Lili Calitz, Volunteer with Amnesty International Refugee Rights Action Group, Tasmania
This is a story of the fight of the men in detention to prove their innocence, and of the workers who tried to help them.

Mark Isaacs, formerly an employee of the Salvation Army on Nauru, who spoke out about the conditions on Nauru, will be in Tasmania this week to launch his second book on this topic, Nauru Burning: An uprising and its aftermath.

In this powerful account, Mark goes behind the veil of secrecy surrounding Australia’s offshore immigration detention centres to reveal a climate of fear and hopelessness.

This climate culminated in the riot and fire which destroyed much of the Nauru regional processing centre in July 2013.

Mark Isaacs reveals how the tinderbox ignited and examines the investigation into who was responsible.

“Mark Isaacs’s insight into the events that led up to the riot and fire at the Nauru refugee detention centre, and its aftermath, should concern every Australian,” writes Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision Australia, in the book’s moving foreword.

“This book is graphic evidence of dark practices directly linked to Australia’s immigration and border protection policies. It is a shameful story that needed to be told. Mark Isaacs has rightly taken a stand against a policy of secrecy and lack of scrutiny that may have hidden the truth forever,” Mr Costello says.

Ultimately, it is a comment on the lack of accountability and oversight for service providers in the deliberately remote and closed environment of Australia’s offshore detention centres.

Mark was employed by the Salvation Army in September 2012 to support asylum seekers in the Nauru Regional Processing Centre. He eventually resigned from the Salvation Army in June 2013 and spoke out publicly against the government’s No Advantage policy.

Mark’s first book, The Undesirables: Inside Nauru (Hardie Grant, 2014), is an account of his time on Nauru.

Amnesty, along with Fullers Bookshop and Petrarch’s Bookshop, are proud to host Mark Isaacs for discussions of Nauru Burning. He will be in the south of the state on Thursday and will travel north on Friday.

Who: Mark Isaacs, launching his new book Nauru Burning: An uprising and its aftermath
Hobart – When: Thursday 6 April, 5:30pm
Where: Fullers Bookshop, 131 Collins St, Hobart
RSVP: Tickets are free, but bookings are essential as places may be limited. Bookings through the Fullers Bookshop website. https://www.fullersbookshop.com.au/event/nauru-burning/
Launceston – When: Friday 7 April, 5:00pm
Where: Petrarch’s Bookshop, 89 Brisbane St, Launceston

Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people campaigning to protect human rights. We have a vision of a world in which every person enjoys all of the rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.

Amnesty’s Tasmanian Refugee Rights Action Group meets on the third Monday of each month at the Hobart Action Centre – 1/130 Macquarie St, Hobart.