mute, unresponsive, listless.
Dr Dudley wrote to immigration authorities two months ago recommending that Naomi, who turned three yesterday, be allowed to visit the playgroup to mix with children of her own age.
But permission has yet to be granted.
Naomi's mother, Virginia Leong, was two months pregnant when she was arrested while trying to leave Australia without the correct papers.
The little girl was born at Villawood and has never experienced life outside those walls.
According to Dr Dudley, she suffers from severe separation anxiety. Refugee campaigners say she has bruises from banging her head against the wall.
Dr Dudley said Naomi needed to be in a place where she had a chance to develop normally.
In a separate case, the government was condemned yesterday by a Federal Court judge for its treatment of two mentally disturbed Iranian asylum-seekers. Read here for more.
Justice Paul Finn said authorities had breached their duty of care by refusing to transfer the men to a psychiatric hospital.
He found "culpable neglect" of one man, who claimed he was treated "like an animal" and who repeatedly mutilated himself with a razor blade.
Both men have been incarcerated in a detention centre in South Australia for several years.
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