Fed: Beazley calls for inquiry into detention centres

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-2000
Fed: Beazley calls for inquiry into detention centres

PERTH, Dec 17 AAP - The federal government should set up a public inquiry into the
immigration detention system immediately, opposition leader Kim Beazley said today.

The government should not ignore the many concerns raised by reliable people about
the way Australia was treating illegal immigrants in its detention centres, he said.

"There is no doubt at all that there needs to be a fully empowered public inquiry into
the detention system," he said.

"That has been demonstrated repeatedly by the concerns of reliable people who have
been directly involved."

Illegal immigrants must be detained to deter others from arriving illegally, but they
should be detained in the most humane way possible, he said.

"Both our own view of ourselves as a decent, humane society and our international image
requires it."

AAP lk/md

KEYWORD: DETENTION BEAZLEY

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