Ron Merkel was a Federal Court Justice from 1996 until 2006. Merkel first became involved in asylum seeker issues in 1985 after working as Senior Counsel on an immigration case which, to him, exposed the extreme procedural unfairness of Australian…
Detention Remembered
A Spare Lawyers for Refugees Oral History Project
Category: Advocate
Jessie Taylor
Jessie Taylor is a barrister who worked with detainees as a refugee advocate in Maribyrnong, Baxter and Villawood detention centres. Taylor first became involved with asylum seeker issues in 2002 when she was invited to visit a detention centre by…
Ida Kaplan
Ida Kaplan is a psychologist and Directive Services Manager for the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (VFST). She works with torture and trauma survivors who are refugees, asylum seekers or people holding Temporary Protection Visas. Kaplan first became involved in asylum…
Posted in Advocate, Psychologist
Dr Juliet Flesch
Juliet Flesch is a professional historian and librarian. She first became involved with asylum seeker issues in 2001, when she began visiting Maribyrnong Detention Centre. She was one of the first to begin visiting detention centres regularly. She continued to…
Pamela Curr
Pamela Curr is the campaign coordinator at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and has worked with detainees from Woomera, Christmas Island, Maribrynong, Baxter, Curtin and Port Hedland detention centres. Curr first became involved with asylum seeker issues in the early…
Michael Gordon
Michael Gordon is the National Editor at The Age. He first became involved in asylum seeker issues while covering the political debate on refugees for The Age. Gordon wrote extensively on the Tampa incident in 2001 and subsequently began to interview detainees who…
Posted in Advocate, Journalist
Jennifer Bourne
Jenny Bourne was a resident of Port Augusta who visited Baxter Detention Centre. She first became involved in asylum seeker issues in 2002 because she lived near Baxter when it was first built, and felt that she had to do…
Rebecca Gilsenan
Rebecca Gilsenan is a Principal lawyer at Maurice Blackburn and a director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. She first became involved with asylum seeker issues in 2003, when the Badraie family approached Maurice Blackburn to try and get compensation…
Jon Jureidini
Jon Jureidini is a child psychiatrist at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, where he works with ill and disabled children and their families. He has also trained in philosophy (PhD, Flinders University), critical appraisal (University of British Columbia)…
