Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young today urged the Rudd Government to inquire into the ongoing effects Australia’s immigration policy has had on over 2,000 former imprisoned children and their families.

“Even though children are now released from detention, the psychological effects of the incarceration can go on,” she said.

“It’s important that Australia continues to be aware of the price paid by children in detention and investigate how to make amends.”

Senator Hanson-Young asked Immigration Minister Evans in the Senate today whether there would be any substantial support for the over 2000 children who had been detained for an average of 20 months from 1992 to 2005 in Australian immigration detention centres.

“His answer that Australia should be looking into the future, not backwards, shows a Minister washing his hands of the ongoing psychological effects of the detention upon children.

“The fact is that the current Inquiry into immigration policy does not adequately look at the continuing psychological effects on children – and therefore needs to be greatly expanded.

“A Royal Commission, or at the very least, extending the Terms of Reference of the current Inquiry into immigration detention to look into the psychological effects of detention on children, would assist in restoring Australia’s commitment to refugees under our international obligations.”

Senator Hanson-Young said she recognised the work of the Rudd Government in changing the policy of mandatory detention, but said that current parliamentarians “carry a responsibility to assist people affected by their time spent locked up” in detention centres in past years.

“The Greens have been at the forefront of calls for an end to mandatory detention, and although the current policy holds a presumption against detention, there is still work to be done to address the impact detention has had, and continues to have on innocent people.

“We must ensure that adequate support, in whatever form, is provided for those who have been wrongly treated. We cannot simply turn the pages on this dark chapter in Australia’s history books.”

For more information: Gemma Clark on 0427 604 760