Refugee protest Friday 8 August: 157 more reasons that Morrison has to go. Bring the Tamils back; end detention

Refugee supporters will hold a protest at the Sydney Immigration Department offices, Lee Street, City, Friday 8 August, 12.30pm, to highlight the hijacking of the 157 Tamil asylum seekers taken to Nauru and the horrors of detention revealed in the Human Rights Commission inquiry.

Speakers will include: John Kaye, Greens MLC NSW; Michael Dudley (chairperson Suicide Prevention Australia and psychiatrist experienced in detention and mental health) and Tamil community representatives.

“The secret transfer 157 Tamils from Curtin to Nauru on the night of Friday 1 August, has exposed the naked duplicity of the government. It is the action of a government that is on the run,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

“Just like its promises over pensions and Medicare, the government says one thing and does another. Scott Morrison reneged on his undertaking to the asylum seekers’ lawyers that he would give 72 hours notice of any intent to send the asylum seekers to a third country.

“The arrival of the 157 Tamils on the mainland was a major blow to the Coalition’s much-vaunted Operation Sovereign Borders. Having the asylum seekers processed on the mainland would have been an even bigger blow. So Morrison removed them to Nauru before the courts could rule. A Minister so incapable of keeping his word should be sacked.

“Meanwhile the Human Rights Commission inquiry into children in immigration detention has exposed a horror of systemic abuse, that fits the definition of torture.

“The government is shuffling families back and forth from the mainland to Christmas Island and back and forth from Nauru and Manus Island to the mainland to try and hide the shocking toll that detention and offshore processing takes on the mental and physical health of asylum seekers.

“But the government is running out of places to hide.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul mob 0417 275 713

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