Dear Mr McClelland,

I am writing to express my concern about the indefinite detention of Ranjini, her children and indeed all the refugees who have been given adverse security assessments by ASIO.

My understanding is that Ranjini faces detention for her whole life. In other words, she will die at Villawood. It’s not clear what fate her children face. All this without ever knowing what it is she is meant to have done or might do, or even meaningful criteria on which ASIO judgements are based.

You are the former Attorney General, so I imagine you have had quite a lot to do with this policy, even though it was enacted by the previous government. Could you please explain to me how this is moral? It certainly appears to violate every principle of the rule of law.

ASIO works with intelligence rather than evidence testable in court, and we all know how unreliable intelligence can be. Next month will mark the 10th anniversary of Colin Powell’s speech to the UN regarding Iraqi WMDs.

If you do not support the current government policy on this matter, I would greatly appreciate hearing that too.

Yours sincerely,
Justin Whelan