Cornelia Rau

On 2 April, Rau was visited by Iris Indorato, the honorary consul for Germany and France in Cairns. Rau communicated with her in German, because officials did not know at the time that Rau could speak English, and it was presumed that she was a lost German citizen.[14] Indorato said that her command of the language was fluent but "child-like" in terms of vocabulary, and that Rau could not remember basic information such as her parents' names, and where she had been born.[11]

On 5 April, Rau was transferred to Brisbane, and to the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre (BWCC), where she would remain for the next six months. There she was placed among the general prison population, because there are no immigration detention facilities in Queensland.[14] Rau was technically in the custody of DIMIA, although she was in reality being cared for by BWCC and Queensland Corrective Services.

While in prison, Rau was met by Debbie Kilroy, who ran an organisation called Sisters Inside, to support women in prison. Kilroy first met her in early May, when Rau had been without medication for two months. Rau identified herself to Kilroy as Anna, but spoke to her in fluent English with an Australian accent. On several occasions, Rau asked Kilroy to contact DIMIA for her, to ask when she would be released from prison, since she "had done nothing wrong"[15] Other prisoners stated to the media that Anna would try to phone DIMIA but was unable to, because she could not remember who she was.[15] DIMIA's position was that it was Rau's responsibility to identify herself, not theirs.

On 29 April, a DIMIA officer contacted the Missing Persons Unit of the Queensland Police, and sent them the information they had collected about Anna. The Unit said that they had no records matching the descriptions provided.[16] On 11 May, Rau asked if she could apply for a German passport, and DIMIA officials prepared a form filled in with her details, giving her name as Anna Schmidt. Four days later, the German Consulate in Sydney rejected the passport application, because it contained insufficient or inadequate information. On 17 June, DIMIA contacted the Australian Embassy in Berlin for assistance in identifying Rau.[16]

Throughout June 2004, as Rau's condition deteriorated, other prisoners began to suspect that she was ill, because she would pace all day and would slam doors. Kilroy said that she attempted to raise the matter with BWCC officials, but they said that it was a DIMIA responsibility. On 5 July, Anna was one of 25 prisoners interviewed by an Ethical Standards Unit from the Government of Queensland, which was investigating claims of abuse within the prison system. During the taped interview, Anna recalled an incident in which she was sent to solitary confinement in the Detention Unit, or DU, for attempting to obtain a newspaper from another room in the prison.[15] During Rau's six months in BWCC, she spent five weeks in solitary confinement in the DU.

On 30 July, after several BWCC inmates and staff expressed concerns about Anna's welfare, the prison's psychologist recommended that she have a psychiatric evaluation, so that her mental health could be assessed. One week later, on 6 August, a BWCC officer also asked for an evaluation, to determine whether Anna could be placed in the community, rather than remain in the prison. Eventually, on 10 August, the prison psychiatrist recommended that she be taken to a hospital for a full assessment, to determine her mental health. Her report noted that Anna's behaviour was unusual, and she had poor hygiene and would behave inappropriately towards the guards, particularly the male ones. Anna was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane on 20 August, where doctors spent six days assessing her. She was returned to BWCC on 26 August, after doctors failed to diagnose her schizophrenia.[17]

Meanwhile, on 11 August, Rau's family officially reported her as a missing person to the New South Wales Police. The police launched a public appeal, advertising in newspapers and placing posters nearby.[1] On 12 August, NSW police contacted DIMIA, to search their records for information about Rau. The search revealed nothing, and there was no further interstate cooperation. The police contacted DIMIA again six weeks later, on 24 September, in an attempt to discover whether Rau had left or tried to leave Australia. DIMIA replied that she had not left, and was still in the country.[18]

By the end of September 2004, DIMIA officials were planning to move Rau to the Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre (commonly known as the Baxter Detention Centre), a DIMIA facility (operated by Global Solutions Limited, or GSL) near the town of Port Augusta in South Australia. Rau refused to sign the transfer forms, but, on 6 October, she was transferred to Baxter anyway. She had to be sedated and placed in restraints in order to get her on the plane.[19]

Rau arrived at Baxter later that day and was referred to a psychologist there. The psychologist assessed Rau on 7 October, but was unable to diagnose schizophrenia, declaring instead that she had behavioural problems. After she would not communicate with DIMIA officials at her induction interview on 8 October, she was again referred to the psychologist, who assessed her again on 12 October. On 14 October, the psychologist reported that medication would be useless, and that Anna should be transferred to a facility such as the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney, which had a female-only area which would be more suitable for Anna.[19] DIMIA did not think this was appropriate, however, and did not transfer Anna, in spite of the fact that the BWCC psychiatrist had noted her inappropriate behaviour around men.

Instead, Rau was sent to the Management Unit, known simply as Management, which the Baxter psychologist had specifically warned was not a suitable long-term solution. Management consisted of solitary-confinement cells, with both the bed and the toilet visible to Baxter staff through the windows. Rau was entitled to four hours each day outside her cell (although not in the company of other detainees), and, whenever she had to be returned to her cell, GSL officers wearing riot gear would forcibly put her into the cell, according to Sister Claudette Cusack.[15]

On 3 November, Rau refused to talk to the psychologist and, on 6 November, was scheduled for an assessment by a psychiatrist, Dr. Andrew Fruckacz, who recommended that she be taken to a hospital. He could not make a certain diagnosis, but he believed that schizophrenia was a possibility, along with a personality disorder. A psychiatrist from Glenside Mental Health Service, a campus of the Royal Adelaide Hospital, was told about Anna's behaviour, and said that her problems were behavioural, and not mental-health related. The Rural and Remote Mental Health Service (RRMHS) offered a videoconference, but Baxter officials instead wanted Anna to be admitted to a hospital, because they believed that she would not cooperate with a video assessment. On 17 November, the RRMHS took Anna off the waiting list for hospital treatment, without informing officials at Baxter, who believed that their request was still being considered.[20]

Despite Dr. Fruckacz's recommendations, Rau was put into Management for a second time. Later, she was moved to the Red 1 compound, specially built to prevent riots and to hold rowdy detainees. There they are separated from the general population, isolated and held indoors for eighteen hours a day.[15]

At a Management Unit meeting on 24 November, Anna's case manager said that she thought that Anna was not German at all but an Australian with German parents. Other staff at Baxter, as well as DIMIA staff in Canberra, were informed of this opinion. Previously, on 12 November, the German Consulate in Melbourne had decided to try to identify Anna. They contacted an officer of the Victoria Police, who, in turn, contacted the DIMIA headquarters in Canberra. DIMIA contacted the consulate on 6 December, but neither had made any progress. Meanwhile, on 22 December, police in Manly, New South Wales contacted DIMIA, without providing photographs or other information, to see if Rau had used her Australian passport to leave the country.

In late December, a group of Christian ministers, including Sister Claudette Cusack, who worked at Baxter, wrote to DIMIA about Anna and other detainees who appeared to have mental-health issues. Father Arno Vermeeren, who also works at Baxter, raised his concerns about Anna and the Red 1 compound with the Immigration Detention Advisory Group (IDAG), shortly before a scheduled inspection. None of these concerns were addressed.[15]

On 5 January 2005, the German Consulate in Melbourne told DIMIA that without information such as fingerprints, they would not be able to identify Anna and, on 14 January, said that officials in Germany had also made no progress. Rau herself contacted the consulate on 20 January, still identifying herself as Anna Schmidt, but staff told her that they still required more information. Consular staff later told Anna's case manager at Baxter that Anna's "child-like" command of the German language was consistent with Anna being an Australian of German background, corroborating the case manager's suspicion from the 24 November, meeting.[21] It was noted in the Palmer Inquiry that, at times, Anna would speak English with an Australian accent and, at other times, with a German accent, alongside also speaking German.

Meanwhile, on 4 January, psychologists at Baxter contacted RRMHS again, and Glenside officials finally investigated the information sent to them in November 2004. On 7 January, a doctor from International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), a DIMIA sub-contractor, examined Anna again and suggested that she might have schizophrenia, or at least a schizophrenia-related condition. On 24 January, DIMIA officials in Canberra discussed with Glenside doctors the possibility of committing Anna. The IHMS doctor again tried to assess Anna on 31 January, but he could not get her to cooperate, and, on 2 February, the doctor contacted a psychiatrist at Glenside, who said that Anna should be assessed under the South Australian Mental Health Act 1993 for possible committal. The doctor assessed Anna on the next day and, after consulting with the Glenside doctor, committed Anna.[22]