The Tamil asylum seekers held at sea on the Oceanic Protector for almost a month have been left in Curtin with only the clothes they are wearing.<\/p>\n
Many of them are still in the same clothes they were wearing when they were picked up at sea at the end of June.<\/p>\n
To make matters worse, the weather has been quite cold at Curtin in the past few days.<\/p>\n
Asylum seekers already in the Curtin detention centre have taken up a collection of any spare clothes they have (which is not much) to try help out the new arrivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very concerned about the children. They need extra clothes in particular,\u201d the Refugee Action Coalition was told from inside the Curtin detention centre.<\/p>\n
There are a large number of children under three, and there are no specific facilities to look after them.<\/p>\n
It has become clear that the government\u2019s decision to bring the Tamils to the mainland was particularly hasty. Serco is largely unprepared to properly accommodate the new arrivals.<\/p>\n
Serco managers at Curtin said only that they would look at the asylum seekers’ requests.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no excuse for not having enough clothes for the asylum seekers. The government must get the clothes needed to Curtin immediately. They could send a car to Broome in a couple of hours,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n
There are no recreational facilities in place \u2013 not even a TV.<\/p>\n
Nor have the new arrivals have even been allowed to make calls to families and loved ones to tell them they are safe.<\/p>\n
It is also clear that Indian government authorities will play no role in the assessment of any of the asylum seekers.<\/p>\n
\u201cScott Morrison should come clean. The so-called deal with India was always a smoke-screen to cover the government\u2019s backdown. The government was desperate to avoid the High Court assessing the legality of its actions,\u201d said Rintoul.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese asylum seekers will be processed by Australia, in Australia. There is no indication that there was even one Indian national on board the asylum boat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe asylum seekers should be give access to phones so they can call their families. They should also be given access to legal advice so that their protection applications can be made without delay.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information , contact Ian Rintoul mob 0417 275 713<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Tamil asylum seekers held at sea on the Oceanic Protector for almost a month have been left in Curtin with only the clothes they are wearing. Many of them are still in the same clothes they were wearing when they were picked up at sea at the end of June. To make matters worse, […]<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-3388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-press-releases"],"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