Coroner & Legal
A golden cage is still a cage
What would you do if …
You were forced to flee your home country. You lost your loved ones and sought protection, only to be thrown into indefinite detention.
This isn’t just a hypothetical. It’s the true story told to me by a 16 year old Afghani boy when I visited an immigration detention centre in Darwin last week.
He told me, “Even if a cage is made of gold, it’s still a cage.”
Sadly, his story isn’t unique – More than 700 children and more than 5000 people are currently held in immigration detention in Australia, with no end in sight.
New Minister for Immigration Chris Bowen has two choices: He can follow Tony Abbott back to the dark days of the Howard years – or he can turn over a new leaf to create an immigration system that treats asylum seekers as real people who need protection.
Your voice will make a difference. Write to Minister Bowen today
This week saw the death by suicide of a resident of the Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney.
This tragic event and the subsequent protests by other Villawood residents make it clear that mandatory detention isn’t working and we need a more humane and practical approach.
We need an immediate end to children in detention, a lifting of suspension of claims and a shift away from off-shore processing.
Contact new Immigration Minister Chris Bowen today and urge him to take a more humane approach to the small amount of people who arrive seeking asylum
By allowing chronic over-crowding and slow processing of asylum claims the Government is compounding the trauma and anxiety for already vulnerable people.
Under the Howard Government, young people sewed their lips together and drank bottles of shampoo because that was their only way to call for help. We can’t let that happen again.
Australians are known for our generosity and compassion. Let’s work together to make a difference to the lives of these desperate people.
PS – You can make a difference by writing to Immigration Minister Chris Bowen and urging him to fix our immigration system