Vivan Solon’s Return Welcomed but New Terror Laws Will Still Impact on the Most Vulnerable
The Australian Democrats have welcomed the news that Vivian Alvarez Solon has arrived home in Sydney today four years after being wrongly deported but have raised concerns about such incidences reoccurring under the proposed anti-terror laws.
Spokesperson for Immigration Senator Bartlett said, "Ms Solons case is a perfect example of the gross injustice and incompetence that can occur where there are no adequate safeguards and accountability to protect individuals.
"Ms Solons is not an isolated case, it is merely one of many which have since been discovered.
The new terror laws which have been the subject of Senate Committee hearings this week have no adequate safeguards to protect innocent victims who may be inadvertently caught just by being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"In the cases of Ms Solon and Ms Rau who fell through the cracks in part due to failings in our approach to mental illness, it is of great concern that that there are no provisions for mental health assistance at all for those who may be suffering from a mental illness and unable to fully appreciate the rigid constraints which are proposed in the new terror Bill.
"The prospect for an abuse of process under these archaic laws is high and has very real consequences for those who may be unintentionally targeted.
"Any law that provides extreme powers to government officers and Ministers without proper independent oversight and controls will inevitably lead to major injustices occurring.
"The Government’s determination to press ahead with legislation that undermines the rule of law and the basis of our liberal democracy shows they have not learnt any lessons from the travesty that was visited on Vivian Solon," Senator Bartlett concluded.
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