The government announcement that children and families are to be released from mainland immigration detention is deceptive, selective and half-hearted according to the Refugee Action Coalition.
The Minister’s announcement mostly refers to children and families already living in the community. The Minister is really announcing shifting the status of families from community detention to bridging visas, while the horror of children in so-called Alternative Places of Detention in Christmas Island, Darwin, Melbourne and Brisbane will remain in place.
The majority of children in immigration detention facilities, or Alternative Places of Detention, are families who arrived after July 2013 and will be completely unaffected by the government’s announcement.
“The distressed families who are on Christmas Island will remain the victims of mandatory detention and are likely to suffer increased stress because of the Minister’s announcement,” said Ian Rintoul.
“The Minister has ignored repeated offers from church groups over the past few months to provide accommodation and support for all children and families in detention. It seems he is going to continue to ignore that offer.
“It is a rather transparent attempt to take the heat off his appearance at the Human Rights Inquiry into children in detention on Friday.
“The announcement also does nothing for those children and families on Nauru. Scores of families are being brought from Nauru to the mainland because of psychiatric and/or medical issues.
“How can the Minister justify holding families and children in even worse detention facilities than those in Australia while supposedly recognising the need to get families out of detention in Australia? Worse, the threat of Nauru is one of the things that contributes to the anxiety of those families being incarcerated on Christmas Island and in Darwin.
“The announcement simply highlights the selective nature of the Minister’s concern. Another issue is whether the families will have the right to work or whether they will go from ‘community detention’ to the poverty and desperation of existing on bridging visas with such little support?
“Although the announcement reveals the pressure that is on the government, the announcement is more smoke and mirrors from Scott Morrison who shows such little concern for children, even those for whom he is their official guardian.”
“One final question is when will the government begin to process their refugee claims instead of leaving them in the limbo of indefinite insecurity?”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713 www.refugeeaction.org.au
