Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. (AAP)
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. (AAP)
Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews has written to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with an offer to “accept full responsibility” for the families and children brought to Australia from Nauru. 
In posts to Facebook and Twitter captioned “I wrote a letter to the Prime Minister today. #LetThemStay”, Mr Andrews, decried the Federal Government’s plan to return the families to offshore detention as “wrong”.
“A sense of compassion is not only in the best interests of these children and their families. It is also in the best interests of our status as a fair and decent nation,” he wrote. 
“There are infants among this group who were born in the country. Sending them to Nauru will needlessly expose them to a life of physical and emotional trauma.
“It’s wrong. Medical professionals tell us this. Humanitarian agencies tell us this. Over values tell us this, too. Sending these children and their families to Nauru is not the Australian way.”
The letter outlined that the state of Victoria would accept “full responsibility” for the 267 asylum seekers, including the provision of “housing, health, education and welfare societies”.
“I want these children and their families to call Victoria home,” he wrote, adding that there was “no justification for their removal”.
“Sending these children to a life of trauma on a sparse Pacific island is not a fair solution. We look forward to working with your Government to find a better one,” he wrote. 
Mr Andrews’ letter to the Prime Minister comes after the High Court this week upheld the legality of the Federal Government’s immigration detention centre on Nauru, meaning those families who had been brought to Australia for medical treatment could be forcibly returned to the island. 
Mr Turnbull’s office declined to comment on Mr Andrew’s letter, according to the ABC.