Greens Senator Kerry Nettle has called for an inquiry into the Department of Immigration's detention procedures after claims an innocent woman was held after a raid in north-western Victoria.A Korean woman was kept at the Baxter detention centre in South Australia for a week after being detained during a visit with her boyfriend while he was picking at a Robinvale fruit property.
The department has been criticised by the Government's Member for Mallee, John Forrest, and fruit growers for what they claim are heavy-handed tactics in some raids.
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle says the latest incident is further evidence the department is over-zealous in its compliance operations.
"I think there absolutely needs to be an inquiry because at the minute we're just seeing ad hoc stories from here and there as each individual case comes out," she said.
"But so many individual cases have come out that it appears to be becoming a systemic problem we have within the Department of Immigration."
By Another Raw Deal 17 February 05
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