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The Federation of Parents and Citizens' Associations of New South Wales is committed to a free public education system which is open to all people irrespective of culture, gender, academic ability and socio-economic class and empowers students to control their own lives and be contributing members of society. This commitment is based on the belief that:

I refer to your letter of 1 March 2002 addressed to the Chief Executive of the Chief Minister's Department inviting input to the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention. I note that you also wrote to the ACT Departments of Education and Community Services, Health and Community Care and Justice and Community Safety.

According to National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA) as of 5 February 2002 there were 16 children with disabilities such as vision impairment, acute dwarfism, trauma, Perthes disease, cardiac, asthmatic and genetic disabilities residing in detention centres (Port Hedland and Woomera). This number does not include any of the detained refugees on the Pacific Islands like Nairu, Christmas Islands…

This Office issued a formal report on Immigration Detention Centres in March 2001 which contained a number of recommendations to DIMIA for improvements in arrangements for children. The investigation was conducted following complaints and a number of reported incidents including escapes and allegations of assault on detainees. It revealed evidence at every immigration detention facility of self…

We refer to our telephone conversation with [name removed] on 3 May 2002 from your office agreeing to an extension of time to enable our agency to lodge its submission on the adequacy and appropriateness of Australia’s treatment of child asylum seekers and other children, who are, or have been held in immigration detention.

We must face up to our humanitarian responsibilities to accept refugee children and their families. We must take them out of the immigration detention centres and welcome them into the community where they can play, learn and grow. At least then when our children look back on this time and ask us what we did to stand up for refugee kids, we can say we gave them their childhood." (Calvert,…

1. In my evidence before the Commission on Friday 31 May 2002 I noted that the number of children in refugee detention centres in Australia had fallen from 582 to 184 over the past 6 months but that 351 children remained in detention on Nauru and Manus Island as part of the ‘Pacific Solution’.

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organisation whose mission is to accompany, serve and defend the rights of forcibly displaced people. It has a staff of over 600 full time personnel and is at work in over 60 countries. At the present time JRS has active programmes of social support and legal counselling in prisons and detention centres for asylum seekers in about 20…

To those of you who have been following this Inquiry closely, it may be unclear as to why this hearing is taking place as I had said in December 2002 that those would be the last of the Inquiry's hearings. I will therefore briefly set out the history and methodology of the Inquiry to this point which will take us to why we are here today. I will then set out what steps remain to be completed…

There are several different questions that need to be addressed to foster equality of opportunity for people with disabilities in employment. These questions include:

The National Program on Refugees and Displaced People operates under the Christian World Service Commission of the National Council of Churches in Australia, which has been assisting refugees to resettle in Australia since 1948.

"The child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding".

The Social Justice In Early Childhood Group (SJIECG) was formed in 1996 and is made up of early childhood professionals focussed on social justice issues as they relate to children and their families. The group aims to raise the awareness of social justice issues within the early childhood profession. The group membership includes teachers, students, childrens services managers, additional needs…

The Australian Federation of University Women is one of seventy-one national affiliates of the International Federation of University Women. Founded in 1922, it pursues educational initiatives to advance of the status and well-being of women and girls privately and publicly, nationally and internationally, and it attempts to further peace and international co-operation through the development of…

COMMISSIONER OZDOWSKI: Welcome to everyone. I would like to formally open this public hearing, the first of a series of hearings to be conducted around Australia. My name is Sev Ozdowski and I am the Human Rights Commissioner of Australia, and I have with me two Assistant Commissioners; to my right Professor Trang Thomas who is Professor of Psychology at the Royal Melbourne Institute of…

1. Save the Children Save the Children is the world's largest independent child development organisation, with 32 member countries and programs in over 100 countries. Save the Children works for:

The Queensland Independent Education Union (QIEU) Equity Committee is a committee of employees in the non-government sector of education who are concerned with issues of justness and fairness in relation to employees and students in the non-government sector of education specifically and wider contemporary society generally. Members of the Equity Committee are currently or have in the past been…

The commissioner will inquire into the adequacy and appropriateness of Australia's treatment of child asylum seekers, and other children who are, or have been, held in immigration detention, including:

Melbourne Citymission would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide input into your inquiry into children in immigration detention. It is an issue that goes to the very heart of how we as a nation care for our children. It is particularly pertinent to Melbourne Citymission as we are an organization committed to supporting and advocating on behalf of the marginalised.