Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) asylum seekers are still being held in alternative places of detention, such as hotels, in Australia;

(b) many of these individuals have now been detained for over eight years and have suffered significant psychological harm as result of their prolonged and indefinite detention;

(c) this program costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each year and continues despite:

(i) the impact on the physical and mental health of detainees; and

(ii) repeated offers to resettle asylum seekers from New Zealand; and

(d) the Minister for Home Affairs acknowledged in comments on 21 January 2021 that 'it's cheaper for people to be in the community than it is to be at a hotel or for us to be paying for them to be in detention and if they're demonstrated not to be a threat';

(2) applauds the significant contribution migrants and asylum seekers make to our economy, our democracy, and our vibrant, multicultural community; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

(a) address the issue of the indefinite detention of asylum seekers in hotels in Australia;

(b) honour the Minister for Home Affairs' previous comments and ensure that Australians will no longer see an expensive and cruel program of indefinite detention inflicted on people in our care; and

(c) immediately release Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharaunicaa from detention on Christmas Island and allow them to return to their home in Biloela, Queensland to the community who loves and supports them, and wants them home.

This motion was first drafted in March, and unfortunately there has been little progress since that time. I first drafted this motion in collaboration with my friend the member for Cooper, who will be contributing to this debate, and of course I sought the advice of my friends in the hardworking team at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. I want to start by again acknowledging all of the work that they and their team have done throughout the pandemic, often in extremely difficult circumstances, to support some of the most vulnerable and isolated people under our care.

As of September this year, there are 228 people in offshore detention, in Nauru and PNG, and some 90 people being detained in alternative places of detention, such as hotels. Many in alternative detention were placed there after they were brought to Australia for a medical evacuation, and they are now being held indefinitely here in Australia. I said it in June and I'll say it again: we have had options on the table to resettle people for years, and it is nothing short of cruelty and neglect that we haven't chosen to take them. We have had the New Zealand offer in particular, which has been on the table since 2013, when Prime Minister Julia Gillard did a deal with conservative New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to resettle 150 asylum seekers each and every year. But the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison government decided to rip that agreement up. We could have had zero people in offshore detention right now if we'd taken it up even just a few years ago.

The consequence of failing to resettle people in detention and in our care is becoming diabolical. The harm that these people are facing today in our care is getting worse. It's not just the isolation of being held in detention for almost nine years. Now many are facing the risk of a COVID outbreak. In recent days, we have heard of a very serious COVID outbreak at the Park Hotel in Melbourne, where 46 refugees are being held and where 20 have already tested positive. These are the remnants of the people who were transferred to Australia under the medevac agreements. Ironically, they were brought here because they needed extra medical care, but, due to the cruel choices of this government, their lives have been put at risk. We must ask why.

Why were they not released into the community when over 100 other medevac transfers were given a ticket into the community? The then Minister for Home Affairs, now Minister for Defence, said at the time that it was cheaper to have people in the community than in detention, yet this government chose to hold these 46 asylum seekers in the Park Hotel. Now almost half of them face a battle with the delta variant, and the reports are not good. Refugees have told advocates that, when they first complained of symptoms, no isolation protocols were implemented, testing was delayed and they were simply offered paracetamol. Because of this foreseeable failure, we now have an active outbreak which was entirely avoidable.

More than a year ago, Labor wrote to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs expressing our concerns for vulnerable people being detained in these places during a global pandemic. They haven't been kept safe. Recent information released by the department shows that there has been a lack of effort to vaccinate people in all detention facilities. At the moment, we're seeing about half of detainees and refugees fully vaccinated as compared to a national average of over 73 per cent. The Victorian government has expressed concerns. The ASRC has expressed concerns. The Human Rights Commission, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases and the Australasian College for Infection Prevention Control have also been warning this government, yet it chooses cruelty time and time again. It's time to help people. It's time to end indefinite detention. The least we can do is protect those who are in our care.

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