Vietnamese hero not legitimate enough for Vanstone?

Kaye with husband Kim, visited Tran in jail many times and persuaded her close friend, Olympian legend Betty Cuthbert, to become interested. Betty was irate at the way these people were being treated by Australia. Press and TV coverage resulted. Kaye and Betty went to Christmas Island, not easy as Betty with her advanced MS is wheel chair bound and no longer a spring chicken.

Kaye was the one who shamed Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone into allowing photographs of the new born baby of one of Tran’s close relatives(also one of the boat’s compliment) to be published in the media. Vanstone had at first decreed no photographs would be allowed.

The latest situation is that Van Hoa has applied for bail after the Supreme Court quashed his conviction just prior to Christmas. Bail was granted while a retrial, set for October, is pending. Van Hoa is living in Perth with his widowed sister and two teenage children, who also came on the boat. At the bail hearing, the prosecution tried to stop bail alleging Van Hoa had a record of escaping jail in Vietnam. Did they seriously dream he would try escaping back to where he would certainly be executed?

Tol Tran has recently been recognised as a refugee. As of this week, after obtaining bail, he and his wife, and two children, live in Perth. But they are also awaiting retrial.

Australia’s history of jailing smugglers from the scores of boats in the past has seen sentences averaging much less than 12 months; many were 3 or 6 months. At the moment, there remain only 12 of the 53 awaiting deliberation on their applications still left on Christmas Island. All others have been recognised as refugees and given visas. They live in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Any retrials will involve them having to be brought back to give evidence - very costly and difficult, especially with their limited language skills.

So why not drop the retrials? Tol Tran is a recognised refugee who has endured two years’ jail - much longer than the real smugglers who made profits out of their ventures have had imposed. So too Van Hoa - he is no profiteer smuggler. He has been in jail two years also.

This is another example of the clumsy and over-zealous hands of DIMIA (Department of Immigration and Indigenous Affairs). Don’t forget John Howard recently announced extended powers to his minister to evade the humiliation of some of his party members crossing the floor. The retrials are a farce, an exercise in irresponsible waste of public money and a cruelty to people who have suffered enough already.

Finally, the last 12 of the original group still remaining on Christmas Island ought to be released. They are all from the same politically active group, family, extended family or very close friends. If the 41 already granted visas are legitimate asylum-seekers, then it follows that these people must also be legitimate.