The Commonwealth OmbudsmanÂ’s report into the wrongful deportation of Australian citizen Vivian Alvarez was handed down yesterday.

The report is a scathing condemnation of the systemic flaws in the Australian Immigration system. The facts of Miss AlvarezÂ’s deportation are well known, however the report reveals frightening details of an Immigration Department that has lost touch with the simple fact that the subjects of their bureaucratic findings are human beings.

As well as investigating the horribly sad details of Ms Alvarez's deportation, the report points to "catastrophic failures," and "systemic problems" in the culture of the entire Department of Immigration.

The full report is available here.

The most tragic aspect of the reports findings focus on the failure of three senior Immigration Department official to take any action for two years after they were alerted to the fact that Ms Alvarez, an Australian Citizen, had been wrongfully deported to the Philippines. They only reason why Ms Alvarez was eventually located was because of the persistence of Ms AlvarezÂ’s ex husband, who refused to be cowed by two years of bureaucratic stonewalling.

Read press coverage of the Report and Ms AlvarezÂ’s case in todayÂ’s Sydney Morning Herald, Australian, and Herald Sun.

The Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has issued an apology by press release, but has refused to stand down. The Immigration Minister at the time of Ms AlvarezÂ’s deportation, Phillip Ruddock, has also refused to resign.

Mark Colvin interviewed the Immigration Minister on ABC RadioÂ’s PM program yesterday afternoon. In a fascinating and incredibly frustrating interview Colvin probed the Minister on the OmbudsmanÂ’s Report, and the implications of the MinisterÂ’s failure to resign on the doctrine of Ministerial responsibility.

The interview is a case study in the erosion of accountability and truthfulness that will be one of the legacies of the Howard Government. The audio of the interview, titled "Vanstone on Ministerial Responsibility”, and a transcript are available here.

Once again I find myself reading the newspaper this morning and asking myself, is this what my country's all about?