Access to refugees

In late November, the Press Council made a public statement about restrictions placed on media access to asylum seekers and to detention centres.

The Australian Press Council is very concerned about the restrictions on media access to, and reporting of events surrounding, asylum seekers.

The Chairman of the Press Council, Professor Ken McKinnon, said that the Council unanimously deplored these restrictions:

"As the Prime Minister, John Howard, has often said, a free press is crucial to the proper functioning of democracy. It is of grave concern, therefore, that his government is severely restricting the ability of the news media to report freely on a question that has become central to political debate in Australia."

Journalists are routinely denied access to people who come to Australia as asylum seekers. The immigration detention centres at Port Hedland, Woomera, Villawood in Sydney and Maribyrnong in Melbourne follow the same exclusion procedures as high-security prisons, and this policy is also being applied in the camps being constructed on Nauru and other Pacific islands.

Journalists are reliant largely on official government sources for information on the detention centres and their inmates, and for information about the detection and interception of boats containing asylum seekers.

"The Government argues that the ban on speaking to asylum seekers is for the protection of the asylum seekers themselves: they may face reprisals if they return to their home countries, or their families may be threatened," Professor McKinnon added. "This risk should not be ignored by journalists, but it is possible to report an interview without identifying the person or persons being interviewed. And in any case, the asylum seekers themselves are surely the best judges of whether they or their families will be endangered if they speak out."

In the Council's view, the real issue is the right of the Australian people to know what their government is doing in their name. This right to know is effectively denied by the interview ban and other restrictions, because reporters have no means of verifying the information the government provides to them.

"While the government refuses to allow journalists to speak to asylum seekers, accusations of media manipulation will continue to be made," Professor McKinnon concluded.

News conference

Professor McKinnon held a news conference to release the statement. He was joined at the conference by Michael Stutchbury, the editor of The Australian.

Mr Stutchbury described the restrictions as "a disgrace to our political system" and as an "outrageous infringement" of the public's right to know.

"The claimed regard for the privacy of asylum seekers is a sick joke," Mr Stuchbury said.

Media comments

The Council attached to its printed version of the press release some comments from journalists and editors on the restrictions their newspapers had met in seeking access to asylum seekers.

Tony Vermeer, the editor in chief of Australian Associated Press, the nation's news agency, said, "AAP has tried to gain access to asylum seekers in Australia and at overseas camps but has been prevented from doing so by officials.

"At Woomera our journalist, as a condition of entry, was required by the Immigration Department to sign an agreement not to approach the camp occupants. ...

"A similar reason was given by Papua New Guinea officials who denied our journalist access to boat people taken to the island of Manus. PNG officials told us that they wanted to allow reporters to talk to the boat people ... but had been told not to do so by Australia.

"In both cases, the reporters believed there were asylum seekers who wished to speak to the media. They felt that the restrictions were designed to silence the asylum seekers and prevent them from airing their complaints and telling their stories.

"... In the case of the boat people, there is no justification for restricting access to people who wish to talk. They have committed no crime and are pursuing their legal rights to be accepted as refugees."

His views were echoed by Karen Porter, at that time the deputy editor of The Advertiser, Adelaide.

"The Advertiser has applied to get into Woomera detention centre to speak to detainees and photograph the centre on several occasions," she said. "At the time it was opened, chief of staff Paul Starick covered the story and was allowed in once for a tour. The Advertiser also was allowed access after the Woomera breakout last year.

"At no time have Advertiser journalists been allowed to speak to detainees or identify them in pictures. ...

"The information flow from Woomera is tightly controlled, with the only source being Mr Ruddock's office.

"... As a paper, we are always seeking greater access to ensure the whole story is told. The Tampa issue highlighted this point."

Off-shore access

"I sought access to the asylum seekers in Nauru, and had access to them," reported Nick Pappas, from Melbourne's Sunday Herald Sun. "Though not allowed to enter the detention facility, we had access to them through the fence. My understanding is that this access was allowed by the Government of Nauru, not the Australian Government.

"My understanding is that the Australian Government has a general ban on all access to asylum seekers. Generally the only way to get information from the detention centres is through representatives of the ethnic groups in those detention facilities.

"We do need access because otherwise all information is through the Federal Government which is obviously censored."

John Flint represented Perth's Sunday Times on Christmas Island, one of the first points of call for many refugee boast. He said:

"During my brief stay on Christmas Island I was repeatedly denied access to asylum seekers being accommodated in the sports hall and just outside the sports hall. On several occasions when I was attempting to communicate with asylum seekers I was moved on by Australian Correctional Management (ACM) managers, even though I was standing in a public place and had not crossed the cordon into the camp. ...

"Journalists were told that there was a media liaison officer for the Immigration Department somewhere on the island, but no journalist was able to locate the 'media officer' and it became a bit of a standing joke as to where that official was hiding."

Government response

According to AAP, the Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock responded to the Council's comments. He said that asylum seekers in Australian detention centres were free to contact the media without federal government intervention.

In denying that the government was severely restricting news media access to asylum seekers, he said that the government was only anxious the protect the privacy of detainees, and that telephones in detention centres meant that asylum seekers could contact the media.

"What we restrict are journalists seeking access to asylum seekers, we don't in any way restrict detainees seeking access to journalists."

Mr Ruddock also said that the Australian government did not control access to asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. "The issue is determined by ... the International Organisation for Migration," he said.

In a recent speech, Professor McKinnon noted, "Philip Ruddock may be handling a difficult task with aplomb but he has made rather silly claims about inmates having access to the press when they are detained behind razor wire and only have access to single public phone (who would they know to ring)."

In late January, an ABC journalist was arrested and charged while in the vicinity of the Woomera Detention Centre and other journalists were told to leave the immediate area.

JACK R HERMAN

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