Howard says woman's detention raises immigration questions

SYDNEY - The case of a mentally ill Australian woman who was locked up in immigration detention raised questions about the country's mental health and immigration policies, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

Cornelia Rau, a 39-year-old permanent resident who came to Australia when she was a baby, was released from Baxter detention centre in South Australia on Friday.

She had spent six months in a Queensland jail before being sent to the centre, where she spent four months after telling authorities she was a German woman named Anna Schmidt.

That was despite the former Qantas flight attendant being listed as missing in August last year.

The federal government has ordered an inquiry into the mix-up, amid claims the woman was subjected to degrading treatment at Baxter.

"This case raises questions of not only the immigration detention system, which has attracted all the critical attention, but it also raises some questions about the mental health policies this country has followed for a long time," Mr Howard told 2GB radio.

But he refused to apologise for the incident.

"It's not that I don't feel for the woman, of course I do," Mr Howard said.

"But you will understand that in a litigious society in which we live, I am simply not going to do those things on the run.

"I am not going to just, ... without knowing all the circumstances, issue an apology."

Mr Howard said he expected the full co-operation of state authorities in the matter.

"Plainly there is a Queensland state aspect to this," he said. "I am quite certain I will have the full co-operation of the Queensland state premier."

Mr Howard will meet with Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone today to discuss the details of the inquiry.

- AAP