By Australian Human Rights Commission

In April and May 2024, the Commission visited the Broadmeadows Residential Precinct (BRP) and parts of the Melbourne Immigration Detention Centre (MIDC), the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre (VIDC), and the Perth Immigration Detention Centre (PIDC), all facilities where women are held. This Report documents the key observations arising from the Commission’s inspection of these facilities. Some of the issues that the Commission identifies are specific to individual facilities and others are systemic in nature. The Report finds that in an overwhelmingly male system, women in immigration detention are often an afterthought when it comes to detention infrastructure, the provision of programs and activities, equitable access to services and the delivery of staff training. Women’s experiences of detention differ substantially from men’s, not only because they are minorities, but because they have particular needs and vulnerabilities that are often unrecognised and unmet. For many of the women, the negative impacts of detention are compounded by histories of abuse and trauma and heightened risk of exposure to violence and sexual harassment. The Report finds that these impacts are exacerbated by the continued use of operational quarantine (separation from the main population without medical symptoms) and the probable separation from family supports owing to the limited accommodation available for women close to their families and the inadequacy of visiting facilities for those with children. The Report finds that women have fewer opportunities for meaningful self-development, and the programs and activities offered are often unresponsive to their needs or not age appropriate. Staff working in these facilities often have no specific training on the vulnerabilities and needs of women in their care, which can result in routine activities being undertaken insensitively or exposing women to further trauma. The Report emphasises concern about women being routinely exposed to the possibility of harassment and violence because many of the services that are available to them are located in male compounds or adjacent to them. In particular, the Report highlights concern about the co-location of men and women in the Broadmeadows Residential Precinct and, the safety of women at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, who are housed next to a compound with registered sexual offenders. The recommendations made in this Report are designed to assist the Department to improve the situation for women in immigration detention, ensuring they are managed safely, while also protecting their human rights.

Sydney: Australian Human Rights Commission, 2024. 93p.

By Unions NSW

This report on workplace exploitation and the experience of migrant women living in Australia on temporary visas identifies an unacceptable level of sexual harassment, exacerbated by visa status, and calls for immediate policy action. The report makes recommendations to create a safer and more equitable working environment for migrant women.

The study underscores the need to implement policy changes that target intersecting issues experienced by migrant women in Australia. Migrant women on temporary visas are forced to endure sexual harassment in silence due to numerous factors, including uncertainty regarding their immigration status, precarious work, and racial and gender workplace discrimination. The research also underscores the need to allocate more resources to developing services to provide advice, education, and training to empower migrant women to report sexual harassment.

Key findings

• 51% of respondents reported having experienced sexual harassment at work.

• Sexual harassment was commonly reported in the construction, hospitality, horticulture, retail, and cleaning industries.

• 82% of respondents who worked in the construction industry experienced sexual harassment.

• Participants experienced a range of repercussions when they tried to defend themselves, rejected the behaviour or reported the harasser’s conduct.

• 48% working in the construction and horticulture industries decided to leave their job because they felt unsafe.

• 50% of those who experienced workplace sexual harassment were concerned that reporting could result in losing their job, and 75% did not report the incident.

Recommendations

1. Migrant worker centres should be established in each state.

2. Culturally appropriate education and training should be developed in each state in collaboration with migrant worker groups.

3. Implement a legal framework and policies to protect migrant women.

4. Develop reporting pathways that reflect the needs of migrant women.

5. Introduce reforms to ensure migrant women have access to existing legal avenues to address sexual harassment.

6. Facilitate migrant women's access to employment opportunities.

7. Provide temporary migrant women with visa protections to ensure they can report sexual harassment without fear of visa cancellations or other negative impacts to their immigration status.

8. Remove the requirement for working holiday makers to undertake ‘specified work’ in regional areas.

9. Remove the working hours cap on student visas.

Sydney: Unions NSW, 2024. 56p.

By Alexandra Gannoni and Samantha Bricknell

The Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery National Minimum Dataset (HTMS NMDS) is a national data collection on suspected victim‑survivors and perpetrators of modern slavery in Australia. This report describes the findings of the HTMS NMDS pilot data collection, conducted over six months from 1 July to 31 December 2022.  

Statistical Report no. 48. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.2024. 41p.

By Ralph Rashleigh

The memoir has been edited from its original Victorian novel style to a more direct and vivid narrative. Ralph Rashleigh, a pseudonym, was a London apprentice who turned to crime, leading to his transportation to Australia. Rashleigh endured brutal treatment in the Australian penal system, reflecting the harsh and often sadistic practices of the time. The memoir provides a vivid account of the penal system and criminal law in the early 19th century, highlighting its brutality and inefficacy.

I929 BY JONATHAN CAPE AND HARRISON SMITH INCORPORATED

By Jo Spangaro, Nigel Spence, Jacqui Cameron, Kelsey Hegarty, et al.

Around one third of refugee women in Australia are estimated to have experienced domestic violence (DV) and many face multiple post-migration challenges. Universal screening for domestic violence, and response, is recommended for women in priority populations and has been implemented in health services across diverse jurisdictions. Universal screening for domestic violence involves asking all women a small number of standardised and validated questions about experiences of violence at home. Asking women directly about experiences of abuse increases disclosure and creates opportunity for supportive intervention. However, this is untested with refugee women accessing settlement services.

The Safety and Health after Arrival (SAHAR) study introduced and evaluated a culturally tailored DV identification and response strategy with women accessing five refugee settlement services in NSW, Australia, four in the greater Sydney area and one regional NSW site.

This report finds the SAHAR intervention was effectively implemented by the settlement service providers. The relatively high disclosure rate, and high levels of acceptance of the intervention with both refugee women and settlement staff, demonstrate the feasibility of culturally tailored, universal DV screening and response in settlement services. Successful implementation of DV screening and response requires: planning and preparation, organisational commitment, training, translated tools and resources, staff support during implementation, guidelines and referral protocols.

Wollongong, AUS: University of Wollongong 2024. 34p.

By Peter Nagle and Richard Summerrell

On 10 August 1987 the then Prime Minister, the Honourable R J L Hawke, announced the formation of a Royal Commission to investigate the causes of deaths of Aboriginals while held in State and Territory jails. The Royal Commission was established in response to a growing public concern that deaths in custody of Aboriginal people were too common and poorly explained. This Commonwealth Royal Commission was the 108th since Federation. The establishment of the Commission and the appointment of the Honourable Mr Justice Muirhead as Royal Commissioner had the support of all State and Territory governments….Access to records collected or created by government has always been subject to opposing pressures. Access to records is seen as providing a check on arbitrary government power, but privacy considerations and other sensitivities also need to be protected….”

National Archives of Australia. 1996. 85p.

MAY CONTAIN MARKUP

By RYAN CROPP

IFROM THE COVER: In the 1960s, DONALD HORNE offered Australians a compelling reinterpretation of the Menzies years as a period of social and political inertia and mediocrity. His book The Lucky Country was profoundly influential and, without doubt, one of the most significant shots ever fired in Australia's endless culture war. Ryan Cropp's landmark biography positions Horne as an antipodean Orwell, a lively, independent and distinct literary voice 'searching for the temper of the people, accepting it, and moving on from there'. Through the eyes - and unforgettable words - of this preternaturally observant and articulate man, we see a recognisable modern Australia emerge.

'A compulsive read about a writer who shaped the way we Australians think about ourselves' -Judith Brett

Melbourne. La Trobe University Press. 2023. 375p.

By Linda Leung, Cath Finney Lamb and Liz Emrys

An investigation into the use of information communication technologies by refugees during flight, displacement and in settlement, this book examines the impact of Australia’s official policy of mandatory detention on how asylum seekers and refugees maintain links to diasporas and networks of support. Given the restricted contact with the world outside of the immigration detention centre, the book juxtaposes forms and processes of technology-mediated communication between institutionalised detention, with those of displacement and settlement. It finds that while there are obstacles to communication in situations of conflict and dislocation, asylum seekers and refugees are able to ‘make do’ with the technology options available to them in ways which were less constrained than in detention settings. The book also outlines how communication practices during the settlement process focus on learning new technologies, and repairing the disconnections with family members resulting from separation and detention.

Broadway: UTS ePRESS, 2009. 54p.

Edited by Tim Causer

Among the vast body of manuscripts composed and collected by the philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832), held by UCL Library's Special Collections, is the earliest Australian convict narrative, Memorandoms by James Martin. This document also happens to be the only extant first-hand account of the most well-known, and most mythologized, escape from Australia by transported convicts. On the night of 28 March 1791, James Martin, William and Mary Bryant and their two infant children, and six other male convicts, stole the colony's fishing boat and sailed out of Sydney Harbour. Within ten weeks they had reached Kupang in West Timor, having, in an amazing feat of endurance, travelled over 3,000 miles (c. 5,000) kilometres) in an open boat. There they passed themselves off as the survivors of a shipwreck, a ruse which-initially, at least-fooled their Dutch hosts. This new edition of the Memorandoms includes full colour reproductions of the original manuscripts, making available for the first time this hugely important document, alongside a transcript with commentary describing the events and key characters. The book also features a scholarly introduction which examines their escape and early convict absconding in New South Wales more generally, and, drawing on primary records, presents new research which sheds light on the fate of the escapees after they reached Kupang. The introduction also assesses the voluminous literature on this most famous escape, and critically examines the myths and fictions created around it and the escapees, myths which have gone unchallenged for far too long. Finally, the introduction briefly discusses Jeremy Bentham's views on convict transportation and their enduring impact. [Show full item record]

London: UCL Press, 2017. 204p.

By Global Detention Project

Australia has a severe and punitive immigration detention system. It’s: policy of mandatory, indefinite detention does not distinguish between adults or children, visa violators or asylum seekers. Dozens have languished in detention for more than a decade. Private contractors, paid billions to operate centres, have been continually criticized for abusing detainees and failing to provide services. Observers have repeatedly denounced the detention regime, including its offshore operations, as violating human rights and international law. The price tag for maintaining the system is astronomical: It costs nearly $400,000 per detainee/year compared to less than $50,000 for community housing. But the physical and mental costs are even higher: Experts have documented the devastating impact of prolonged detention on the health of detainees, which has led to high levels of self-harm, long-term illnesses, and severe psychological disorders like schizophrenia.

Geneva, SWIT: Global Detention Project, 2022. 58p.