First published April 25
Aussie values:
Rightly or wrongly, I gave a detainee on Manus access to my banking card & account details a year ago. He doesn’t know what sum is held there and has never abused the privilege.
His circumstances reflect those of many other refugees. What is left of his family is terribly poor. He is not a scammer.
This morning he asked for the second time if he could download an online course using it. Cost? $3.
Of course I can see exactly what was purchased.
Once again the bank will ring in a panic about foreign use.
I doubt any Aussie I know, let alone a person suffering his circumstances, could resist the online goodies he has denied himself. This is a person who lacks even a bath towel. What little is left of his family is running from the Taliban in remote border country of Afghanistan.
How many Aussie Patriots or Reclaim Australia types could pass such a character test?
Could Dutton?
This level of integrity, this intelligence is what we deny and lose when we turn our backs on some asylum seekers.
• *Jane Salmon is a Sydney resident, Political science grad, ‘Leftard snowflake’. Mother. She has had dialogue with detainees on Manus since mid 2014.
• A terrible case of deportation (tomorrow)
• Two wrongs don’t make Dutton ok
• Buzzfeed: A Lebanese Asylum Seeker With With Severe Chest Injuries Still On Manus Island, After Doctors Temporarily Stopped Australia From Deporting Him Doctors have warned Australian immigration officers about deporting from Papua New Guinea an asylum seeker with severe chest injuries and kidney damage, over fears the plane journey could kill him.
