Despite the Immigration Minister’s attempts to deflect the blame, it is the government that is responsible for the appalling conditions they have created on Nauru.
Dutton even created his own “children overboard” moment by suggesting there was a threat from refugees to ‘assets’ on Nauru.
Dutton boasts about the money invested in a new hospital on Nauru, but that hospital is not functioning. Omid and Hodan were treated in the shockingly unsatisfactory conditions of the old hospital. Even basic medical supplies were not available at the hospital to properly treat Omid.
“The government itself is playing a dangerous game with the lives of asylum seekers and refugees – in Australia and on Nauru. Offshore processing and the government’s mismanagement of the situation is costing lives,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“Peter Dutton does not have a shred of evidence that advocates encourage refugees to self-harm. This is the same line Scott Morrison tried about the Save the Children workers in 2014 and that was shown to be completely false. But Dutton has learned nothing.
“His dismissive attitude to the distress of the asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru will only put more people at risk. He should seek the advice of mental health experts before he makes such ill-informed pronouncements.”
But there is plenty of evidence that the Department of Immigration and Border Force, IHMS and mental health workers in Australia and Nauru have failed even a basic duty of care to people under their control.
Hodan was under high security 24-hour watch in the Brisbane Transit Accommodation when she was snatched by Border Force officers last Wednesday morning, because she was considered to be “at risk.” In the two weeks before she was removed from Brisbane, she made a number of self-harm attempts.
Hodan’s removal was reckless in the extreme, and directly contributed to her suicide attempt on Nauru.
On the very night that Hodan was returned to Nauru, she swallowed washing powder at the IHMS clinic, OPC 1. She has been in OPC 12 under “high watch” since she was returned to Nauru.
“Hodan was a known suicide risk. It is Peter Dutton, IHMS and mental health workers who have to explain how Hodan was able to leave OPC 1 and attempt self-immolation at the bus stop,” said Rintoul. “It is Peter Dutton and offshore processing that robbed Omid and Hodan of their hope. To belittle her distress and her need for help has condemned the Minister and the policy and exposed how little care there is for those who need it.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713