Wednesday 16 August 2017

When the headlines are screaming words of condemnation over citizenship and marriage equality one is apt to put aside other issues. One such topic is the treatment of asylum seekers and the secrecy that has surrounded their treatment.

At this time last year I wrote the following (below). It concerns the actions of the now Minister for everything secret.

The Guardian had released 2000 emails detailing the abuse of children on Nauru.

Minister Dutton’s gave a morally unacceptable response that was ‘Trumpish’ in its bombastic apathy. Again it was everyone else’s fault.

Max Chalmers writing for New Matilda said:

In response to the more than 2,000 incidents recorded – which range in severity from sexual assaults to minor disagreements – Immigration Minister Peter Dutton broadcast a set of the same vague insinuations his government habitually churns out when the horrors of detention are presented to the public. This is part of a cycle of public relations Australia has seen play out time and time again. It is a Coalition favourite, and remains an essential ingredient to the regime of offshore detention.

Without providing evidence, Dutton argued an unspecified number of the reports could not be trusted.

I said:

Let me sum that up. Your Government has decided to sentence men, women and children who have demonstrably committed no crime, to life imprisonment. Furthermore they want those contemplating coming to Australia by boat to be aware of the atrocities being perpetrated on their predecessors.

Minister Peter Dutton broadcast a set of the same vague insinuations his government habitually churns out when the horrors of detention are presented to the public. This is part of a cycle of public relations Australia has seen play out time and time again. It is a Coalition favourite, and remains an essential ingredient to the regime of offshore detention.

The latest legal advice to human rights groups has made the case for the child abuse royal commission to investigate Australia’s immigration detention centre in Nauru. Why don’t they?

Then in June 2017 I wrote:

Shame, my country, shame on you that you would allow such evil to take place. Shame on the politicians who perpetuated it, knowingly and for so long. Shame on the Government who deliberately put aside our duty of care to those seeking asylum to allow our wrongdoing to be a deterrent to others. Shame, shame shame, for the deliberate abuse of our right to know what was being executed in our name.

“No defence” is a confession that this evil took place and rather than utter words of remorse, of sincere apology, Peter Dutton has sought to blame others. That is not unusual for this Government. Their cruelty goes back a long way.

Rather than defend their actions, which for the duration of the court proceedings would have caused considerable embarrassment for the government they chose, for 100 million dollars, to hide their atrocities from public view. An act of political cowardice unequaled in Australia’s history.

The demonisation of asylum seekers started with John Howard’s and Peter Reith’s lie of “children overboard”, Philip Ruddick’s “illegals” and Tony Abbott’s “stop the boats”.

On this day in 2016 I coincidentally wrote this following Bill Shorten’s interview with Tony Jones on Q&A:

Answering a question about our right to be informed about conditions on Nauru and Manus, after Morrison had said:

Nauru and Papua New Guinea are sovereign governments, they’re the ones who actually ultimately decide what happens.

Bill Shorten said:

If I was prime minister it would have to be an amazing set of circumstances where we’re not prepared to tell you what’s going on.

As a general rule this nation operates best if you treat people as smart and intelligent and tell them what’s going on, full stop.

The decision by the Government not to defend the litigation has been portrayed in various ways. Peter Gordon writing for Fairfax described it as:

A powerful statement about the cruelty inflicted on vulnerable people who sought protection in Australia – and who is responsible for it.

Tony Abbott reckons it:

Looks like a windfall for people who unfairly took advantage of our nation’s generosity.

We’ve got a judiciary that takes the side of the so-called victim rather than the side of common sense.

Remember it was he that was so unbending in his attitude. If he could use people’s lives to the Government’s advantage he never hesitated. He refused to countenance Gillard’s Malaysia solution and when dumped as PM admitted he should have done so. He successfully manoeuvred Labor and Bill Shorten into a bi-partisan position where one was as guilty as the other of the crimes and atrocities committed against innocent people. The only purpose being that they would act as an example to others wishing to come by boat.

The indefensible act of incarcerating people indefinitely when innocent must surely be an act of the lowest definable human trait.

Ben Doherty of The Guardian wrote about the consequences of the bipartisan policy of offshore detention:

All of it has been laid bare: the children accidentally sent to adult men’s only detention where they were abused, suffered systemic sexual assault, the violence by guards against detainees, the repeated suicide attempts, the mass hunger strikes, the seriously ill neglected until it was too late and they died, the public servants who ignored the pleas of doctors to move patients because it was “policy” refugees stayed in detention, so again, they died.

Today I am writing about another sordid chapter in our treatment of asylum seekers and those responsible for their protection and well being.

In the quiet of an August Sunday evening the Turnbull government unobtrusively back flipped on its strict secrecy provisions governing Australia’s immigration detention system. Those who had challenged the laws in the High Court leapt high in the air with yet another win over the decrepit Dutton.

Previously the laws prevented teachers, lawyers and social workers from speaking publically about neglect or abuse. The penalty for doing so was up to two years in jail.

The rules that once threatened detention centre workers under the Australian Border Force Act have effectively been striped out.

The Government of course long argued that the act didn’t prevent people disclosing information that was in the public interest which was obviously a load of you know what.

The fact is that the Government has done a triple back flip with swallow and capitulated.

The action, in the High Court, was instigated by Doctors for Refugees and the Fitzroy Legal Centre.

“Short of repealing the law completely this in practicality waters it down so much that it’s virtually non-existent,” Dr Phatarford

The changes will apply retrospectively meaning those who have made disclosures in the past two years cannot be prosecuted.

The Managing solicitor at the Fitzroy Legal Service, Meghan Fitzgerald, called it “an astounding turnaround” and a clear attempt to avoid the scrutiny that would have come if the case proceeded in the High Court.

In the time these laws have been in place, workers in immigration detention centres, including doctors, nurses, teachers, counsellors, security guards, lawyers and registered migration agents have lived in fear of speaking out about the shocking conditions refugees and asylum seekers are suffering.

Yet again this government has been caught with its pants down. It legislates laws in the full knowledge that they wont pass a challenge in the High Court and then reneges when challenged.

They really couldn’t give a stuff about the suffering they have caused to these poor people.

My thought for the day

“Politicians who change their minds aren’t necessarily seeing the light. They might just be feeling the heat.”