Mr Abbott’s virulent attack against Gillian Triggs and the Human Rights Commission clearly demonstrates the type of person ‘we have elected’ to lead our country – a heartless narcissistic charlatan who thinks governing means having your photo taken and who will personally attack anyone who dares to criticise his approach regardless of what the facts show.
In February 2014, Scott Morrison said that “the Abbott government will be most cooperative in the immigration inquiry regarding children in detention … the government would be more than willing to cooperate with the human rights body, and even consider what it would be recommending.”
Unless Tony doesn’t like the results.
The report on children in detention was sent to the Attorney-General on 11 November 2014 who then sat on it, releasing it three months to the day after having received it. Abbott’s suggestion that this was a politically motivated attack is ludicrous as the report is also critical of the previous government and was influenced by Kevin Rudd’s decision in July 2013 to bar asylum seekers who arrived by boat from any chance of resettlement in Australia.
This left thousands of people with no hope, indefinitely incarcerated in hell holes in the poorest nations on earth.
In August 2013 there were no children on Nauru under the former Labor government. As of October 31 2014, there were 167 children in the offshore processing centre. Currently there are 211 children in detention in centres in Australia and 119 being held indefinitely on Nauru.
According to Immigration Department statistics, the average length of detention has grown to 436 days and more than half of the children in detention have been there longer than a year.
Dr Sarah Mares, a child and family psychiatrist, visited Christmas Island twice last year and was consultant to the Human Rights Inquiry. She said the length of time that most of these children have been in detention means that many of them now have developed significant anxiety and depression during their prolonged detention and will require additional support and intervention.
Solicitor Sarah Dale who works with unaccompanied minors in both detention and the community said: “We are seeing children who have fled torture and trauma in war torn areas, children who have lost family members and some who witnessed the death of their family members. Some children have been in detention for 17 months.”
The inquiry staff interviewed 1129 children over a 15-month period from January 2013 to March 2014, spanning both the Labor and Coalition governments.
It shows there were 233 recorded assaults involving children and 33 incidents of reported sexual assault, yet there was not one word from the Prime Minister in response to these tragic statistics. Not one word of compassion for the victims. Not one skerrick of responsibility. Not one word on how we can stop this horrific abuse.
The self-centred political beast who is currently charading under the title of Prime Minister of Australia saw this as a politically motivated attack on him. As he always does, he immediately said what about them – it’s all Labor’s fault.
During Question Time this week Mr Abbott declared he would spend every day up until the next election reminding us of the failures of the previous government. Does he seriously think that’s what he was elected to do?
Having axed the taxes (costing us billions in revenue and investment in renewable energy) and stopped the boats (whilst offering no assistance to the global refugee crisis or the asylum seekers in indefinite incarceration) and signed three free trade agreements (at what cost we don’t know though the budget noted a $1.6 billion drop in revenue due to the FTA with Japan) and given approval for countless coal mines (that seem to be commercially unviable), Tony seems to feel his job is done and we should be congratulating him for his successes.
Those who suggest there is more to do will be rounded on, attacked, abused, and silenced.
Those who suggest that Mr Abbott is not being truthful (too many examples to list) are shouted down under a barrage of prepared lines repeated over and over and over in public, or screamed at with a string of expletives in private (as happened to Wyatt Roy when he suggested they should confess to breaking promises).
Tony Abbott says they should stop the navel-gazing and get on with governing. How this is to be achieved when Tony thinks a report about children in detention is an attack on him is unclear. Since when are camera crews invited into “high level briefings” from our security forces? Why is Tony Abbott reading out confidential evidence on television and making highly prejudicial statements on a matter that is before the courts?
Because it’s all about the drama and Tony is the prima uomo. His image is the most important thing and he demands his colleagues sacrifice truth, integrity, and decency to maintain the charade that this man is fit to lead us.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
