00:00We know that women are approximately 6%
00:05of the total immigration detention population.
00:08And when we inspected facilities in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth
00:12earlier this year, what we found is that there were too many examples
00:16where they're part of a system that is designed
00:19and run predominantly for men,
00:21and so their specific needs and vulnerabilities are unmet.
00:25And this is something that we think really needs to be addressed
00:28because nobody should be an afterthought
00:31simply because they're part of a minority in detention.
00:34One of the things we found is that
00:36because there are limited accommodation options for women,
00:39they're often detained interstate, so away from family and children.
00:44And we also found that there are often inadequate visiting facilities,
00:48which makes it really hard for them to actually be visited by their kids.
00:52We had in the report women telling us that they hadn't been hugged
00:56by their children or family for years,
00:58and that's something that just simply shouldn't be occurring.
01:01There are 31 recommendations that we've made,
01:03and we say all of them need to be implemented.
01:06Now, we've had some really good examples of one thing
01:09that we raised during the inspection about access to canteens
01:12being equitable was fixed before we'd even left the centre,
01:15so that's a great example of how things can change really quickly.
01:19But unfortunately, of the 31 recommendations,
01:22there are only 11 that have been accepted
01:24or partially accepted by the department,
01:26and our view is they all need to be accepted,
01:29they all need to be implemented,
01:31because women shouldn't just be an afterthought,
01:33whether in immigration detention or anywhere else.
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