The weaponisation of time: Indefinite detention as torture

Abstract

Mandatory and indefinite detention in Australia dates back to 1992 when it was introduced by Labour Prime Minister Paul Keating; the policy remains in place and has been modified by subsequent Labour and Liberal governments. The unprecedented and uncanny interdependence between the border-industrial complex-which includes the detention industry-and Federal election campaigns has marked a particularly brutal phase in Australia's recent immigration history. The weaponisation of time is a perverse feature of this horrific period; time as an instrument of torture is key to Australian border violence and synonymous with indefinite detention. Combining lived reality (Behrouz Boochani) and conceptualised commentary (Omid Tofighian) this chapter documents the torturous ways in which time is weaponised through this regime.