25 may 05
Herald Sun

FOR Virginia Leong, watching three-year-old daughter Naomi spend her first day of freedom frolicking in a Sydney park was "a dream come true".

Naomi, whose entire life has been spent in immigration detention, and her 31-year-old Malaysian mother, were released on Monday night from Sydney's Villawood detention centre on bridging visas.

But psychiatrists have warned the little girl could be scarred for life.

Prime Minister John Howard defended his Government's decision to release the Leongs, batting away criticism from the Opposition that the move was sparked by international embarrassment.

Naomi, born in Villawood on May 5, 2002, and her mum are staying with Russian-born Kristina Nievens in her two-bedroom flat in Parramatta, in Sydney's west.

Ms Leong and Ms Nievens, 32, formed a lasting friendship at Villawood -- for years, they shared a flat in "detention centre hell".

Now the two best friends plan to enjoy their freedom with their children. Ms Nievens was released last year and reunited with son Andrew, who had been staying with his father. She has now opened her home, and her arms, to the Leongs.

Naomi got her first glimpse of the "real world" on Monday and had her first McDonald's meal for lunch yesterday.

"It's a dream come true," Ms Leong said.

But she was still reeling from the shock and emotion of her release, and trying to leave behind the experience of Villawood.

"It's very hard in there. I can't explain it unless you're in there," she said, adding that she was most looking forward to introducing Naomi to her step-brother Griffith Yan, 7.

"I will try to get to my son as soon as I can, try to have a relationship with him," she said.

Ms Leong said she hadn't seen Griffith, a child from her previous marriage, since she was detained 4 1/2 years ago.

Ms Leong said she wasn't sure how damaged her daughter would be from detention.

"She wasn't very happy for a while, she wasn't eating, didn't want to hang out with no one and would just lie there in the room watching TV by herself."

Dr Louise Newman, a psychiatrist who has conducted research into the mental health effects of long-term detention and assessed Naomi in Villawood, said the little girl would need long-term psychiatric care.

"The sad and tragic thing of this case, I think, is this child has already suffered," Dr Newman said.

The Leongs' plight became public when Dr Michael Dudley -- a senior lecturer in psychiatry at the University of NSW and a psychiatrist at Sydney Children's Hospital -- revealed Naomi had been banging her head against a wall and was often mute and unresponsive.

Dr Newman said both mother and child would need long-term support.

The Prime Minister was challenged by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, who asked if the Government released children from detention only when shamed and embarrassed by headlines and overseas media.

"Will your Government now act with compassion and adopt Labor's policy so that children can live outside high-security razor-wire detention centres?" Mr Beazley asked.

Senator Vanstone's admission follows weeks of pressure over the wrongful detention of Ms Rau, and the deportation to the Philippines of Australian citizen Vivian Alvarez Solon.

Several Liberal backbenchers have mounted a rebellion against the Government's mandatory immigration detention policies, planning to introduce their own legislation to water down the laws.

But Senator Vanstone defended her department, saying it was often difficult to correctly identify someone suspected of having a mental illness.

She said she had made several changes in light of the cases and was considering bringing in experts to fix problems.

"I recognise that it may be appropriate to involve external expertise," Senator Vanstone told a Senate estimates hearing.

Senator Vanstone said while 201 cases marked "released not unlawful" had been referred to former Australian Federal Police chief Mick Palmer for investigation, not every one would turn out to be a case of wrongful detention.

"Every single case will be looked at separately, every one of them, because the department is determined to recognise what problems it may have and to change," she said.

"And I am not going to ... engage in that work and then have further problems arise later, it must start with a clean slate.

"But even more importantly than that, if there are any cases in that number that have a problem, then (they) have to be dealt with as a right for the person involved.

"We've done the search, we gone back as far as these records are held and we're referring just over 200 cases."

Senator Vanstone said she had asked her department to look at using biometrics to identify people, and had set up a special national identification unit in the Canberra head office to ensure complex cases were dealt with quickly and consistently.

The unit will help state and territory case officers check identities, while immigration detention review managers will be in place by the end of May in each state and territory where people are detained.

From May 28, a psychiatrist will visit Baxter detention centre every fortnight and psychiatric nurses will be on call 24 hours a day from next week.

The changes are not enough to placate moderate Liberal backbenchers, who want children and their parents released from immigration detention immediately, and all detainees released after a year.

Victorian MP Petro Georgiou has drawn up his own legislation. Up to four government MPs are believed to support his move.

Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out a conscience vote on the issue, angering former Liberal candidate and human rights advocate Greg Barns, who was disendorsed for publicly opposing the Government's treatment of asylum seekers.

"Mr Howard allowed a conscience vote on right-to-die legislation, IVF and abortion - there is no difference between those matters of conscience and the rights of human beings in detention when they have committed no crime," Mr Barns said.