The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) was an

Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

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 (AAO) made on 26 November 2001, the department dealt with: *Entry, stay and departure arrangements for non-citizens *Border immigration control *Arrangements for settlement of migrants and humanitarian entrants, other than migrant child education *Citizenship *Ethnic affairs *Multicultural affairs *Indigenous affairs and reconciliation

History

Originally, this department was formed in the second Howard ministry when the ministerial portfolio of the

Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) was a department of the Government of Australia that was responsible for immigration, citizenship and border control (including visa issuance). It has now been subsumed into the Depa ...

merged with the Department of Reconciliation and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. Only two ministers have held this department,

Phillip Ruddock Philip Maxwell Ruddock (born 12 March 1943 in Canberra) is an Australian politician and the current mayor of Hornsby Shire. Ruddock is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia and currently the state president of the party's New South W ...

and

Amanda Vanstone Amanda Eloise Vanstone (née O'Brien; born 7 December 1952) is an Australian former politician and a former Ambassador to Italy. She was a Liberal Senator for South Australia from 1984 to 2007, and held several ministerial portfolios in the ...

, before it was returned to the

, and the Indigenous portfolio was subsumed in the

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs The former Australian Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) was a department of the Government of Australia located in Greenway in Canberra. It was formed in 2007 and absorbed the former Department ...

in the final days of the Howard government.

Controversy

In 2004-2005 the department was responsible for the unlawful 10-month detention of

Cornelia Rau Cornelia Rau is a German and Australian citizen who was unlawfully detained for a period of ten months in 2004 and 2005 as part of the Australian Government's mandatory detention program. Her detention became the subject of a government inquiry w ...

, a German citizen and Australian

permanent resident Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such ...

as part of the Australian government's

mandatory detention Immigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations, illegal entry or unauthorized arrival, as well as those subject to deportation and removal until a decision is made by immigration authorities to grant a vi ...

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 The Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre (IRPC) was an Australian immigration detention facility near the village of Woomera in South Australia. It was opened in November 1999 in response to an increase in unauthorised arriva ...

, an

Australian immigration detention facility Australian immigration detention facilities comprise a number of different facilities throughout Australia, including the Australian territory of Christmas Island. Such facilities also exist in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, namely the Nauru Regiona ...

near the village of Woomera in South Australia through contract with

Australasian Correctional Management Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) was a private Australian company that existed from 1991 to 2003 and was owned by American company Wackenhut. History From 1998 until 2003 ACM was responsible for running at least six immigration detenti ...

(ACM), a subsidiary of

Wackenhut G4S Secure Solutions (USA) is an American / British-based security services company, and a subsidiary of G4S, G4S plc. It was founded as The Wackenhut Corporation in 1954, in Coral Gables, Florida, by George Wackenhut and three partners (all ar ...

Security Corporation. ACM was criticised over various practices, including failing to staff the centre adequately, and concealing evidence of

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...

. The detention centre was the site of riots, hunger strikes, and lip-sewing, which included children.

Structure

The department was an

Australian Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the minister for immigration and multicultural affairs and Indigenous affairs,

Philip Ruddock Philip Maxwell Ruddock (born 12 March 1943 in Canberra) is an Australian politician and the current mayor of Hornsby Shire. Ruddock is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia and currently the state president of the party's New South W ...

(until 2003) and then

. 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.

Notes

References and further reading

* * * Ministries established in 2001 Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs Multiculturalism in Australia 2001 establishments in Australia 2006 disestablishments in Australia Indigenous affairs ministries {{Australia-gov-stub