Caz Coleman, one of the most prominent advisers to the Coalition and successive Labour governments has described the Manus island and Nauru detention centres as beyond rescue and has called for all asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru to be bought to the mainland for claim processing. (The Guardian 9 June, 2015)
A petition will be tabled in the Senate on Tuesday 16 June, 2015 signed by more than 65,000 people calling for the detention centres to be closed immediately.
Bashings continue on Manus Island and sexual abuse of refugees continues unabated and unpunished as revealed by the Senate Inquiry into Nauru. No one has faced justice for the deaths of Reza Berati and Hamid Kehazaei
The Nauru and Manus Island Detention Centres are a major policy failure and are a key part of a set of policies which have destroyed Australia’s reputation, The UN Committee Against Torture told the Australian government in November 2014 that conditions for asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru amount to “cruel, inhuman, and unlawful” punishment.
As Greg Lake previously the Director of Immigration Detention Centres observed “many people flee countries which are so dangerous that death is a very real and present fear and the only way to create a meaningful deterrent is to actively remove all hope.” A crucial element of the overall policy is to ensure that some children are always held in detention as a deterrent. This is the real reason that babies born in Australia are being returned to Nauru.
As shown time and time again the conditions inside Manus Island and Nauru Detention Centres are cruel, unsanitary and unacceptable. Their existence is inconsistent with the Prime Minister’s claim that Australia is a “humane and decent country” (SMH 12/6/15).
The latest direction’s hearing in the constitutional challenge to the Manus Island detention centre is scheduled in the Supreme Court of PNG is also scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday 16 June. The direction’s hearing is expected to finalise details before the five judges of the Supreme Court is empanelled and a trial date set for the full hearing.
Nauru and Manus Island Detention Centres must be closed now!
A rally to protest current asylum seeker policies will be held at 12.30 pm , on Tuesday 16 June , 2015, Commonwealth Government Offices, 1 Bligh St, Sydney.
Speakers include: Nicole Judge, ex Manus worker who gave evidence to Senate inquiry into death of Reza Barati and recent inquiry into child detention abuse on Nauru
Inquiries: for more information Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
