ABC TV's Lateline won a human rights award for their story about Vivian Alvarez Solon, the Australian mother of two who was wrongfully deported by the Immigration Department to the Philippines two years ago.
On accepting the award on behalf of the Lateline team at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's (HREOC) medal and awards ceremony, producer Margot O'Neill expressed her concerns about the Department of Immigration, which has had more than one scandal in 2005.
"There are some patterns emerging here – some of the most defenceless people, some of the people least able to stand up for their rights seem to be the victims," said Ms O'Neill.
"There has been no comprehensive enquiry into all these stories. What we are recognising today are the ones we know about, unfortunately, I think there's a lot more we probably don't."
After the awards presentation one of Ms O'Neill's Lateline colleagues, Tom Iggulden, told The Epoch Times that investigating the Vivian Alvarez Solon scandal was one of those "stories that make you feel good…where someone has been wronged but we are able to do something about it – that's what's really good about it".
On the presentation of the award, HREOC's Pru Goward said the judges recognised the Lateline team's piece of journalism as "an outstanding entry which exposed the human rights abuses and flaws of the machinations of the [Immigration] Department and had effected significant changes to Government policy."
Other media recognised for the reporting on immigration issues at the HEROC awards were Andra Jackson, The Age, winner of the Print Media Award for her series of articles on the detention of Cornelia Rau; Michael Gordon, also from The Age, who was highly commended for his Nauru features and David Corlett, in the Arts Non-Fiction category, for Following them Home; The Fate of the Returned Asylum Seekers.
The HREOC awards were held at the Sheraton Hotel on Friday December 9. The awards recognise the efforts and achievements of those seeking to improve human rights in Australia.
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