Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs


The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and Indigenous Affairs was an Australian government department that existed between November 2001 and January 2006.

Scope

Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements, in the Department's annual reports and on the Department's website.
According to the Administrative Arrangements Order made on 26 November 2001, the Department dealt with:
Originally, this department was formed in the Second Howard Ministry when the ministerial portfolio of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs merged with the Department of Reconciliation and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. Only two ministers have held this department, Phillip Ruddock and Amanda Vanstone before it was returned to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, and the Indigenous portfolio was subsumed in the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs in the final days of the Howard Government.

Controversy

In 2004-05 the Department was responsible for the unlawful 10-month detention of Cornelia Rau, a German citizen and Australian permanent resident as part of the Australian Government's mandatory detention program. Rau's detention became the subject of a government inquiry which was later expanded to investigate over 200 other cases of suspected unlawful detention by DIMIA.
The Department also ran the Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, an Australian immigration detention facility near the village of Woomera in South Australia through contract with Australasian Correctional Management, a subsidiary of Wackenhut Security Corporation. ACM was criticised over various practices, including failing to staff the Centre adequately, and concealing evidence of child abuse. The detention centre was the site of riots, hunger strikes, and lip-sewing, which included children.

Structure

The Department was an Australian Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and Indigenous Affairs, Philip Ruddock and then Amanda Vanstone. The Secretary of the Department at its creation was Bill Farmer. Farmer was replaced by Andrew Metcalfe in July 2005, after publicly stating that the Department would benefit from vigorous organisational review and major cultural change, led by a new Secretary.