Madness, Migration and Misfortune: The Challenge of the Bleak Tale of Cornelia Rau

Abstract

The story of the mentally ill immigration detainee, Cornelia Rau, has been told by many sectors of the public media. This editorial endeavours to sort fact from fiction and to chronicle the failures in more than one jurisdiction to provide her with the anti-psychotic intervention that she needed. It examines the dynamics which may have led to the deterioration in her mental state, particularly during the months when she was detained at the Baxter Immigration Detention Centre in South Australia. It argues that the closed Palmer Inquiry into Cornelia Rau is misconceived and at risk of failing to grapple adequately with the mental health issues apparent from Cornelia Rau's experiences. It argues that, in spite of the limitations of the civil law as an instrument for social change, the landmark decision of Finn J in S v Secretary, Department of Immigration Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs [2005] FCA 549 shows that civil actions brought by persons such as Cornelia Rau, together with sustained pressure and exposure by the media, constitute the only means by which the callousness and counter-therapeutic nature of Australia's immigration detention policies may be changed.