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RUBY:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am.

Across Australia, more than one hundred asylum seekers brought to the country under medevac legislation are being held in detention.

This week, some of those people, in Brisbane, Sydney and Darwin are being unexpectedly released into the community.

Today, Elle Marsh on the reasons behind their sudden release, and what it’s like for those remaining inside.

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RUBY:

Elle, could you start by telling me about Park Hotel and the men who are currently detained there?

ELLE:

Yeah, so Park Hotel is actually just a couple of blocks from our office in Carlton. It's on Swanston Street and it's a fairly bland looking beige and brown hotel opposite Lincoln Square. And since December, the hotel has been used to detain refugees from Manus Island and Nauru who were brought to Australia for medical treatment.

Now, about a month ago, I started to speak to some of the men who are being detained in the hotel.

Archival tape -- Elle Marsh:

“Hi, Don.”

Archival tape -- Don:

“Hello.”

Archival tape -- Elle Marsh:

“How are you?”

Archival tape -- Don:

“I’m same, same. Very bad.”

ELLE:

And two of the men, Ramsiyar, is a 29 year old Tamil refugee and Don….

Archival tape -- Elle Marsh:

“Can you tell me about your day?

Archival tape -- Don:

Yes, yes, of course. Why not?”

ELLE:

...Who is a stateless Rohingya refugee.

RUBY:

Mm. So how long have they been in detention, and specifically at Park Hotel?

ELLE:

So they both actually met in Australia's offshore detention centre on Manus Island in 2013.

Archival tape -- Ramsiyar:

“Don when he prayer he is coming walkaround our way. I talked with him.”

ELLE:

Don was walking past Ramsiyar five times a day to pray. And Ramsiyar one day just stopped him

Archival tape -- Ramsiyar:

“He is always praying, I talk about that and your religion, how is it. I am I am Hindu, he is Muslim.”

ELLE:

They started to chat about the different religions and and from then on became really close friends and now consider themselves like brothers.

Archival tape -- Ramsiyar:

“Talk with me, this is the first meeting, I never forget that.”

ELLE:

They've both been in detention for over eight years. And in 2019 both of the men were transferred to Australia on the now repealed Medivac legislation. So, over the last 20 or so months, they’ve been transferred from hotel to hotel. And since December last year, both of them have been detained in what they call the Park Hotel Prison in Carlton.
They're not allowed outside. There's barely any direct sunlight. The windows are tinted.

Archival tape -- Don:

“We don't have sun, we don't have fresh hair. It make me very crazy. I told them it's very difficult to be locked up like that.”

ELLE:

Don has told me going for a walk is simply just walking up and down the hallway. So the conditions are, yeah, not good.

RUBY:

And so once you began talking to these men and working on this story, something quite significant happened. Can you tell me about it?

ELLE:

Yeah, so towards the end of January, refugees that were detained in the Park Hotel prison were split up into group meetings. And rumours had actually begun circulating that some of them might be released because staff was sort of asking certain people, do you have anyone that can look after you or help you if you can get released? And none of the men had actually ever had a question like that before.

And Ramsiyar, he was put into a group meeting with roughly another dozen men. And the immigration official told all of the men in that room that they were going to be released the following day.

Archival tape -- Ramsiyar:

“They say they have the good news, you’ve got the visa.”

ELLE:

And that was a pretty incredible moment, Ramsiyar didn't actually really believe what was going to happen.

Archival tape -- Ramsiyar:

“Everyone make a noise, you know, like happiness. Me too, me too, very, very happy. And you are saying true? Yes, you are released tomorrow.”

ELLE:

And over the next couple of days, 46 refugees of the roughly 60 men that were being imprisoned at Park Hotel, they were released into the community on bridging visas.

Archival tape -- News reporter #1:

“Waving to supporters and escorted to buses, these refugees are finally free

Archival tape -- [Clapping and cheering]

Archival tape -- News reporter #2:

A surprise bus ride to a long awaited bridging visa. The 20 refugees released today have been given no explanation for the sudden decision to let them out…

ELLE:

And Ramsiyar says that that's the moment he will never forget.

Archival tape -- Ramsiyar:

“I can't believe. I can’t imagine really, really very excited when I go to step the car, really very excited and people come close then. So you are free, you are free. That's amazing. That moment. I never forget that.”

ELLE:

After he was released, they were swept, swept off to a party with advocates and friends.

Archival tape -- Ramsiyar:

“I meet everyone, always very, very happy. I can't imagine, I can’t explain that happy, you know? Everyone hug and kiss me. Really, too excited. Too excited”

ELLE:

It sounded like an incredible night. He had so much food that he couldn't walk and remembers walking out into the sunlight the next day. And just, yeah, he's still pinching himself that he's finally free.

Archival tape -- Ramsiyar:

“We can get the sunlight. Yeah, we go and make a noise. Oh, this is my free? Really, the relief and believe my mind. But still I still have some and this never gone.”

ELLE:

However, it's still bittersweet. His friend Don was not amongst those that was released. Don and 11 others remain indefinitely imprisoned in the hotel and they have not had any explanation of why they can't leave.

And you know, I've been speaking to Don, and, of course, he's happy for his friends who are released, but he also can't sleep. He’s stuck in this constant loop of: “Why me, why am I still here?”

RUBY:

We’ll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Elle, last month, and then again this week, some refugees have been released into the Australian community. Many of them were under the impression that this is something that would never happen for them, that they would never be able to live in the community. So this seems like a fairly big shift in the government's refugee policy. Can you tell me about what changed, why this decision was made?

ELLE:

Yes. So the Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, he came on radio and said the reason all these men are being released is because it's cheaper to keep them in the community.

Archival tape -- Peter Dutton:

“If they’re demonstrated not to be a threat or that’s the assessment that’s been made by the experts, then it is cheaper for people to go out into the community until they can depart.”

ELLE:

But that reasoning doesn't stack up. It's always been cheaper to keep these men in the community. So there's a lot more to it than that.

I think, to begin to understand you need to go back to this case that was decided in the federal court last September. And this case concerned the detention of a Syrian refugee who actually came to Australia as a child. And the outcome of that case was a huge turning point when it comes to migration and asylum seeker law in Australia.

They successfully argued for the release using this legal order called habeas corpus, which is this, you know, hundreds of year old writ that requires a detained person to be brought before the court to determine whether they are being legally detained. And in this particular case, they claimed that the Australian government had not taken appropriate steps to return the client back to Syria or to progress his migration case.

And so the judge agreed. They found his detention to be unlawful. It was like an incredibly risky case, it took about 18 months to prepare. And, you know, the man's family was incredibly concerned that he could actually potentially be sent back to Syria, but instead he was released.

RUBY:

So this particular Syrian refugee, they were unexpectedly released from detention because of this federal court ruling. But how has that ruling led to these other refugees who are in Park Hotel also being released?

ELLE:

So, yeah, following that case, there was a whole flurry of legal action. Lawyers around the country going, okay, let's take this habeas corpus sort of line of argument and let's use it for our clients. And so, you know, hundreds of cases were filed using this similar legal argument.

And there is speculation in the refugee sector that the government's decision to release some of the men is actually an attempt to avoid Medivac detainee cases from going to trial. So, you know, to potentially prevent further legal precedent, and to stop its immigration policies from being scrutinised by the court.

RUBY:

Right, so what you're hearing here is that the government isn't necessarily actually changing its policy on refugees, it's instead trying to avoid the risk of a legal precedent.

ELLE:

That's right. That seems to be the case that they're trying to avoid any more legal precedent and having these cases go before the court. You know, for example, for a lot of these cases that have been filed, the home affairs minister has been subpoenaed for information regarding what is their plan for these men, and each time before the subpoena is due, instead the minister is simply just released them out into the community without providing that information.

So it seems that they're just trying to avoid any risk of information or a legal precedent coming to light through these court cases.

RUBY:

So Ramsiyar is now living in the community, but what about his friend who you've also been speaking to, Don? How is he going and why is he still inside?

ELLE:

Yeah, the logic behind the government's decision to keep some of the men still in detention is opaque. For example, like Ramsiyar, Don is found to be a refugee. He has two uncles in Sydney that have written to the government saying they're willing to look after him after he's released. They have the same lawyers. Their cases are very similar in many ways, and they've gone through a lot together. And, you know, advocates say that the arbitrary nature of who is released and who isn't is actually just in line with the punitive nature of the government's immigration policies.

Right now, as we are speaking, there are still roughly 130 medevac detainees currently being imprisoned across the country. 12 of those men are in Park Hotel, and Don is one of them.

And I gave him another call.

Archival tape -- Elle Marsh:

“Are you okay?”

Archival tape -- Don:

"I am not ok. I’m sorry."

ELLE:

And as I was calling him, guards were trying to move him to another room so that they could tint his window.

Archival tape -- Don:

“We can see them, they can’t see us. They are not happy, they want to hide us, that is what they want.”

ELLE:

Don's room is the last room which has a window that is untinted. But yeah, that day, that window is tinted as well. And he believes that he's being punished for speaking out. So the situation in Park Hotel is really deteriorating.

The communal space is always empty. Everyone is staying in their rooms. No one is talking. And, you know, one man was removed to another detention centre in Melbourne after he attempted self-harm. So Don is, you know, incredibly worried, he's worried about his family back home, he's worried about the pandemic and he's worried about his future.

Archival tape -- Don:

“I want to say this very clearly. Please don't leave us. We are very worried. Our situation, my situation and all of our people and all of who have been in detention centre until now, we are very worried about our situation. We are scared. Please don't leave us. As we told you, we cannot survive here. Please don't forget us.”

RUBY:

Elle, thank you so much for your time today.

ELLE:

Thank you.

RUBY:

Elle Marsh is a features and field producer on 7am, in a position supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.

If you need support, Lifeline can be reached at 13 11 14.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today...

The Prime Minister Scott Morrison says a Cabinet Minister named in an anonymous letter alleging the rape of a woman in the 1980s rejects the allegation.

The person who made the allegation is now dead, and a group of her friends are urging the Prime Minister to hold an inquiry.

Scott Morrison says he became aware of the allegation on Wednesday evening last week, and spoke to the Minister and the Australian Federal Police Commissioner about it that night.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am, see you tomorrow.

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