The announcement that the first ‘NZYQ deportee’ has successfully been sent to Nauru has opened a new era of Labor government-facilitated human rights abuse.
Refugee Action Coalition is calling on the government to stop the deportations of refugees and non-citizens to Nauru, and to finally put an end to its neo-colonial practice of using Nauru as an offshore prison-island.
“There is no reason to cancel the visas of refugees and other non-citizens after they have served prison sentences,” said Ian Rintoul, from the refugee Action Coalition, “It is a racist, punitive and unnecessary measure which is why the High Court finally ended indefinite detention in 2023.
“The NZYQ High Court decision brought Australia into line with international human rights policies; the Labor Party is determined to trash human rights and drag Australia back to its pariah status.
“The use of s501of the Migration Act to cancel visas is something that has only grown over recent years in tandem with the punitive anti-refugee policies of successive governments. As asylum seeker boat arrivals have declined in recent years, visa cancellations has been the main mechanism for government to maintain its domestic immigration detention regime and pour hundreds of millions of dollars into detention corporations like Serco and now MTC.”
The US private prison operator, Management and Training Corporation (MTC) has a $2.3 million dollar deal to run Australia’s domestic detention centres, and is being paid $790 million to warehouse around 100 asylum seekers sent to Nauru.
“The estimated cost of total lifetime cost of the new deportation deal of around $2.5 billion amounts to more than $7 million per person! They could buy their own island for that money.”
“The government does not have enough money to properly maintain the NDIS, but is spending billions to violate human rights. It’s money that could go into public housing,” said Rintoul,” It’s time the government stopped the visa cancellations and closed its Nauru gulag.”
Nauru has been Australia’s warehouse for refugees since 2001. Twenty years later, Nauru has the worst human development indicators in the region, with one in four people living below the poverty line and the shortest life expectancy of any country in the Pacific.
Brisbane’s Refugee Action Collective is holding a protest outside the Department of Home Affairs, 299 Adelaide St, 1pm, Thursday 30 October.
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
