Four Corners recently aired a report showing footage of Cornelia Rau’s apprehension under the Mental Health Act (possibly before she was assumed to be an illegal immigrant?) and it reminds me again of why the government should not be in charge of people’s lives.  Whilst being no bleeding heart in favour of getting rid of detention centres, I do think the case points to two issues and also my argument against government intervention.  The report I just watched highlighted very poor treatment of the mentally ill when detained by private facility operators who were little more than thugs.  It also went on to show how many guards in the facility (it was unclear if it was Baxter or a mental health facility) actually ended up on work cover and unable to work because of the mental issues that the facility produced in people working there.  It shows that there is still a very poor understanding of mental illness, not only in the community, but amongst policy makers and those they have put in place to enact their policies.  Rau, for example, when detained was strapped down and hand cuffed when taken away and the way her apprehension was set up, this would have happened to her even if she had come willingly rather than showing some resistance as she did.  This surprised me as whilst she was obviously at risk – her doctor having made the referral to the mental health authorities perhaps because she wasn’t taking her medication – she did not seem violent or at risk of harming herself or others.  Although I do say this not fully understanding her diagnosis.  The other thing that studies have shown is that people locked up and treated poorly in prison and mental health facilities, even if completely normal, will actually start acting out and in some cases show signs of mental illness such as depression.  Which I believe is argument for better facilities and also processes for apprehension.  In Queensland we don’t even have rent-a-thugs or men in white coats to take people away.  The police are left to take care of the mentally ill, which is arguably even more traumatic.

My biggest beef with immigration detention, which comes into the Rau case, is that people are in these facilities for a long time.  It’s not unusual to hear of people being held from 18 months – 2 years.  But his report was saying it can also be something like 5 years.  5 years is too long to have some one detained.  In that time people’s social and job skills deteriorate, they become completely out of touch with the outside world and reality and I would argue in many cases would not be able to participate in society upon release.  I fail to understand how it is considered acceptable to detain someone waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to function for years and years with no end in sight.  As far as I’m concerned there should be limits to how long it takes to process someone’s asylum application after which point the application process is terminated.  I know it begs the question of what happens to people whose identities can’t be established and there are also mental health issues, although I’ve blogged about them before and will spare you reading the details again.

The big point that this really highlights is why the government should not be called upon to interfere or control people’s lives.  Politicians and bureaucrats are ordinary people like you and me, and in some cases they are not as well educated, informed or as intelligent.  They can not make better decisions than most ordinary individuals.  As such we should default to individual decision making as only one person knows all of the particulars relating to persons situation – the individual in question.  Whilst there are some extreme cases where people can not decide for themselves, this is a tiny minority, which does not justify impinging on the majority of people.  The other issue that shows how governments miserably fail in their interfering is the way that they measure what is acceptable when it comes to decisions that have major impacts on people’s lives.  A reasonable person knows it’s not acceptable to take two years to process a visa whilst the person is held in detention.  A reasonable person knows that you do not keep people waiting for emergency medical treatment for hours and hours or in some cases day and in other cases until they keel over dead whilst lying on a hospital trolley.  A reasonable person knows that some one who is on a low income and can’t pay their rent should not be kept waiting for 2 years for emergency department of housing accommodation.  A reasonable person knows that you should not be expected to live on under $200 a week, even if you are elderly.  However all of these things are acceptable to the government, policy makers and politicians.  And that really does beg the question of why we want them so involved in decision making for our lives and why we find it acceptable that they continue to exert more and more control over our decisions?