Amanda Vanstone twists the truth on Baxter Fires

Certain inmates set a series of fires in the Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia, causing $2 million dollars worth of damage and destroying the personal possessions of many asylum seekers/refugees.

Now Pamela Curr reveals the truth behind the fires with the Government deliberately mixing criminal deportees with asylum seekers to impart blame and poison the debate on the claims of asylum seekers.

Four fires were lit on Saturday causing one person to be hospitalised and five others to be treated for smoke inhalation. 34 bedrooms were destroyed along with many treasured personal possessions such as family photos, and 58 people were required to be evacuated from the centre.

The Advertiser said Senator Vanstone was appalled detainees had deliberately started the fires and had left taxpayers with a multimillion-dollar bill. "(It) was reckless and seriously endangered the lives of detainees and the Baxter staff," she said.

The ABC reported that four men were being questioned over the fires, with an Immigration department (DIMIA) spokesman saying they were people who have overstayed their visas or had their visas cancelled on bad character grounds.

Pamela Curr continues the story:

Since DIMIA have gone silent, we have collected the following information and reports from witnesses. The facts are

* No Asylum Seeker was involved in lighting the fires.
* Asylum seekers suffered loss of personal possessions and effects.
* One man, an artist with pictures in readiness for an exhibition in Port Augusta lost his entire collection.
* Some Chinese men lost their dearest possessions-photos of their families.

FACT: Three criminal deportees were involved in lighting the fires.

This highlights an ongoing problem at Baxter where men transferred from the prison system and awaiting deportation are placed throughout the asylum seeker compounds.

There is no good reason to do this when there are nine compounds at Baxter, a number of which remain unoccupied. Asylum seekers have always expressed concern and fear that ex-prisoners were placed in their compounds because they saw this as DIMIA attempting to confuse the Australian people by mixing asylum seekers and ex-prisoners to present asylum seekers as criminals.

While some ex-prisoners present few problems, others are angry and violent after many years in the prison system and frighten asylum seekers who have fled violence in their own countries. Asylum seekers report being afraid to come out of their rooms when ex-prisoners are on the rampage. They say that the ex-prisoners bait the guards poisoning the atmosphere for everyone.

These are two different groups with very different needs. DIMIA should immediately separate them. They have the space and facilities available and should do so without delay.

PAMELA CURR

More mishandling of Immigration Matters by the Department of Immigration, and the responsible Minister, Senator Amanda Vanstone. She has proven herself incompetent, lacking in responsibility, and failed to reform a racist and derogatory culture in her department established by her predecessor, Phillip Ruddock.

Where is John Howard's ministerial Code of Responsibility that he introduced in 1996? I haven't heard it mentioned at all the last few years.

By Takver posted 21 November 05

Statement of the Villawood Hunger Strikers
We are six hunger strikers from Villawood Immigration Detention Centre (VIDC) in Sydney, Australia. In order to protest against the compulsory detention policy and mental and physical impairment caused by the long-term detention in VIDC, during which many people have suffered from long-term insomnia, dysphoria, and even mental breakdown, six of us detainees started the hunger strike on 19th October, 2005.

Hundreds attempt self-harm in detention
More than half of the 900 self-harm incidents over three years occurred in the Baxter detention centre.

Justice for Vivian Alvarez Solon
The Refugee Action Collective organised Melbourne's contribution to a National Day of Action to demand compensation for Vivian Alvarez Solon and an end to forced deportations...

Lawyer contradicts Vanstone over detained kids' case
The lawyer for two Sydney school children held for four months in immigration detention has disputed the version of their experience given by the Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone.

Is Cornelia Rau running for her life?
Wrongfully detained woman Cornelia Rau has travelled to Melbourne, in breach of a South Australian mental health order.

Baxter visit convinces Burke of need for royal commission
AUSTRALIA/CUBA Federal Labor's new immigration spokesman Tony Burke says after visiting the Baxter detention centre he is now more convinced then ever of the need for a royal commission into immigration detention.

Gov't Failure Card: Community
The controversial plan was yesterday raised by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, who suggested a national ID card to prevent unlawful detention similar to that suffered by Cornelia Rau and Vivian Alvarez.

Some people want to remain anonymous
The federal attorney-general has suggested that two women wrongfully detained by the Immigration Department could have avoided being locked up if they had cooperated more with authorities.

'Anna's nightmare' in detention's living hell
Australia: IN his whitewashed report on the detention scandals, government employee Mick Palmer refers to Cornelia Rau's four months in Baxter detention centre as "Anna's journey".

Detention policy: Change Your Mind
It would not be wrong to answer in the affirmative. Another reason is that our political system is adjusting to the highly publicised breaches of human rights via individual cases such as Peter Qasim, Cornelia Rau and Vivian Alvarez Solon.

Psychiatrists dismiss Vanstone's call to limit role
Psychiatrists treating mentally-ill Baxter detainees have rejected the Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone's call for them to restrict their role to the immediate care of patients.

HREOC's deadline on child detainees passes
"We detainees request from human Australian to release us from Nauru cage" Years of waiting took their toll on asylum seekers. There are still two men there! They are suffering. (April 2006).

Tampering with Asylum
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT THAT AUSTRALIA'S recent policies on asylum seekers are wrong, but don't quite have the statistics to back up your views?

Baxter,'akin to the time in Nazi Germany'
I went to Baxter this Easter just past, and became more aware that this time is akin to the time in Nazi Germany when the concentration camps were being set up.

Asylum seeker denied medical help, court hears
An Iranian asylum seeker was denied access to psychiatric help, despite slashing himself several times inside South Australia's Baxter detention centre, the Federal Court in Adelaide has heard.

Once You've Been to Baxter You Can't Sit on the Fence
I spent this Easter in the desert. I spent this Easter protesting at Baxter detention centre to draw the world's attention to the injustice of Australia's racist and inhumane mandatory detention system and treatment of asylum seekers.

Detention Centres, Solitary Confinement
On Friday night the NSW Council for Civil Liberties awarded Sydney solicitor John Marsden honorary life membership. Julian Burnside was invited to make the speech in Marsden's honour. In the course of his speech, Burnside referred to the unregulated use of solitary confinement in Australia's immigration detention centres, criticising it as inhumane and also as unlawful.

MP urges asylum seekers' release
A federal Coalition MP has called for the release of all asylum seekers being held in immigration detention centres.

Australian held in Baxter detention centre
It has been revealed an Australian resident has been locked up in Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia for the past four months. Authorities had been unable to establish her identity since she was found wandering in far north Queensland last September.

Did Cornelia Rau have a mental illness?
CORNELIA Rau returned to psychiatric care in Adelaide, just days after being released into the community, appears to be very suspicious indeed!

Submission to Senate: Inquiry into Mental Health 2005
We appreciate that the urgent issues of Human Rights and other abuses including institutionalisation and the use of force, and the lack of progress on Burdekin are being examined by the Committee.

Govt defends decision to detain Korean woman?
The Immigration Department says there was no unlawful detention in the case of a Korean woman recently held at South Australia's Baxter detention centre?

Rau ordeal a raw deal
Ms Rau spent time in a Queensland prison and a hospital before being handed to immigration authorities who kept her in detention for another four months.

Australian held in Baxter detention centre
It has been revealed an Australian resident has been locked up in Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia for the past four months. Authorities had been unable to establish her identity since she was found wandering in far north Queensland last September.

Lawyers want Baxter detainee released for treatment !
Lawyers acting for a hunger-striking detainee inside South Australia's Baxter detention centre have asked the Federal Court to order a psychiatric assessment for the man, saying he needs to be in mental health care, not detention.

Baxter protesters 'being denied water, sleep'?
One of the three Iranian men has been on the roof of the gymnasium since Sunday last week, with two others joining him on Tuesday.

Detainees urged to abandon rooftop protest!
Kathy Verran from Rural Australians for Refugees, says one of the men has since come down and has been taken into the management unit. solitary confinement for Xmas?

Advocates warn of detention centre riot risk
A prominent refugee advocate warns South Australia's Baxter Detention Centre is on the brink of a major riot. A protest involving about 25 male detainees broke out at the centre on Tuesday, over a new system which is delaying the process of dispensing medication to detainees.

Advocates warn of detention centre riot risk
A prominent refugee advocate warns South Australia's Baxter Detention Centre is on the brink of a major riot. A protest involving about 25 male detainees broke out at the centre on Tuesday, over a new system which is delaying the process of dispensing medication to detainees.

Villawood detainees go on hunger strike
A refugee advocacy group says up to 200 detainees at the Villawood Detention Centre, in Sydney, have begun a hunger strike to draw attention to their situation ahead of the federal election.

Afghan children lose High Court battle against detention
Lawyers have lost their constitutional challenge to the detention of four children at a South Australian immigration centre. Four siblings from Afghanistan, aged between seven and 15, have been in detention since they arrived in Australia in 2001.

Democrats to keep up pressure over asylum seekers
The Australian Democrats will maintain their pressure on the next federal government over Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, if the party can retain its strength in the Senate.

Don't rock the Boat Howard!
PRIME Minister John Howard today denied the children overboard affair had swayed the 2001 election? Mr Howard has spent the week defending himself against claims he had been informed that nobody in Defence believed children had been thrown overboard by asylum seekers.

Baxter detainee continues hunger strike
A detainee at the Baxter detention centre near Port Augusta in South Australia has been on a hunger strike for a week. Sri Lankan Zeldon Daggie, 23, says he has been detained since arriving in Australia four years ago.

Senior cleric damns Baxter as 'disgraceful'
A senior world religious figure has called on the Federal Government to scrap its mandatory detention policy after visiting the Baxter detention centre in South Australia's north.

Australia's "GITMO" System
Australia's "GITMO" System In June 2002 on the PM program on ABC radio, PHILIP RUDDOCK is quoted as saying: "Well, let me just say, detention centres are not prisons. They are administrative detention.

Detention centre media ban criticised
The Howard Government has been criticised in a report by media freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders for stopping journalists covering the conditions in refugee detention centres.

Self-harming detainees released from hospital

Six Chinese detainees have been released from hospital after harming themselves yesterday at Sydney's Villawood detention centre.

Five men and two women were taken to Auburn hospital yesterday after one woman tried to commit suicide, and a woman who found her suffered serious chest pains. A number of men also slashed their wrists.

The hospital says one woman has been admitted for observation and the rest of the detainees have been returned to the detention centre.

Refugee advocates say the self-harm incidents have come after 25 Chinese asylum seekers were isolated for two weeks and interviewed by Chinese officials as part of the Federal Government's attempts to deport them.

The Uniting Church says the two incidents are likely to be connected and that those seeking asylum now believe their lives in China would be at risk.

By Injustice posted 19 June 05

Related:

Psychiatrists dismiss Vanstone's call to limit role
Psychiatrists treating mentally-ill Baxter detainees have rejected the Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone's call for them to restrict their role to the immediate care of patients.

HREOC's deadline on child detainees passes
"We detainees request from human Australian to release us from Nauru cage" Years of waiting took their toll on asylum seekers. There are still two men there! They are suffering. (April 2006).

Tampering with Asylum
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT THAT AUSTRALIA'S recent policies on asylum seekers are wrong, but don't quite have the statistics to back up your views?

Baxter,'akin to the time in Nazi Germany'
I went to Baxter this Easter just past, and became more aware that this time is akin to the time in Nazi Germany when the concentration camps were being set up.

Asylum seeker denied medical help, court hears
An Iranian asylum seeker was denied access to psychiatric help, despite slashing himself several times inside South Australia's Baxter detention centre, the Federal Court in Adelaide has heard.

Once You've Been to Baxter You Can't Sit on the Fence
I spent this Easter in the desert. I spent this Easter protesting at Baxter detention centre to draw the world's attention to the injustice of Australia's racist and inhumane mandatory detention system and treatment of asylum seekers.

Detention Centres, Solitary Confinement
On Friday night the NSW Council for Civil Liberties awarded Sydney solicitor John Marsden honorary life membership. Julian Burnside was invited to make the speech in Marsden's honour. In the course of his speech, Burnside referred to the unregulated use of solitary confinement in Australia's immigration detention centres, criticising it as inhumane and also as unlawful.

MP urges asylum seekers' release
A federal Coalition MP has called for the release of all asylum seekers being held in immigration detention centres.

Rau ordeal a raw deal
Ms Rau spent time in a Queensland prison and a hospital before being handed to immigration authorities who kept her in detention for another four months.

Australian held in Baxter detention centre
It has been revealed an Australian resident has been locked up in Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia for the past four months. Authorities had been unable to establish her identity since she was found wandering in far north Queensland last September.

Lawyers want Baxter detainee released for treatment !
Lawyers acting for a hunger-striking detainee inside South Australia's Baxter detention centre have asked the Federal Court to order a psychiatric assessment for the man, saying he needs to be in mental health care, not detention.

Baxter protesters 'being denied water, sleep'?
One of the three Iranian men has been on the roof of the gymnasium since Sunday last week, with two others joining him on Tuesday.

Detainees urged to abandon rooftop protest!
Kathy Verran from Rural Australians for Refugees, says one of the men has since come down and has been taken into the management unit. [solitary confinement for Xmas?]

Advocates warn of detention centre riot risk
A prominent refugee advocate warns South Australia's Baxter Detention Centre is on the brink of a major riot. A protest involving about 25 male detainees broke out at the centre on Tuesday, over a new system which is delaying the process of dispensing medication to detainees.

Villawood detainees go on hunger strike
A refugee advocacy group says up to 200 detainees at the Villawood Detention Centre, in Sydney, have begun a hunger strike to draw attention to their situation ahead of the federal election.

Afghan children lose High Court battle against detention
Lawyers have lost their constitutional challenge to the detention of four children at a South Australian immigration centre. Four siblings from Afghanistan, aged between seven and 15, have been in detention since they arrived in Australia in 2001.

Australia's "GITMO" System
Australia's "GITMO" System In June 2002 on the PM program on ABC radio, PHILIP RUDDOCK is quoted as saying: "Well, let me just say, detention centres are not prisons. They are administrative detention.

Senior cleric damns Baxter as 'disgraceful'
A senior world religious figure has called on the Federal Government to scrap its mandatory detention policy after visiting the Baxter detention centre in South Australia's north.

Detention centre media ban criticised
The Howard Government has been criticised in a report by media freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders for stopping journalists covering the conditions in refugee detention centres.

Baxter detainee continues hunger strike
A detainee at the Baxter detention centre near Port Augusta in South Australia has been on a hunger strike for a week. Sri Lankan Zeldon Daggie, 23, says he has been detained since arriving in Australia four years ago.

Democrats to keep up pressure over asylum seekers
The Australian Democrats will maintain their pressure on the next federal government over Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, if the party can retain its strength in the Senate.

Don't rock the Boat Howard!
PRIME Minister John Howard today denied the children overboard affair had swayed the 2001 election? Mr Howard has spent the week defending himself against claims he had been informed that nobody in Defence believed children had been thrown overboard by asylum seekers.

NSW Prison System and, 'Justice Health'?

Bathurst Prison

This is just a letter to your organisation to inform you and update your knowledge about this NSW prison system and The Corrective Health Service now known as 'Justice Health'.

I have been at Bathurst Gaol since 9 November 2003. I have had an appeal lodged since 22 January 2004, against my conviction and I am still waiting on a date to be set.

I was transferred to Bathurst from Lithgow Correctional Centre on 9 November 2004. Two weeks prior that date I had sent a letter to (DCS) head office in Sydney with a request that,

1. If I had my "B" classification could I be transferred to Windsor Gaol.

2. My Dutch friends (aged 74 and 76) would have the possibility of visiting me there every two weeks because they live in the Windsor area.

On 21 January 2005, I received an answer from (DCS) that I could not be transferred to Windsor. They wrote that they were aware that I was transferred to Bathurst Correctional Centre with a "B" classification since 11 January 2005.

Justice Health?

On 16 December 2004, I broke my teeth so I had to go to the gaol clinic to ask to see the dentist. Their answer was "Sorry Alex the dentist is on holiday and will be back in January 2005. The clinic provided me with 'Panadine' to control my pain. My name was on the dentist list in Silverwater remand centre (2003) Lithgow (2004) but I was never called up.

On 22 December 2004, I had an abscess because of the broken teeth. The same day they also found infection in my left eye. So I was taken to Bathurst Hospital on 23 December 2004.

The doctor there sent me to Sydney because they did not have the proper medication to deal with the infection. So an ambulance was called to take me to Sydney. About 8.30 pm that night three new fresh officers arrived to escort me (handcuffed) in the ambulance.

I was to be taken to Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) but not before a stop in Penrith (to take on a fresh ambulance driver). Off we go again!

So I think I've arrived at (PWH) 11.pm. But with a second glance I was at (LBH) Long Bay Prison Hospital. They couldn't take me to (PWH) because I had to be admitted to Long Bay Hospital first. Subsequently the following morning I was finally taken to (PWH).

At (PWH) I had undergone and operation and had 8 teeth removed from my jaw (left and right) and cleaning because of the infection and my left eye handled with medication. Taken back to LBH

So you can see how good the Corrective Health Service or 'Justice Health' as it's now called is for inmates in NSW prisons. After more than 14 months on the dentist list, 8 teeth lost and almost lost my left eye. Then I was taken straight back to Long Bay Hospital for aftercare and subsequently tipped to Silverwater's Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre (MRRC), to recover after my operation? Thanks!

On 8 January 2005, about 10.pm I must go to the (MRRC) Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre because (LBH) needed my bed for an inmate from (MRRC). So if I go there the other inmate could have my bed at (LBH). Only that inmate from (MRRC) did not go to (LBH) because I met him in Darcy 1 at the (MRRC). So I spent 3 days in Darcy 1 locked in without my TV, radio, books or jug. Nice, just after an operation to recover from surgery.

But now everything is all right (I hope). I saw the dentist last week.

She promised me that in a few months she would call me again to look if she can make a plate with some teeth to make my mouth and face more normal.

So back in Bathurst (11 Jan 2005) I start working again in the Cable Shop. Then I notice that I am missing 3 weeks pay from Bathurst. It was from 23 December up until 11 January 2005, and I am still waiting for my lost wages to date. The answer from the gaol is sorry Alex you were not here, Long Bay must pay you. But Long Bay didn't pay me because Bathurst gaol is my gaol of classification and I must be on the sick list from Bathurst to receive it.

On top of all of that my personal laundry that I put in before leaving Bathurst on 23 December is still missing. This is the NSW Prison System and Justice Health in 2005.

PS) Did I mention that the rats in Long Bay are as big as cats!!!

By Alex Linnenbank 14 February 05

Related:

'Killing Rational' and Prisoner Control in NSW
I'm writing to you regarding xxxx, he has rung me a few times in the past weeks and has been drugged to the max, he rang today twice and could hardly speak to me, he said he was going to ring you and talk to you about it but he couldn't so I told him I would get in contact with you and see what you could do! He has told them he doesn't want the sedatives but they hold him down and give it to him anyway, they have drugged him 4 times in the last 2 days he said.

The prison system requires assiduous oversight
As NSW Attorney General Bob Debus noted in 1996: "The kinds of complaints which occur in the system may seem trivial to outsiders but in the superheated world of the prison, such issues can produce explosive results."

Doctor Ron Woodham I presume?
"Corrections Health staff provide medical care. However, its staff's authority is essentially limited to making recommendations to corrective services on treatment. Corrective services staff can then decide what treatment can be given."

Call for royal commission into NSW prison health system
Mr Tony Ross a social justice activist said yesterday that a royal commission into the health system in NSW should be wide reaching to ensure that the Corrections Health Service is also exposed because of reported widespread cover ups in the prisons health system.

Watchdogs slaughtered in NSW
On Tuesday the Carr Government reduced transparency and accountability yet again and New South Wales is in danger of becoming entrenched with cronyism and intimidations with the Carr Labor Government that continues to slaughter the watchdogs.

Rau ordeal a raw deal

Rau ordeal prompts call for separate Qld inquiry but the community calls for a public inquiry!

The Queensland Government has been urged to hold its own inquiry into mental health and corrective services in light of the Cornelia Rau case.

The Queensland Alliance, which represents mental health and prisoner groups, says Ms Rau's treatment after she was picked up by police on Cape York Peninsula exposes significant systematic failings.

Ms Rau spent time in a Queensland prison and a hospital before being handed to immigration authorities who kept her in detention for another four months.

Alliance executive director Jeff Cheverton says mental health sufferers are being abused in Queensland and it is time to find out why.

"There needs to be a thorough ongoing investigation," he said.

"I don't think there's been an inquiry into mental health in Queensland since the 1970s and the latest inquiry was the Burdekin inquiry in 1993, which found enormous human rights abuses.

"Clearly the Government isn't giving mental health the priority that we believe it deserves."

The Federal Fascist Government has appointed a former Federal Police commissioner to look into the case? Police investigating themselves!

What will we get from this fascist governments private police enquiry? A whitewash, new draconian legislation (that oppresses the community further), certainly not the truth, or even a better policy that ensures that this doesn't happen again. Not even those responsible taken to task. Argue for reverse surveillance! We want a public inquiry!

By Public Inquiry 9 February 05

Australian held in Baxter detention centre
It has been revealed an Australian resident has been locked up in Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia for the past four months. Authorities had been unable to establish her identity since she was found wandering in far north Queensland last September.

Lawyers want Baxter detainee released for treatment !
Lawyers acting for a hunger-striking detainee inside South Australia's Baxter detention centre have asked the Federal Court to order a psychiatric assessment for the man, saying he needs to be in mental health care, not detention.

Baxter protesters 'being denied water, sleep'?
One of the three Iranian men has been on the roof of the gymnasium since Sunday last week, with two others joining him on Tuesday.

Detainees urged to abandon rooftop protest!
Kathy Verran from Rural Australians for Refugees, says one of the men has since come down and has been taken into the management unit. [solitary confinement for Xmas?]

Advocates warn of detention centre riot risk
A prominent refugee advocate warns South Australia's Baxter Detention Centre is on the brink of a major riot. A protest involving about 25 male detainees broke out at the centre on Tuesday, over a new system which is delaying the process of dispensing medication to detainees.

Villawood detainees go on hunger strike
A refugee advocacy group says up to 200 detainees at the Villawood Detention Centre, in Sydney, have begun a hunger strike to draw attention to their situation ahead of the federal election.

Afghan children lose High Court battle against detention
Lawyers have lost their constitutional challenge to the detention of four children at a South Australian immigration centre. Four siblings from Afghanistan, aged between seven and 15, have been in detention since they arrived in Australia in 2001.

Australia's "GITMO" System
Australia's "GITMO" System In June 2002 on the PM program on ABC radio, PHILIP RUDDOCK is quoted as saying: "Well, let me just say, detention centres are not prisons. They are administrative detention.

Senior cleric damns Baxter as 'disgraceful'
A senior world religious figure has called on the Federal Government to scrap its mandatory detention policy after visiting the Baxter detention centre in South Australia's north.

Detention centre media ban criticised
The Howard Government has been criticised in a report by media freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders for stopping journalists covering the conditions in refugee detention centres.

Baxter detainee continues hunger strike
A detainee at the Baxter detention centre near Port Augusta in South Australia has been on a hunger strike for a week. Sri Lankan Zeldon Daggie, 23, says he has been detained since arriving in Australia four years ago.

Democrats to keep up pressure over asylum seekers
The Australian Democrats will maintain their pressure on the next federal government over Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, if the party can retain its strength in the Senate.

Lawyers want Baxter detainee released for treatment !

Lawyers acting for a hunger-striking detainee inside South Australia's Baxter detention centre have asked the Federal Court to order a psychiatric assessment for the man, saying he needs to be in mental health care, not detention.

Two male hunger strikers were taken to hospital early yesterday morning and another was taken to hospital last night for non-urgent treatment.

Lawyer Claire O'Connor says she will find out on Thursday whether the Federal Court will release one of her clients to get the health care she says he needs.

"He's swallowed shampoo, he's swallowed razor blades, taken overdoses of tablets," she said.

"He's been cut down by other detainees trying to hang himself.

"That's the man who we're trying to say is so ill we just want a hospital to look after him."

By Indefinite Detention 15 December 04

Related:

Baxter protesters 'being denied water, sleep'?
One of the three Iranian men has been on the roof of the gymnasium since Sunday last week, with two others joining him on Tuesday.

Detainees urged to abandon rooftop protest!
Kathy Verran from Rural Australians for Refugees, says one of the men has since come down and has been taken into the management unit. [solitary confinement for Xmas?]

Advocates warn of detention centre riot risk
A prominent refugee advocate warns South Australia's Baxter Detention Centre is on the brink of a major riot. A protest involving about 25 male detainees broke out at the centre on Tuesday, over a new system which is delaying the process of dispensing medication to detainees.

Villawood detainees go on hunger strike
A refugee advocacy group says up to 200 detainees at the Villawood Detention Centre, in Sydney, have begun a hunger strike to draw attention to their situation ahead of the federal election.

Afghan children lose High Court battle against detention
Lawyers have lost their constitutional challenge to the detention of four children at a South Australian immigration centre. Four siblings from Afghanistan, aged between seven and 15, have been in detention since they arrived in Australia in 2001.

Australia's "GITMO" System
Australia's "GITMO" System In June 2002 on the PM program on ABC radio, PHILIP RUDDOCK is quoted as saying: "Well, let me just say, detention centres are not prisons. They are administrative detention.

Senior cleric damns Baxter as 'disgraceful'
A senior world religious figure has called on the Federal Government to scrap its mandatory detention policy after visiting the Baxter detention centre in South Australia's north.

Detention centre media ban criticised
The Howard Government has been criticised in a report by media freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders for stopping journalists covering the conditions in refugee detention centres.

Baxter detainee continues hunger strike
A detainee at the Baxter detention centre near Port Augusta in South Australia has been on a hunger strike for a week. Sri Lankan Zeldon Daggie, 23, says he has been detained since arriving in Australia four years ago.

Democrats to keep up pressure over asylum seekers
The Australian Democrats will maintain their pressure on the next federal government over Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, if the party can retain its strength in the Senate.

Conspiracy rumours abound following Arafat's death?

French Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy says there is no indication Yasser Arafat was poisoned, although he had no access to medical files on the death of the Palestinian leader.

Mr Arafat was flown from the West Bank to Paris on October 29 suffering from stomach pains, diarrhoea and vomiting. He died in the early hours of November 11 after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

"Nothing in the medical dossier, it seems, has shown that he was poisoned," Douste-Blazy said.

However, he stressed he had not seen the dossier itself either in his capacity as a doctor or a minister.

He says doctors at the military hospital just outside Paris had done everything they could from a medical standpoint to treat 75-year-old Arafat.

Rumours have been rife that he had been suffering from anything from cancer of the stomach to a rare blood disorder. Hamas freedom fighters say he was poisoned by Israel, a theory which Palestinians officials say doctors have ruled out. The head of the Palestinian mission in Paris, Leila Shahid, says poisoning is a possibility, although there was no evidence.

"It's quite possible that they (Israelis) poisoned him, I cannot say that medically we have proof of that," she said.

Hopes of the riddle being solved are slim. The French chief doctor who announced Mr Arafat's death is bound by privacy laws invoked by Mr Arafat's widow, which prevent details being released. Ruling out cancer or poisoning, Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath says doctors had not identified the illness but "we know what it is not".

By I Give You Blood 15 November 04

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One in six youth deaths caused by alcohol: report

ALMOST one in six deaths amongst young Australians can be attributed to the irresponsible consumption of alcohol, research by the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) has revealed.

In figures released today, the study shows that 2,643 people aged between 15 and 24 died from alcohol-attributable injury and disease between 1993 and 2002 around 15 per cent of all deaths in the age group.

Young people most at risk live in rural areas, and by region in either the Northern Territory or Western Australia.

The latest National Alcohol Indicators Bulletin, compiled by the Perth-based NDRI, also showed 22 per cent of injuries which lead to young people being hospitalised could also be traced back to risky drinking.

More than 100,000 youngsters were hospitalised for an alcohol related illness or injury between 1993 and 2002, the research found.

Tanya Chickarees, NDRI research fellow and alcohol policy team leader said a number of states and territories had shown an increase in alcohol-attributable deaths, following a period of national decline in the 1990s.

"There was a really encouraging decline in deaths and hospitalisations up until about 2000, but now we are just starting to see a reverse," Ms Chickarees said.

"A great amount of tax is generated from alcohol, but we are starting to think now that the costs are so high, attributable to alcohol, that what is made, the profit, is becoming less (important)."

Dr Chickarees said one of the most marked changes in recent years was the increase in drinking deaths and injury amongst young Australian women.

The institute believed this could be attributed to changes to tax on pre-mixed drinks in 2000.

"Pre-mixed drinks essentially became cheaper for young women than what used to be their preferred beverage, straight spirits or bottled wine," Ms Chickarees said.

"These pre-mixed beverages in my opinion are targeted at young people, and when this tax change happened, there was a massive increase in sales.

"Surveys around the country have been saying that young women are drinking more than they ever have, and we are now bearing our more evidence to support that."

Amongst other findings in the research were that a man was four times more likely to die from an alcohol-attributable death than a women, while the most common causes of alcohol-attributable death for young people were road injury, suicide and violence.

Young indigenous Australians are more than twice as likely as their non-indigenous counterparts to die from alcohol-attributable causes.

Death rates among indigenous youth have not improved in the last eight years, the study concluded.

The rate of alcohol-attributable death among young people who live in non-metropolitan areas is about 1.7 times greater than for their city dwelling counterparts.

The study showed the Northern Territory has the highest number of alcohol-attributable deaths among 15-24 year olds, with 4.0 deaths per 10,000, while WA had the second highest rate, 1.3 per 10,000.

The ACT, with 0.6 deaths per 10,000 had the lowest national rate.

The National Alcohol Indicators Bulletin was released ahead of next week's APSAD "Beyond the Drug" 2004 National Conference, being held in Fremantle, where national and international speakers will present research on drug and alcohol issues.

By Mad Broth 12 November 04

Alcohol is just the beginning
People who start using alcohol by there mid teens are more than twice as likely as others to experiment with different drugs and to become dependent on drugs a major Australian study has found. The research, which fuels growing concern about alcohol-related harm, is the latest to consider the contentious question of whether alcohol is a "gateway" to hard drug use.

Abra Cadabra
No magic bullet? This is a chronic condition! Government's Legal Drug alcohol is costing Australia billions: study.

Wine glut alert!
Wine glut alerts bank to grape grower debt and we need to be aware there's no magic bullet here either, it is a chronic condition just like the other one?

You're one of my kind?
Over 80% of the population consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months, with 11% of males and 6% of females drinking daily. In terms of risk of harm in the long term, 10% of males and 9% of females drank alcohol in a pattern that was risky or high risk. In terms of short-term risk, 24% of males and 17% of females drank at least once a month in a manner that was risky or high risk for short-term harm.

Tobacco, alcohol top the drug abuse toll
Tobacco and alcohol accounted for 83 per cent of the cost of drug abuse in Australia, dwarfing the financial impact of illegal drugs, a Commonwealth Government report has found.

Alcohol pickles your brain
Pickle point; a leading professor Dr. Bud said after releasing his report on the problems associated with alcohol.

Submissions to the Inebriates Inquiry?
The Act allows detention of inebriates in proclaimed places, which no longer exist. The chief magistrate, Derek Price probably kicked it off with his submission to the Alcohol Summit. He also gave evidence, which was basically 'Repeal the act as it does not work, and get a new act based on the Mental Health Act'.

Australian drivers licence dangerous weapon
We have the photo, the random gun searches, the random drugs searches, the alcohol breath test, and now the drug test that doubles as a DNA swab.

Sentencing innovation breaks vicious circle of jail terms
"Three months' jail for one punch in a pub fight is too much," said the victim. The victim's comment counted because he and the offender, Robert Bolt, a Nowra Aborigine, were making history in the first case of circle sentencing, a new way of deciding punishment for indigenous offenders.

Redfern police need education not weapons
According to the description of one senior police officer, the ACLO called out on the afternoon before the Redfern violence escalated was "hopeless, intoxicated and had no driver's licence."

Poison Ivy: Drugs and Substances
Everything is a drug love, money, vegemite, and honey so why the hang up on coke? Things go better with Coke. at least that's what we're told each and every day by advertising. [?] So why the big hang up on alcohol, amphetamines, cigarettes, marijuana, speed, ecstasy and cocaine?

CWA wants pot legalised
PERCEIVED as the height of conservatism, the Country Women's Association has had a reputation for baking and handicrafts until now. The organisation yesterday confirmed it is seeking to have cannabis legalised for health reasons. A recommendation to be put forward to the annual meeting in May calls for the legalisation of the drug for the treatment of terminally ill patients.

Another lethal party drug article...This is another lethal party drug article by the Daily Telegraph's (DT)'s Super Crime Buster Division, but I'll try to straighten it out a bit so you can understand it.

Alcohol and other Drug Use in Australia
Over 80% of the population consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months, with 11% of males and 6% of females drinking daily. In terms of risk of harm in the long term, 10% of males and 9% of females drank alcohol in a pattern that was risky or high risk. In terms of short-term risk, 24% of males and 17% of females drank at least once a month in a manner that was risky or high risk for short-term harm.

Alcohol Poisoning