Ongoing battle for immigration rights under Labor, and Ombudsman's police use of force report

Doin Time

First up on the show, David Glanz from Refugee Action Collective (Vic) joins Marisa to discuss the new Albanese Government's approach to refugees and asylum seekers during its first 10 weeks in Parliament. He analyses their tendency to celebrate few high-profile positive announcements (such as permanent residency for the Nadesalingam 'Biloela' family) while downplaying cruel business-as-usual policies in the background, attributing lack of systemic change or plans to Labor's fear of being seen as 'soft' on immigration. He talks about Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, differences with the LNP, and RAC-Vic's recent press release, welcoming the spirit of the Ending Indefinite and Arbitrary Immigration Detention Bill 2022, introduced into parliament this week by independent MP Andrew Wilkie. David's take-home message is "Let's celebrate our victories - like the Home to Biloela family - but remember there are thousands of people who haven't won yet, and we need to keep campaigning and we need to keep on the street." For more information on their next Rally & Open Mic for Permanent Visas, at 2 Lonsdale St on Wednesday 24th August, you can check out the Facebook event, or call Lucy on 0404 728 104. RAC Vic also have weekly meetings every Monday 6pm at Kathleen Syme Library in Carlton (all welcome). Check their Facebook page for more details and options for online attendance. Later, Marisa invites Andreea Lachsz, Head of Policy, Communications & Strategy at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS), to give us an in-depth look at the Ombudsman's report on investigations into the use of force at the Metropolitan Remand Centre and the Melbourne Assessment Prison. She notes the Ombudsman's reporting of "concerning behaviour or poor decisionmaking" by officers in all 8 incidents in his report, and discusses increasing prison and remand populations in Victoria, particularly of Aboriginal women and children. Andreea also draws links with the 2021 IBAC report on corruption and abuse in the prison system and how both of these reports look at difficulties in surveillance such as failures to utilise body cameras, and expands on why reform is necessary in the area of police and prison staff surveillance from a legal aid perspective. We encourage listeners to read and sign the VALS petition to fix Victoria's broken bail laws here.