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28.1.20

Letter: the Australian detention centre with four asylum seekers and a $26m price tag

The Guardian's Article
Dear Editor,

Christmas Island Detention Centre has been used to house refugees in prison like conditions for many years. At the moment it is empty except for one family of four. They are Sri Lankan refugees , a mother, father and two small children .

The family was happily settled in a Queensland town of Biloela but were transported in a dawn raid in 2018 to a Melbourne Detention Centre and following this in August of 2019 they were sent to Christmas Island.

The detention centre on Christmas island had been closed but was re-opened recently at a cost of $26 million to the Australian tax payer. At the moment there are 109 staff members at the centre including 9 medical workers and two officers of the Australian Border Force. All these salaried staff members are funded by our Government and so indirectly by ourselves to oversee the detention of this one family of four .

It is not safe for this family to return to Sri Lanka . As Tamils they would be likely to face torture, abductions or worse. It is clearly in the best interests of the family to return to their home in Queensland. The family were self supporting in their community with the father in work in a job that was necessary to their struggling rural town. They are the kind of people our country needs. They present no threat to our security.

The cruel and callous  treatment of this family once again demonstrates the lack of humanity and empathy at the heart of our governments asylum policy.
It is time for some compassion in our treatment of asylum seekers and refugees.
We need to see a change in this shameful Government policy .

Bring this family home and save millions of dollars now being spent on their detention.

Marlene Griffin

Valla Beach 

See also The Guardian's
"The sole occupants of a million-dollar facility off the country’s coast are two adults and two small children, who are paying the price for its war on refugees"

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