Inside the motel rooms asylum seeker kids call home
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The Australian government maintains that it does not detain children in immigration detention centres (IDCs). Instead, children are detained in Alternative Places of Detention (APODs) which can be motels or mining camps which SERCO, a global security company, runs. The Asti Motel in Darwin is one such APOD, as are the Leonora Mining Camp, two other motels in Brisbane and the Airport Lodge Motel in Darwin. Much community angst has been generated about asylum seekers “living it up”, and the secrecy in which they are kept apart from Australians does not help to mitigate the idea that these so-called “queue jumpers” are being privileged. I checked out these conditions first hand in Darwin last week. First of all, while there are no fences at the Asti (unlike Leonora and the Darwin Airport Lodge), there are plenty of guards sitting around watching. I counted seven across the front alone, others were stationed at every corner. “Welfare checks” are conducted twice a day. Between 5.30am and 6am guards enter the rooms to count heads. Sheets are pulled down on children and parents alike as the head must be seen. Families must be in their rooms by 10pm. Children of all ages with their parents sleep together in one room. Newborn babes share with older children. Life for children in this environment has little to offer. School has been promised for five months now. This is soon to change with the department promising that children will be in school by the end of the week. However, it raises another tenet of mandatory detention, which is its secrecy and lack of transparent oversight. In the face of this blatant breach of Australian law, none of the four monitoring bodies has any capacity other than to provide advice. The only amusement for the children in the APOD is the swimming pool, beckoning in the tropical heat. After months of looking longingly at the pool, children are now allowed one hour, three times a week as SERCO has employed an outside lifeguard to come in and supervise. There are no bikes, balls or playground and the children have not been out of the motel since April when they arrived. Volunteers commissioned by SERCO bring toys and activities for a few hours but then take them all away again. These groups are instructed not to build any relationships with the people. Little chance of this as they, like so many other staff, disappear in two weeks to be replaced by others. The large empty car park is being promised as a play space “one day”.
Children get 30 points and adults 50 each week to spend in the store. Thirty points will buy them a can of soft drink, a packet of chips and maybe some nuts. One mother, who was a teacher in her home country, has set up an informal program. With no classroom or materials, it is difficult to make it a meaningful experience for the children.
Visitors must apply in writing, 24 hours in advance with correct names and spelling to see an asylum seeker. As I waited to visit the people I had applied to see, I listened as a mother was berated in front of her children by a SERCO manager. She was being told that she could only do something for half an hour. My family were sent away to wait outside their room while I was installed downstairs in a visitors’ room. A peremptory wave told them when they could come to the room. Visitors must hand over their phones before the visit. I took some clothes for the women who were pregnant and finding their current clothes tight and uncomfortable. These had to be handed over to the guards who would search them before handing them on to the women. There are some “unaccompanied minors” in the motel also. These teenagers have nothing to do all day but wait and grieve for the family members and life they have lost. Asylum seekers rely on case managers to keep them informed about the progress of their cases but these turn over every two weeks. Then there is a new person asking interminable questions and not knowing what is happening. A 10-year-old fixed my eye, compelling me to listen to her story of escape. She described hiding in the trees with her parents while insects bit her feet and legs and not being able to move “staying still still still quiet quiet” because military were searching for them. Her mother wrapped her arms around her, not shushing her, understanding her need to talk but reminding her wordlessly that now she was safe. Many of these children have come out of camps — you can see it in their watchful eyes. |
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65 Comments
Reading that I had to ask myself if it is a LaborIndependent supported Govt in charge of the needs and welfare of these desperate people or has the evil Ruddock somehow returned to bring such misery into already miserable lives.
What the hell is wrong with us, why is it so difficult to treat these asylum seekers like human beings? I am ashamed and will be writing to PM Gillard today expressing my disgust at the treatment of these folk.
One day in the not too distant future this mistreatment, degradation and psychological warfare inflicted on innocent children and their parents,will be a BLACK BLOT on the history of this country. Shame Julia Gillard for following the same disgusting and inhumane treatment that RUDDOCK initiated.
There are no queues to jump, it is a known fact that people are most reluctant to leave the country of their birth unless they are unable to survive the torture and the brutality of regimes that are inhumane and that we trade with (Sri Lanka??) as an example.
With Howard and Ruddock Australia almost lost its heart. Julia Gillard must help Australia find its heart again.
David, I have a strong gut feeling that Ms Gillard is not well disposed towards refugees. I’m waiting to see who the new Immigration Minister is (possibly Chris Evans again) and will be dropping them a letter, too.
Crikey, please keep publishing these informative articles written by Pamela and whoever else can shed light on the shame of our asylum seeker treatment. We will never be afforded such factual detail by the general Oz media. Hopefully the Greens can exercise some leverage to improve detention conditions.
What dreadful treatment. This is a truely disturbing article. I will forward it to my newly elected (Coalition) member of parliament and seek his views and parliamentary intervention. I’m not, however, hopeful that this will yield results.
It dismays me to think that our elected politicians are so lacking in compassion, but rather an attitude of criminalisation. With no thought for the trauma’s they have been through and live with, only to add to. So much for Do unto Others - in this fair go country.
It heartens me there are people like the author who can touch them with hope even in small ways.
I have emailed the article to Bob Brown. When it comes to asylum seekers it appears only the Greens have the guts to stand up for them. His email is
senator.bob.brown@aph.gov.au
You can bet Gillard and her immigrant family never had to undergo this ghastly treatment.
HI ALL DO WE HAVE A MAJORITY HERE I.E. DAVID ; ZUT ALLORS; DAMIEN AND JULIE DO WE WANT TO TAKE THIS FURTHER AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT??
DAMIEN YOU SAID YOU WOULD SEEK PARLIAMENTARY INTERVENTION VIA YOUR NEWLY ELECTED MP, IF
THE OTHERS ON THIS BLOG HELPED WOULD YOU DO IT AND START THE BALL ROLLING?? MAYBE WE CAN GET OTHERS TO JOIN US, LIKE GET UP ETC… WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK??
@LADYWHITEPEACE…I have emailed both Bob Brown and Christine Milne with a link to the article. It is hopeless trying to get the Govt to improve the asylum seekers lot, Evans is hopeless and forget the Coalition they are just pigs. I will send emails to the PM and Ministers as soon as the new Cabinet has been decided. Rudders is top of my list.
David that is a fantastic will you send me a copy of what you sent and I will send it too… or sign it or what do you think is best??
Yes I am with you all. I’m sick to death of this country pandering to the bullshit lowest common denominator politics. We are better than that or should be.
OK let’s see what we can do.
I am friends with Lee Rhiannon of the Greens she is now in the Senate
I also know Linda Burney MP Labour and I am in Wentworth and could get the ear of Malcolm Turnbull
however we need to work this as a team to be effective and get others involved.
Am in the midst of organising the UN International Day of Peace- Sydney Festival (21 Sep Martin Place 7am-7pm) You are al invited…..but why I am telling you this is because right now I have no time to give to this brave idea.
Whoever has time right now could get the ball rolling… David you or Damien Julie now we have Nicolino….how about it?
Sorry, but what a load of ****
I work at the airport in Darwin right near the airport lodge. This motel is brand new it is still being completed it never opened before it was filled with asylum seekers.
The motel is fine, it has a playground that would put most McDonald’s ones to shame and a new soccer / volleyball area. Unless people from outside are breaking in to use them they are used a lot.
This blatant lies on the subject don’t help anything they just make people not take them serious, any person from the public can drive into the darwin airport and see that the story has exaggerated everything so far out of proportion that it makes a joke of the author.
I work in remote NT regularly and can tell you compared to most of the Aboriginal communities this is fantastic, at least everyone has a air-conditioned room and their own bed.
Lady White Peace,
Beware the caps lock key - if left to its own devices it makes text difficult to read.
I have emailed Get Up! regarding the approximately 80 Afghani refugees who were peacefully demonstrating in the heat beside the Stuart Highway last week and who, for several hours, were refused water. Eventually they were either arrested, hospitalised and/or spirited off to Curtin Detention Centre. I have suggested Get Up! take an interest in their plight and am awaiting a response.
You can write to your state senators and federal MP - the trick is not to merely write a long diatribe of complaint but to actually ask them a direct question about how they intend improving conditions for asylum seekers. If you ask them a question they are more or less beholden to reply.
Ladywhitepeace
Dear Senator Milne
Knowing your and your parties horror of the treatment being afforded asylum seekers here on our shores, may I draw your attention to the following article which appeared in today’s edition of Crikey.com.
I was shocked to see such treatment and would be very grateful if you would bring this to the attention of the Government and the incoming Minister of Immigration. It would be a complete waste of time asking the mainstream media to highlight it, they have no concern what so ever for asylum seekers plight, similarly their mates in the Coalition.
I appreciate you taking time to read this mail.
Kind Regards
David ………….
http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/09/09/inside-the-motel-rooms-asylum-seeker-kids-call-home/
@ TJ DARWIN, A huge part of the problem is that the government refuses to allow transparency on the matter (as the author stated). It is all hush hush, nothing to see here folks, just keep moving along.
You say that it is a load of crap so perhaps you could help fill in the gaps for us,
Is there a playground? How long are Asylum kids allow to use this during a 24hour period?
What about the pool? Again how long?
What education resources are being offered to these children?
What is the turn-over rate of staff (particularly ones in direct contact with children)?
You want to call this article crap that is fine, please back up your observations with some “facts” of your own.
TJ DARWIN….perhaps if you were to read the article again, this time absorbing its contents you would appreciate that a playground and airconditioning in rooms is not the complaint…its the atttitudes of the staff, the lack of continuous regular personal dialogue, try and see through the concrete walls…….
Hi TJ DARWIN
Do you think you can organise a visit inside?? I will fly up and take a look around with you and a few others what do you say?
What do you mean that the motel is brand new and not completed… which part of it is not completed?
Let us know if you can get 3 or 4 of us in there for a few hours, I for one would like to see for myself, then we will
know the truth.
Find out TJ pop in on your way to the airport and get back to us…thanks for that !!
@ Zut
I’ve already done just that.
I support what you people are going to and those who have supported asylum seekers. TJ DARWIN - I don’t know if you have children or if you are aware of the needs of children, but firstly, locking kids up without any activities that will both educate and entertain is not complying to the basic needs of kids. Removing the autonomy of parents in relation to them knowing what’s best for their children is in complete contradiction of basic rights and needs of families. We boast that families are important to the needs of kids - they deserve to be surrounded by love, and to be nurtured. Locking them up is an aberation!
The Labor govt insisted, that it was not going to detain kids - this is! The Declaration on the Rights of the Child, of which Australia is in agreement, does not advocate or condone these conditions or practices. Children of school age should be sent to a school nearby. Toys and other learning activities should be available for kids of pre-school age.
The yardstick to use for being responsible for children, (many of whom are at least frightened, and in many cases, traumatized)is not the lowest common denominator; it’s to use the advice of psychologists, teachers and of course parents, to provide a healthy and productive environment. We don’t lockup young children and babies in this country. There are rules, laws and precautions etc when detaining children who’ve broken the law - these children have not. Babies should not be in detention, nor should their mothers. I’m aware of at least 2 babies who’ve been born to women in detention. This is a national disgrace!
What happened to the policy of only detaining people for 90 days? Some have been jailed for months - a disgraceful situation!
This govt is just as bad as Howard was - a bloody disgrace!
Well said Liz and the questions remains…. what can we do about it, we are on the same page, have the same values and while it is fine to write to our MP I think one letter here and one there will just get a polite answer from the MP’s PA and that will be that.
What I am suggesting is that we actually do more than that and to do it as a team… any suggestions….?
I would point out that SERCO is actually just Serco and is not a ‘security company’ — it runs a lot of very different contracts from schools in Britain to railways to science installations and a myriad of very mundane and not very sexy public service contracts. If Serco hadn’t won that particular contract, another similar tendering company would have.
Sean
This is ‘lobbying for contracts’ in Australia at work.
Serco or not, NONE of the foreign companies should ever run Australian prisons. Full stop.
These children are in the Australian government custody and not responsibility of some foreign businesses. The only aim of SERCO (or not) is profit. We should all demand the details of the contract and how much we pay a foreign company for imprisonment of children (per night) in our custody and responsibility. This is also against not only UN Human Rights Declaration. This is also against our Australian Law which emphasises ‘the best interest of the child’. There is NO excuse for any diabolical contract with anybody to make profit out of children’s misery. Someone has gone mad!!!!!!!! Caged children?
We haven’t finished to compensate British children who were sent to Australia during the war. We haven’t started to compensate the stolen generation.
Soon, we will be up for more claims of abuse. Notorious but persistent?
TJ says
“The motel is fine, it has a playground that would put most McDonald’s ones to shame and a new soccer / volleyball area. Unless people from outside are breaking in to use them they are used a lot”.
Sorry TJ this article is about the ASTI - it has NO playground but does have a great pool. Problem is kids not allowed into it until July and then only for ONE HOUR X 3 Times per week when SERCO hire a Life Guard- parents not trusted to watch their own kids.
Being in Darwin you will know how hot it is and how delicious it would be for the kids to get into the pool especially when there is no school for 5 months.
As for the Darwin Airport lodge- I have photos - no volley ball court, pool is about 2 metres by 3 metres. Kids there have two pool tables- no other amusement. DVD broken. at the back are demountables for families- maybe a small playground there- hard to see it is so small.
4 Computers for 150 kids. They have not been out of the place for 5 months and are going stir crazy.
Hi Guys it is obvious that TJ is lying to us or is lying to himself and is in denial.
Notice that he has not even bothered to reply to any of our responses and in particular to the one where we ask him to make an appointment for us to go inside the motel and to see for ourselves. If he was so sure of his facts he would have responded. Let’s forget him as he and people like him are not worth expending our energy on.
Let’s see what else we can do and how we can put pressure on the government… and I really like Rena’s comments
I remember that there was a company called Australian Corrective Services, during Howard’s time. This was really an American company, pretending to be an Australian Company. Smart lot right??
Now they have an English Company doing their dirty work. Can we write to Crikey and get some advice and assistance from them? They may be able to write about this and continue to write about it until it starts to hurt a politician or two.
What do you all think ??
It does have an effect on the pile of emails/letters coming in to an MP on a particular issue.
Pam, has the Government past or present ever considered the possibility that there are many Australians who would accommodate children and parents in their own homes whilst they go through the process of resettlement?
Empty nesters like me, with empty bedrooms, room for vegie gardens, a host who is respectful and caring……..it must be a more cost effective and humanitarian response?
I have emailed my MP - Wayne Swann. I received a response from his office a few weeks ago in response to another email I had sent them on behalf of Oxfam Australia (link http://www.oxfam.org.au/act/take-action/refugees/2007-07-asylum-seeker-policy-a-way-forward)
In the meantime are we able to send these people anything - clothes, books for the children, paper, pencils, teaching resources???
@LADY WHITE PEACE-Pamela has been a hard working advocate for asylum seekers, for as long as I can recall - since I became involved, angered, concerned etc - the Tampa issue was probably when I first became aware of her. There were organisations in this country who were and probably still are involved - Rural Australians for Refugees; A Just Australia; Edmund Rice - Centre for Justice and Peace(they did their own investigations on what happens to asylum seekers who are forcibly removed and sent back to their home countries- tragic and heartbreaking - scandalous). Amnesty International; Chilout(children out of detention). I have read quite a few books which are informative and heartrending. The most recent is, ‘The Broken Shore (I think)? about Shayan Badrie and his family who were denied asylum, fought that and won, and also sued the Howard govt and the detention centre for the psychiatric illness of a little boy of 4 - Shayan! There’s another book written by children about their experiences. It’s called, ‘From Nothing To Zero’ - the name is from the comment of one little child who used this phrase to describe how he was treated - he came from nothing and then became ‘zero’. All detainees were given numbers and names were never used, nor was any other human ‘touch’ that would treat them as human beings! This practice was used by the Navy when they intercepted the boats under Howard - it’s easier to illtreat people if you first deny their humanity - even children. I’ve since read, that some naval personnel resigned over this - they were gutted by their experiences!
Heather Tyler wrote ‘Seeking Asylum’. she’s a journalist, but a good woman. There’s one called, ‘Following Them Home’ which shows what happens to about six people after they were forcibly removed and sent back.
There’s the Report undertaken by HREOC called, ‘A Last Resort’ which asserts, that people, particularly children should only be detained ‘as a last resort’? It’s most informative.
The hopeful element at this time is the hung Parliament. Prior to the election, the same Libs who crossed the floor against Howard, told Abbott that they wouldn’t support his pacific solution. The Greens certainly won’t, and apparently the Independents don’t agree with off shore processing either- so called! The fact that the major parties have agreed to a more workable and democratic parliament, including the right of Private Members Resolutions, is a heartening sign. I’ve read that politicians take more notice of letters than emails? I don’t know, but worth a try. I’m going to send Gillard a letter, and copies to the Greens and Independents? I’ll wait until Parliament sits - they’ll all be ‘legal’ representatives then.
One of the main issues re the quality of life of the detainees(apart from the bleedin’g obvious - they should be detained?) is the use of private police companies. There’s insufficient govt scrutiny and people in charge like Sandy Logan are just Hitlers in ‘dressups’? Horrific! The whole system should be run by govt employees, not private enterprise, whose main goal is to make profits? Hence no school or toys or ????
A good friend of mine visits Villawood, and she’s told me just some of the myriad of frustrations that she experiences. Some wardens are OK as are some at the Dept, but others are just pure bastards, because they can. Just one example - she takes forms from detainees to the Dept, (after she’s helped them fill them out etc - and then driven into the city?). In the early days, she’d be told that they wouldn’t accept the form, but won’t tell her why, only that she needs to take it back and correct it with the detainee. She has to then spend time trying to work out what mistake was made, drive back to Villawood, hope that a sympathetic person (warden) there might tell her, fix the problem, hopefully, and then go back? Why? Just because they could? Bastards!
She befriended a young man who became mentally ill due to being detained and ill treated - on top of the trauma he’d left. He was sent from Sydney to a psychiatric private hospital in Brisbane - away from the only friends he had - my friend and her adult daughter. She finally succeeded in having him granted a visa and allowed to take him to her home - they flew her to Brisbane so she could accompany him, and flew both of them back! How much are we paying for this? Aren’t there any Psychiatrists in the whole of Sydney? What sort of monsters take traumatised people away from the only comfort they know in a strange country. I want to know who’s related to the doctor/s who own the private clinic - this was during the Howard years! I’ve met this young man, and what a delightful person he is. He’s doing a Uni course now, but still requires counselling and sees the psychiatrist monthly - may be for the rest of his life. Just tragic! She’s an amazing woman! She’s befriended a few young people now - they call her ‘Mum’ which is lovely!
Then there was a little girl called, Naomi. She was born while her Mum was in Villawood also. At the age of about 3, this little girl(still in detention) started pulling her hair out; bashing her head against the wall, and rocking to and fro - wouldn’t eat, stopped talking, lost weight and was a very sad and traumatized little girl. Due to media attention, the campaign started, and with lots of public outcry and support, she and her mother were released - after more than 3 years! I can still remember crying buckets while I watched them leave with some kind people who befriended them. I’d love to know how they got on!
The problem now is, that after Howard was kicked out, and with the promises of Rudd & Co, we thought the problems were over. Sadly, as with the treatment of aboriginal people, the horrors remain. The racist media support the hate mongers, and they’ve whipped up the hatred again to gain a few lousy votes. I think we probably have some time in the future to fight yet. There’s been several UN Reports, both during the Howard years, and just a recent one, but the Gillard Govt is just as stubborn as Howard was. Worse than stubborn - criminal in my view!
There are some really good legal people who are acting on their behalf - they must see some awful things. These are the people who make you feel good to be an Aussie! Great people, who just believe in decency and justice! People like Pamela and Marilyn and the woman Barrister who took on Cornelia Rau’s case, and others I’ve forgotten!
PS - That book is called, “The Bitter Shore’ by Jacqui Everitt. I borrowed it from my local library, as I did most of the books on this subject!
And what are we going to do about the 2/3 of the world’s human population who go to bed hungry every night? Or the fact that the Middle East and China are using African land to grow crops cheaply and ship them back out while the same local populations are receiving hundreds of tonnes of food aid from the west every year?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/food-water-africa-land-grab
The principal reason the facilities are run on an outsourced basis is simply that it’s cheaper for govt to outsource functions than to do it ‘inhouse’ with ‘public servants’ — the successful tender company is still accountable to contract conditions to the govt and the Australian public. In fact, because KPIs and contracts are specified, they are more accountable than anything. If there is no school or toys, it’s because the govt mandated those conditions to the company — it’s not left up to an outsourcing company to make up the rules of detention arbitrarily. If public servants did it, it would just become a bloated mess using twice as many expensive staff and with exactly the same problems. There is no inbuilt tendency towards efficiency with a monopoly govt employer, rather a tendency to waste and deliberate inefficiency to pad out jobs and budgets.
What happens when companies take this on is that they often take on many public servants anyhow, but otherwise have to recruit in what is often a specialised area. Govt public servants frequently aren’t up to this recruiting task.
A huge number of govt functions are increasingly being outsourced this way, as it’s inevitably far cheaper in wages for the same result (even with a 5-10% company profit included), the govt has ‘choice’ of which operator to use in the market if it doesn’t get satisfactory performance, there’s an inbuilt tendency to do more with less, the profit motive stops waste (e.g. the annual govt dept splurge of the remaining budget so it doesn’t get trimmed next year never happens in the private sector), government is lousy at recruiting specialised skills in many areas, and so on. You don’t question who mows the council’s parks, or who has the office cleaning contract (all outsourced private sector), this is scarcely any different in the final analysis.
Pamela,
thanks for this article. I live a few hundred k’s from Darwin but knew nothing about this. (Incidentally, I have stayed at the Asti, best described as crummy, not a hell-hole by any means, but I would not want to be forced to stay there for days without being let out, let alone months or years.
Could you post some links for those of us who would like to make visits. I go to Darwin a few times a year and would love to show what support I can to these poor buggers so badly treated by our government(s).
@TJDarwin. Your comparison with Indigenous communities is ridiculous. I too have spent many years working out bush and conditions are appalling, but it’s the conditions of non-recognition of law, disrespect for people’s wishes and lack of autonomy rather than the state of air-conditioners that is the real scandal. Within that disempowered context, people are still free to live their lives as they wish (which they largely do with grace and wisdom) - these asylum applicants have nowhere to turn and are locked up against their will.
Bob the Builder- you hit the nail on the head- sorry bout that- but no one complained to me about food, rooms etc.
What worries them all is the insecurity of not knowing what will be their future and the fears for those left behind.
What worried the parents was the lack of school for their children and the effect being locked inside the motel was having on their mental state.
What worried the teenagers was what was happening to their Mums and siblings- dads if they have them but many have not as their fathers have been killed which is why their mothers sent them away- so that they would not be next. They feel guilty for having food to eat when they know their families do not.
The teenagers are going stir crazy locked up for nearly 6 months- most are waitning for suspension to be lifted. No school and no physical activity.
Some have been locked in Indonesian Prison cells for months on end so sharing rooms etc is aluxury.
What worries me is that these people are being treated in ways that deny their fundamental rights. I want better from my country.
Do you have any practical steps us locals can take? Organisations/contacts, etc.?
Hi Sean your comments about those who go to bed hungry and the 35,615 people (mostly children )who die each day of starvation (source http://www.starvation.net) and the Asian’s buying up arable African land are also issues to be alarmed about.
However we are currently dealing with our own country a supposedly humanitarian and democratic country violating human rights and abusing children.
Please let us stay on track and continue to pursue this one objective…. if we succeed we can then choose another…but right now we need to get these children freed.
Bob the Builder you are the closest.. Pamela are you in Sydney… i like the idea of getting some items together and sending them up - if Bob the Builder or someone trustworthy would ensure that the children received them.
Pamela your the expert what do you think?
Lady white peace & Pamela
Not sure if my earlier post got swallowed
Is anyone entitled to visit? And can we collect things for them, Pamela - you mentioned clothes? Can we take toys, books, school supplies to them. I live in Brisbane and would be happy to help coordinate some effort for people in the Brisbane Airport area if needed?
@SEAN - Yes, I’m concerned about those things too - but we do what we can when we can. The fact is, that what’s happening in this country to asylum seekers can be corrected, should be corrected and is not too expensive to do. I know why govts use private contrators, but I disagree with it. Perhaps the govt run detention centres would be run along the same lines. Politicians are lying when they assert, that women and kids are NOT being locked up, and then we find out, yet again, that they’re lying. I expect more of the Labor govt. Why? Because they said they were better - more decent etc
@LADY WHITE PEACE - My understanding re taking items to detention centres. You could get there and not be allowed in. You could be allowed in but not allowed to take the items with you. It seems to depend on what the state of their liver is on any particular day? Some just enjoy being bastards, from what my friend says, which is also Pamela’s experience/s.
(a bit like the experiences of the peace flotilla who went to Gaza. Scores of electrical wheelchairs etc are lying in a receiving shed? while the limbless and paralysed are immobile - same attitudes - bastardry?)
Right Sean - so what options do we have?? I can’t believe that we are powerless… I won’t , don’t want to believe that.
Who can we contact regarding visiting and donating items? Is there some governing board that oversees the “security”???
I won’t launch into an exegesis of how life is cheap — and creating new life is optional, how people reproduce in an environment just like any other species and then cannot find enough food to live on, etc, although it is certainly something to think about.
And we are desperately worried about the schooling of a handful of kids while we note 35,615 people are starving to death around the world every day due to not having the very basics of life while we throw away excess food, and celebrate the pornography of food on countless cooking shows while we chew up electricity watching them. Then swan out to a restaurant and order some succulent delicacy. Perhaps we ought to be lobbying our govt, and all other affuent world govts, to do more about the equitable and responsible distribution of food worldwide, question why the food supply is failing in so many countries, and so on. Every mouthful of food you take should make you feel just as guilty as the ‘refugees’ who have landed on your soil by the application of absolute logic. If we are privileged to have plenty, due to our pattern of social settlement, why don’t we arrange to share it with the world in culturally suitable ways?
Why do a lot of the refugees destroy their paperwork on coming into the country? If I was a genuine refugee fleeing from immediate harm, I would make damn sure I kept my paperwork to prove my origins and make a case to the Tribunal in whatever benevolent affluent country I was going to. Surely that would make a more convincing case? And surely the best place for many refugees to go to if conditions became intolerable would be the nearest adjacent non-despotic country with fellow exile countrymen sharing the same culture, with local supports, where you could blend in easily if you were going to remain an ‘illegal’ in the worst case? e.g. Sri Lankans could cross directly to south India where there is a huge Tamil population, Afghanis could go next door, etc etc. Or is that all those ordinarily under-resourced countries exercise stringent border controls also?
I suggest you DO write to ministers, the prime minister, and so on, and they will tell you that Australia has a legitimate humanitarian refugee program with a quota, that they need to vet the bona fides of all claimants for legitimacy, and the unwritten subtext is that they don’t want to become an easy honeypot and soft touch for the whole world to flee to (or people just seeking to improve their quality of life and life chances — a perfectly understandable motive for anyone.). Or that they might easily be letting in guerillas or fifth columnists or war criminals inadvertently, to resume their battles from their new adoptive country, or hide their past — with destroyed paperwork. Or that they are not prepared to bear the cost of resettling people with unknown skillsets or moralities or ability to participate in a modern industrial society, ahead of the customary selected immigrants. In other words, every sovereign country is entitled to exercise border control on who arrives and leaves for the benefit of the citizenry. And these are people who have left another country and landed on the doorstep, and have yet to have their stories checked out, regardless of international conventions on refugees.
I believe better solutions to resettlement can be worked out by resettlement in culturally similar local areas, or by peace-keeping where possible, and indeed this is the published and articulated view of DIAC — that resettlement in a nearby similar country of similar culture is preferable to resettlement in the first world — although just about anyone faced with the choice of 1st or 3rd world resettlement would economically probably choose the 1st regardless of cultural difference.
Then there is the rather unfortunate and embarassing paradox that even while an Anglosphere Coalition of the Willing is ‘pacifying’ Afghanistan and setting them up with a nice modern postcolonial govt system that does not suit their traditional tribal patterns of self-government, a large number of them find their circumstances so intolerable they want to flee — to the country which has invaded them with force of arms and shoots anything that moves.
Just a few paradoxes.
And I agree that many people are kindly and can’t stand to see suffering in their own country when it is put under their noses. Without human compassion, it would be a very poor world indeed. We find when compared to other similar primate species that they lack altruism to their orphans in their won tribal group for instance, often letting them die, and developed altruism is a particular survival trait of humans. When the suffering is far away, we worry far less about it, however. Out of sight, out of mind. If an elderly person falls over in the shopping centre, we of course rush to assist them, seek medical aid if necessary, and so on. When 35,615 die around the world from starvation daily, well, we’re not motivated to jump up to help them. Immediacy seems to be the key.
And, unfortunately, people are doing less well in many places around the world due to the psychopathy of our leaders in patterns of colonialism, or of despotic rule, of our grasping capitalist need for profit, of looking out for No 1 instead of the group. These are conflicting psychological needs of organisms apart from the altruistic instinct.
Sean - unfortunately I don’t have a lot of time to reply to your post. While I understand where you are coming from I am saddened by your somewhat confusing take on the subject. On one hand you are encouraging us to turn our attention to injustice taking place on the other side of the world while in the next breath you are saying that we should palm off the refugee problem to other less developed nations.
You you have a look at the numbers you will see Pakistan and other neighbouring countries to those in strife take on MILLIONS of refugees each year. Countries that unlike our own can barely afford to feed their own population without being ladened with millions more. Considering the point you keep coming back to is the starvation of many in the worlds poorest nations, your solution to the refugee influx seems thoughtless.
I think the thing to remember in these circumstance is the majority of asylum seekers are seeking asylum! A safe place, Crowded in a refugee camp in a developing nation without access to food and clean water where violence, rape and murder are common occurances is not in my definition of a safe place. Can you really question their desire to come to a place such as Australia?
Unfortunately I am not in a place where I can effect world peace or stop nations from tearing themselves apart but I can provide some human comfort and a few supplies to the individuals who have suffered this. Who knows one of these small children who experience kindness and compassion here in Australia may one day be in a place where they can effect world peace or choose a non-violent path over conflict?
@SEAN - Why do a lot of the refugees destroy their paperwork on coming into the country? If I was a genuine refugee fleeing from immediate harm, I would make damn sure I kept my paperwork to prove my origins and make a case to the Tribunal in whatever benevolent affluent country I was going to.
The fact is, that many don’t have “paperwork”. I recall during the Howard years, that the attitude of authorities was; if asylum seekers arrived with paperwork, they weren’t “genuine”; if they arrived without “paperwork” they weren’t genuine as they must’ve got rid of it to hide their real identity? Couldn’t win! People from Iraq for example(of whom over 90% were found to be in need of asylum) couldn’t swan down to the local office and get a visa or other necessary paper to leave the country - it was punishable by death???I’d say,that the experiences of too many poor people living in fear for their life is in the same position. The reason the want to leave is due to oppression, despotic govts, wars(with us as the bombers and shooters?). The people who organise their travel here often take their papers???Telling them lies or????
Yes, there are lots of people around the world in desperate need. There are over 20 million slaves; most of them are women. Women and kids are the worst affected by wars, unemployment, economic hardships etc. Australia could increase its financial aid to these traumas - we don’t give enough. The ideal is a percentage of GDP which we fall short of, I understand.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the Migration Act or other International Agreements that insist on the humane treatment of refugees/asylum seekers. If you read some of the accounts of people who’ve been ‘detained’ in Indonesia, you’ll find horrific human rights abuses - in short, cruelty. The history of that country doesn’t conjure up warm and fuzzie feelings of humaneness - ask the East Timorese - over 180,000 of them were murdered by Indonesians, of whom have never been brought to justice! We give that country millions of dollars in order to house refugees, but if you’ve seen them on TV they look very much like harsh prisons to me. So, why doesn’t our govt stipulate the conditions?With what I’ve learned of the Indonesian military, police and govt, I wouldn’t trust them with the care of a cat, let alone human beings! Corruption reigns supreme in that country, and their human rights abuses are horrific!
I really feel for the child who dies every 30 seconds, somewhere in the world. But, realistically, what can I do from here? Nothing! I disagree with the emphasis of money making, oppression of peoples to make even more of the stuff, the military industry, the wars started on lies etc, and the only way to stop these injustices is by the people wanting to change the systems that support it, live on it etc. I can’t see enough people on this day wanting to do that. There was a recent survey in this country that showed, that over 60% did not believe that capitalism was a solution to the things I’ve mentioned - I was very surprised at the large number, but heartened by the awareness? We won’t change what’s going on while we keep on with this system - it has as its ‘philosophy’ that making money, making wars, stealing other countries resources etc is paramount, and human beings are nuisances or slaves that help the few achieve their wealth. I find it obscene! Those who have the wealth and power perpetuate racism and the oppression of others as their tool to not have to pay people decently for their labour, nor do they have to give a s**t how they live, or whether they live or not - they couldn’t give a hoot!
That’s the reality - but in this country we have the opportunity to show those in need, that we don’t aspire to the grotty behaviour of others; the human rights abuses; and the detention of people who have not committed a crime! It is not illegal to come here to seek safety, so they should only be detained long enough to check their health and to ensure that they’re not criminals - but kids haven’t done any wrong, so why are they jailed???Horrific! We have the obligation to abide by the Laws of this country and of International Laws that we’ve signed up to! We don’t!
DIAC
Sean don’t you know that there is NO PAPERWORK that is another lie that the conservative party throws at us to ignite our ire.
I have spoken to refugees who have UNHCR Papers and they are left to rot in country’s that treat them less than human and even then Australia does not live up to its obligations.
Sarah… not sure I think the person who might know is Pamela… see her message by scrolling up to the 15th message.
About the documents, ID and paperwork. what happens is that the people smugglers do one last dis-service to the asylum seekers by telling them to throw away their phones and papers before they are rescued. Many have their phones confiscated 24 hours before departure so that time and details of boats are not given away.
One boy told me that he did not want to throw away his “taskera” -Afghan Birth certificate and phone but the people smuggler stood over him and told him that he had to.
I have heard this many times. I understand why the people smugglers want the phones destroyed ( and all the contact numbers inside) but not the documents.
The fact is that the documents are valuable to the cases and their loss disadvantages the asylum seekers enormously.
Australia now has an Identity Unit which demands proof of id.
There is no no one to tell them to keep their documents hidden and safe.
Quite a number of asylum seekers arrive on Christmas island with their UN refugee recognition cards - only to be processed all over again by Australia!!
Can you provide a couple of links to those figures? And I don’t deny that Australia may well be sub-par to other OECD countries in its % refugee intake which should be looked at.
You may also want to make reference to John Howard’s policies in that area, and what appears to be the average member of the populace’s response to the situation. But can you put that into context also and indicate how you will change the mind of the populace and the politicians?
John Howard’s govt also deliberately underfunded medicine and nursing university places in Australia to save money for some years (in a supposedly wildly affluent country loaded with mineral wealth) by stealing medicine graduates from other countries, including troubled or 3rd world countries who needed their own doctors, rather than pay for the places in Australia. So not only did Howard want to turn the boats back and deny support to refugees, he also wanted to poach trained professionals from overseas in order to avoid paying training costs in Australia. In other words, we had 12 years of an unscrupulous tight-arse who was wildly popular with the people at the same time, and whose party nearly got back in again in August.
Surely the UN aided by Australia and other affluent countries could do more to make these camps safe with access to food and clean water. The world is clearly full of unsafe places all the time, which is not my or this nation’s responsibility, and further as you point out there are many many millions of people in that situation, far more than the entire present population of this small country. So what is the answer?
I’m not sure that I’m the one who is confused and illogical in this, although I must admit I don’t have clearcut answers not having all the stats of worldwide refugees numbers to hand.
There is an irony in that many refugees are now fleeing instability in Iraq and Afghanistan, nation states where Australia agreed to ‘help out’ to ‘bring democracy and freedom’. Politically, to now take many refugees from those areas would be an automatic admission of failure in the first policy, and might even call the motives of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ into question.
http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/refugees.htm
In the past, groups of people facing religious or racial persecution would often move to a more tolerant region. Today, political persecution is a major cause of out-migration of refugees and the international goal is to repatriate refugees as soon as the condition in their home country becomes stable.
When a person or family decides to leave their home country and seek asylum elsewhere, they generally travel to the closest safe area possible. Thus, while the world’s largest source countries for refugees include Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sierra Leone, some of the countries hosting the most refugees include countries like Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, Iran, and Guinea. Approximately 70% of the world refugee population is in Africa and the Middle East.
During 1994, Rwandan refugees flooded into Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania to escape the genocide and terror in their country. In 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Afghanis fled to Iran and Pakistan. Today, refugees from Iraq migrate to Syria or Jordan.
http://www.unhcr.org/4a2fd52412d.html
The number of people forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution worldwide stood at 42 million at the end of last year amid a sharp slowdown in repatriation and more prolonged conflicts resulting in protracted displacement.
“In 2009, we have already seen substantial new displacements, namely in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Somalia,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said. “While some displacements may be short-lived, others can take years and even decades to resolve. We continue to face several longer-term internal displacement situations in places like Colombia, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia. Each of these conflicts has also generated refugees who flee beyond their own borders.”
About 2 million refugees and internally displaced people (IDP) were able to return home in 2008, a decline from the year before. Refugee repatriation (604,000) was down 17 percent, while IDP returns (1.4 million) dropped by 34 percent. Traditionally the largest durable solution for refugees, it was the second-lowest repatriation total in 15 years. The decline in part reflects deteriorating security conditions, namely in Afghanistan and Sudan.
@SEAN - I remember very clearly the case of a whole family. Baqtieri? family. They had 5 children and Rose had another baby in Australia. Her husband was not allowed to be with her when his child(a boy, I think) was born. Rose and her baby were detained in a motel for almost 12 months, with 24 hour guards - I can’t think of a more stressful and destructive way of caring for a new baby - no privacy no freedom and dependant on the authorities to let her see her other children, who were locked up in detention.
After much public pressure the children were taken out of detention and held in a house in the community - they saw their mother on a regular basis, although their father was in a detention centre in another state (from memory) Rose insisted that she was from Afghanistan - they didn’t believe her, and even though Rose’s legal people begged the Howard govt to wait, they went ahead, and a few days before Christmas, when the world was busy, they deported them to PAKISTAN - a strange country without friends or family? Sure enough, a few weeks later, the evidence via papers arrived. Her legal people had gone to great lengths to find people who could vouch for her and provide proof - keep in mind, that Afghanistan was in a war - it was dangerous for many people to speak out about a number of things????
Every family or individual has a story to tell about the difficulties, racism, taunts and other forms of degradation - the hopelessness etc is just awful. Some people were deported after the Howard govt used false passports in order to dump them in some country. I recall at least one well publicized case, where a man was flown half way around the world due to the Howard govt trying to find a country, any country that would take him - he ended up back here, after many days and heaps of money???Apart from the disgusting behaviours and attitudes, the moneys wasted was immense! No screams by the media though???
Intertesting that TJDarwin ddn’t respond. Wouldn’t have been part of the problem, albeit well-paid, would he?
HI Sean,
Here is a link to some greeat stats on refugees and asylum seeks here compared to other migration in Australia and also a look at Autralia vrs some other nations
According to the UNHCR there were some 43.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide at the end of 2009. This
includes 15.2 million refugees, 983,4200 asylum-seekers (pending cases) and 26 million internally displaced
persons (IDPs).
• When we look globally here is how we sit in comparison to the top 10 refugee receiving countries in the world
COUNTRY NUMBER OF REFUGEES HOSTED 2009
Pakistan 1,740,711
Iran 1,070,488
Syria 1,054,466
Germany 593,799
Jordan 450,756
Kenya 358,928
Chad 338,495
China 300,989
Vietnam 339,300
Eritrea 209,200
Australia5 22 548
taken from the Asylum seeker resource page
http://www.asrc.org.au/media/documents/myth-busters.pdf
Hi Sarah
Would you write the amount that Australia takes in again…you have put a 5 in front of what appears to be 22548 what is the correct number.
Sorry it should be 22 548 - what I shame I can’t seem to edit the original post.
BTW I have started a Facebook page to get some networking happening
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aussies-in-support-of-refugees-and-asylum-seekers/125162490868248?v=photos#!/pages/Aussies-in-support-of-refugees-and-asylum-seekers/125162490868248?v=wall
And plan to visit the Brisbane Airport centre once I can find someone to tell me what they might need and what I can take. If anyone else is in Brisbane and interested you can contact me via the facebook page
Have found the relevent documents/contact people regarding a visit to Brisbane areas. Have tried to contact the author of the articles to see what would be of most use in Brisbane or if Darwin is more needy. If anyone else is keen to participate in whatever action is demed most appropriate again contact through facebook page above.
Well, we have the same politically correct rubbish regurgitated over and over again. Sorry folks, just because some migrants were hard-working, useful members of our society, it does not follow that all are going to be.
All illegal immigrants should be sent back on the first plane. Why do they trash their documents? Australia is not their first point of contact. We have a social security system renowned for its generosity to foreigners.
I have personal knowledge of a family of 18 Middle Eastern people who arrived here some years ago, 12 children in the family, some uncles and aunts, who have been on social security since they arrived. They laugh at us, and their values are totally inimical to our culture.
Very often any accommodation is better than what they had in their own country.
The migrant hostels in the 50s and 60s were fairly basic, and people had to get a job after a certain period.
No country accepts people who just turn up in a leaky boat. Just go to Japan, China, anywhere.
If we take every illegal immigrant this country would die; there is no way the workers of this country can support unlimited amounts of illegal immigrants.
I don’t expect this post to remain very long. It looks like everyone tends to agree with fairly naive and essentially stupid responses to border protection.
Caesarboy - I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion, what saddens me is when that opinion is uninformed and incorrect. The issue that is being discussed here is ASYLUM SEEKERS not illegal immigrants.
Illegal immigrants are people who arrive in the country legally and outstay their prescibed agreed upon visa stay.
Asylum seekers are people who arrive by air or sea who claim asylum under the treaty on the UN. Under this treaty a person needs to declare asylum once they arrive in the country. These are not people who simply choose to leave their country and move somewhere else. These people are being persecuted in their own country often by their government. The lucky ones can fly in and claim asylum once here - often in customs. the unlucky ones who live in countries where it is often illegal to leave your homeland or they have been targeted by their country and face imprisionment or death. And these people are not being imprisioned, murdered or tortured because they are drug dealers they are marked by their government for things like;
providing an education for people outside of the prescribe texts laid down by their government, speaking out against current governemnts or simply because of their tribe or race.
Asylum seekers and refugees are not generally entitled to any form of government assistance so I’m not sure under which program your friends migrated here from the Middle East but perhaps they were migrants, not Asylum seekers.
And yes many countries take peple who just turn up - although most walk across the border to neighboring countries rather than risk their lives on a leaky boat. Many coutries signed the treaty to protect refugees and asylum seekers - Australia being one of them. People choose to risk their lives travelling by boat here to avoid the terrible conditions in other coutries where asylum is granted where hundreds of thousand of refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons wait in refugee camps with little food or water - where robbery, rape and murder are common and disease is rife. These are ordinary human beings who up until a poiint in time were going about their day to day lives, working, raising families until so idiot with a gun decided to change the course of their lives forever.
It is not these children, currntly holed up in a motel in a foregin countried fault that the government in their coutry has torn their wolrd apart. Imagine if we were to find otherselves in a similar situation tomorrow, under attack from an invading country - you would want to hope New Zealand had signed the treaty wouldn’t you cause our other neighbor Indonesia has not - and there you face imprisonment, assult and even torture for leaving your homeland.
@SARAH - True! If I was living in Afghanistan with young kids; seen my father, uncles and brothers murdered, my neighbourhood wrecked, and saw armed military walking around shooting all day, I’d feel I had to leave to save my children. The stats re kids in this country is awful - too many kids have lost at least one parent; too many don’t have enough food to eat, and the majority are suffering from emotional trauma. The average age in this country is in the early 30’s? Kids lost limbs or their lives via land mines, cluster bombs or ??The same applies to Iraq.
In this country, a child can’t be charged with a crime under the age of 10, I think. We don’t lock them up; we have programs to stop bullying etc, and yet young people in the country see what our govt/s do to innocent kids - jail them. We hear about sportspeople who are supposed to act like role models - what sort of role models are we being for young people? No wonder they act up and are confused and/or take drugs or????Most depressing!
Sarah and Liz you are not only intelligent and informed people you have a heart! WOW
I wish there were many more like you…..if there were, we wouldn’t be in the bind that we are in.
@LADY WHITE PEACE - Thank you. I recall an event about 7 yrs ago. My lovely eldest grand-daughter was about 8-9. She was staying with me for the weekend. We were watching the ABC news, and there was a demonstration at one of the detention centres. She said, ‘Nanny what have those little kids done’? And I said, ‘nothing darling, why’? And her response was, ‘Well, why are they in jail’? I told her that they shouldn’t be; that I was ashamed that they were, and did what I could to put an end to it. She smiled and agreed with me.
Some time later at her school, she and her friend put tape over their mouths for a whole day (like the then young man on a reality TV show did). I was very proud of her and said so. How many other kids see these news items and wonder why toddlers and older children, perhaps their age are standing behind barbed wire with sad faces and bleak dark eyes - I find it difficult to look at them, I find it so distressing, whether they’re in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza or this country, but we profess to be ‘better’? We’re not! And then when you speak about how disgraceful it is, particularly if you’re a woman, you’re a ‘bleeding heart’! I’d rather have a ‘bleeding heart’ than a block of stone instead, and a thought process that says that racism and injustices are OK. How can I look into the faces of my own healthy, happy, vibrant little grand kids, but ignore those who are being criminally detained - in a country with heaps of money, good food, open spaces, fresh air(as opposed to one with depleted uranium in it) and their parents willing to provide the love and nurture they deserve.
There’s a saying that I believe in very strongly - ‘it takes a community to raise a child.’ I’d go further and say, that all adults have a responsibility to every child - we can’t help those in foreign lands, but we can damn well make sure, that we don’t take actions that make already traumatised kids mentally ill for life while they’re in Australia. Those kids in Darwin have no respite - it’s bloody hot and humid; no activities, no play areas or toys and no school. You don’t have to be a parent surely, to know that that is unsuitable at least for a child’s healthy development.
I recall an investigation carried out in the US several yrs ago; when the argument about detaining people so they won’t abscond was raging. The result was, that when people were housed in the community while awaiting a decision on their claim, there was no noticeable evidence of people ‘disappearing’? On the contrary, people were so keen on complying with the authorities made little or no attempt to abscond. In Sweden they only detain children for a matter of hours, not days, weeks and years!
Some of the people who agree with this treatment, probably have kids of their own, who have everything that opens and shuts - not to mention a warm, secure and loving environment in which to live. I find it disheartening and depressing to listen to the hatred and morbid fears, based on ignorance and pure selfishness.
Hi Liz
Yes exactly ” bleeding hearts” and don’t you just love the ” motherhood statements” that whenever a political party is
proposing something which is just , compassionate and humanitarian.
Well I for one am so over “fatherhood statements” and “hearts of stone” that the only party I will vote for is one which embraces the concept of ” all for one and one for all”.
BTW, come to Martin Place next Tuesday and see the marvellous event that is scheduled for the UN Peace Day.
I think that demonstrates that more and more people in Australia have hearts of gold!!
@LADY WHITE PEACE - Hi! I live on the south coast - in the Illawarra ( a beautiful part of the world?). Next Tuesday I’ve committed to go to a seminar on Domestic Violence. I’m part of a local Committee which is doing great things, and have been heartened by what’s going on in this State and on a National level in recent years - about bloody time! I’ll be thinking about you all, and look forward to seeing/hearing all about it.
I’ve been going through some of my videos in conjunction with the anniversary of the Olympic Games 2000, and watched some of the Harbour Bridge walk for Reconciliation. I was there, and rang my sons from the middle of the Bridge - it was an awesome day. I was hesitant to go as I have a painful spine injury, but after watching Howard in the Opera House the day before, I was determined to go(I spent a week on the waterbed after, but didn’t regret going). A very looonnnggg walk? From Nth Sydney to Darling Harbour!
That day proved, that when the truth is out there about injustices and racism etc, the people will respond in a positive way. I reckon that there were at least 500,00 people there that day - I think the official figure was about 250,000 - they just kept on coming!
I went to the anti war march prior to the invasion of Iraq also - I’m only a short person, and in Hyde Park waiting to leave, the only way I could tell which direction the people were going, was to look at the banners over the heads. I spent a lot of time fanning babies & toddlers in prams etc, as it was Feb 16 and very humid - poor little things weren’t getting any fresh air? I sent a handwritten letter to Howard(prior to my son’s gift of a computer -bless him, I’ve not long got another brand new one from him) but sadly, it didn’t change anything. Everything I raised in that letter has sadly become a reality. When Parlt resumes, I’ll write about asylum seekers and our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. If we inundate them with letters as opposed to emails(I’ve done that too?) it might have a better impact. I’ll make sure that the editors of the major papers receive copies also!
Hope the sun shines on Tuesday - in more ways than one!
The definition of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers being interchanged on the news and indeed in election campaigns by both major parties is disgusting when leadership and factual discussion of this terrible situation worldwide is used to fortify our minds and reinforce racism.
This fear creates catastrophic suffering, is that what these critics want? When so-called Christian politicians ignore the suffering of the innocents via their policies(including going to war and setting of the refugee crisis) as continues to happen with these families I am at a loss.
We must persevere though, just reading that these people have none of our government assistance and rely on charities is enough for me to be horrified at the indignity.
How about the women who have to rely on overburdened charities to supply them with sanitary products? You think that would send us broke? Be to much of the milk of human kindness?
@JULIE - I recall that women in some detention centres(probably all?) had to line up and ask for sanitary products. They line up for their medication and women for the pill if applicable? Numbers were used not names(has that changed?) and the same for kids. I came across one of my video tapes, which was a Senate Inquiry during the Howard years. A person giving evidence was told that he musn’t take any “human type photos” and Senator Faulkner’s response was, “you’re kidding me”? Oh how quickly they change their principles when they’re in govt? As Pamela said, they were taking clothes for the pregnant women as there clothes are getting tight and uncomfortable? From the books I’ve read over the years, there doesn’t seem to be any regular change of clothes or laundry facilities, and the clothes were in short supply.
Sandy Logan(Immigration) telling Pamela that the reason they weren’t giving water to detainees in the Darwin hot sun was they were using it for ‘negotiating purposes’ or words to that effect. How low can they get?
I just watched the WA PM whine that his State has half of the detainees - not one word of concern for the people, just that there might be a riot? I’d say that is a fair assumption when you treat people like s**t and don’t give them a time frame for when it all may end.
Hi LIZ and All
Seems to me that we have all had some experience and certainly now (thanks to all who have contributed) have much more knowledge of what is being done to these the poorest of the poor.
CAN WE ORGANISE AND ACTUALLY PUT OUR EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE GOOD USE AND ENSURE THAT CHANGES ARE MADE THAT WILL MAKE STOP THIS ABUSE AND MISUSE OF POWER?
Any suggestions of how we mobilise to lobby government and to make politicians accountable for their inhumane treatment of human beings who are asking us for asylum and mercy.
um, try the Greens. they now have 10 seats in the Federal govt and they are already doing horsetrades with Labor on a carbon tax and fixing up the detention centres. Labor NEED the Greens to be onside to pass any and all legislation through the Parliament in future, and they are already softening and yielding on a number of fronts. That is your best bet. The new Parliament is probaby about the most democratic one Australia has seen yet, in its history, and represents a permanent breakdown of the 2 party hegemony.
It’s already happening, when I turned on the 24 hour ABC news channel just now. The Liberal WA Premier just looks shrill, idiotic and partisan in comparison, which possibly sums up WA in a nutshell.