Dear Mr Hartsuyker,
In today’s SMH, faith leaders have published an open letter to all parliamentarians , calling on you, as our representatives, to release children and their families from immigration detention. These vulnerable people deserve the gift of freedom. I stand with the faith leaders and urge you to do the right thing when the Senate’s amendments to the Migration and Maritime Powers Amendment Bill comes before parliament.
The government should, of course, go further, and commit to the closure of offshore detention centres. Many of the 95 children currently languishing in indefinite detention on Nauru have been there for more than two years. This is utterly disgraceful, morally indefensible and in contravention of our international obligations. There is irrefutable evidence that detaining children for prolonged periods is detrimental to their mental and physical wellbeing. Now would be a good time, as we approach Christmas, to acknowledge the damage caused by the policies pursued by governments of different persuasions in recent years, and to take concrete steps to bring this shameful episode to an end.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Griffin
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