The Refugee Action Coalition has condemned Kevin Rudd\u2019s anticipated announcement to expand the Manus Island detention centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is another move by the Labor administration to avoid Australia\u2019s obligation to provide protection for asylum seekers. It is more about domestic politicking for the upcoming election than providing permanent security for asylum seekers,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n
\u201cManus Island can\u2019t even provide proper facilities for 200 asylum seekers, let alone 3000. Asylum seekers are routinely flown to Australia for medical treatment because there are no proper facilities on Manus Island or even in Port Moresby.<\/p>\n
\u201cPNG is singularly ill-equipped to accommodate, process and resettle 3000 asylum seekers. Manus Island has been open for eight months and there has not been one refugee determination interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a continuation of the poisoned politics of deterrence that has characterised Labor\u2019s competition with the Liberals to be tough on asylum seekers. Like Rudd\u2019s \u2018Indonesia solution\u2019 and Julia Gillard\u2019s \u2018East Timor solution\u2019, the \u2018PNG solution\u2019 is no solution at all. Effectively bribing the PNG government to accommodate a massive detention centre has no part in a humanitarian policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Refugee Action Coalition has condemned Kevin Rudd\u2019s anticipated announcement to expand the Manus Island detention centre. \u201cThis is another move by the Labor administration to avoid Australia\u2019s obligation to provide protection for asylum seekers. It is more about domestic politicking for the upcoming election than providing permanent security for asylum seekers,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-2701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-press-releases","tag-manus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t