Sacking refugee health body asking for trouble, says expert Cornelia Rau was detained because authorities thought she was an illegal immigrant. The sacking of an expert advisory group on asylum-seeker health could spell the return of mistakes such as the infamous 2005 Cornelia Rau episode in which a legal resident spent months in detention, a member of the group has warned. The federal government has disbanded the 12-member Immigration Health Advisory Group and plans to replace it with a single adviser. Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday dismissed the group as having been "ineffectual," sparking an angry response from members, who include medical and mental health experts. Wrongfully deported: Vivian Alvarez Solon Photo: Sahlan Hayes One member, Jorge Aroche, an expert in torture and trauma, said one adviser alone - who will not be a mental health expert - would struggle to grasp the complexity of the health problems facing people in detention. The absence of an expert group of health specialists had contributed to the wrongful detention of German citizen Ms Rau and the wrongful deportation of Australian Vivian Solon in 2001, he said. Those things happened because there wasn't enough attention given to the complexity of what was going on. "The mental health perspective wasn't looked at sufficiently and that's one of the areas where I don't think one person can provide expertise ... It can create situation where mistakes will be made again," he said.