Tampa Lawyers To Test Borders Bill
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday September 28, 2001
Lawyers pursuing the Federal Government over the Tampa affair have reversed a decision to drop an appeal to the High Court, saying yesterday they wanted to challenge the constitutionality of the Government's new border protection bill.
Mr Peter Burt, of Melbourne law firm Riordan and Partners, said the lawyers, led by the solicitor Mr Eric Vadarlis, were prepared to risk a government threat that they would be pursued for costs if they carried on the appeal and were seeking leave to appeal to the High Court.
Also yesterday, it emerged a coroner will investigate the death of a woman at the Villawood Detention Centre on Wednesday morning.
A spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Mr Ruddock, said the Vietnamese woman, a heroin addict suffering from withdrawal symptoms, was found dead in a pool of vomit.
The woman, in her early 20s, was caught working illegally at a Sydney brothel.
© 2001 Sydney Morning Herald