Peter Mitchell worked for the Department of Immigration from 1990 to 2003. He was, amongst other things, a long-term Compliance officer, Manager of the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre and, in 1999, Manager of the Kosovar and East Timorese ‘Operation Safe Haven’ at East Hills.

Peter also has an extensive history of published poetry and original song performance and has reviewed poetry for TEXT: The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs (2005). His triple compact disc and song-memoir The Great Unknown (Sydney: Mystery Woman Management, 1995) evokes the art and life of a hard working independent rock band in Sydney in the 1980s.

Peter Mitchell’s book Compassionate Bastard is published by Penguin.