Letter to Fairfax papers and Coffs Coast Advocate

Dear Editor

A few months ago, there were more than 200 children trapped on Nauru. Following the national campaign to get children off Nauru, in which a local support group for asylum seekers and refugees played an energetic part, the number of children remaining on the island is down to single figures. We now need to redouble our efforts, both locally and nationally, to evacuate the remaining 1000+ asylum seekers and refugees from Nauru and Manus.
You can help these people by writing to or phoning both current politicians and candidates for the federal election. Pressure from the public does work especially in an election year.

Margaret Henley
Mylestom

Response to Tanya Plibersek letter 26 December 2017

_From: Mike

_{Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2017 3:50 PM}

_{To: Tanya Plibersek MP}

_{Subject: Offshore detention}

_{Dear Ms Plibersek,}

_{Many thanks for your detailed response of 22nd December to my letter of 13th August, sent to Shayne Neumann and copied to you. I very much appreciate the time and trouble that you have taken to address the issues that I raised and to set out the Labor Party’s position. I do  accept, for the most part, the criticisms that you make of the Turnbull government’s utter failure to deal adequately with the appalling situation for asylum seekers and refugees languishing in offshore detention. But we need to address the problem of the elephant in the room. The Labor party went to the last election promising the Australian people that there was no difference between the Labor party and the Coalition in relation to the key pillars of asylum policy, namely: turning back the boats, the maintenance of offshore detention camps, and the Rudd-era policy of preventing people arriving by boat from ever settling in Australia. In these crucially important areas, the Labor party’s policy stance has not changed. It seems somewhat disingenuous to me for the Labor party to state that the detention camps were never regarded as being indefinite. Apart from the government’s incredibly stupid refusal to take up the NZ government’s offer to resettle 150 refugees annually, the Coalition tells the same story, and Dutton wants us to believe that he is trying to get people off Manus and Nauru as quickly as possible. In the meantime, many hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees continue to suffer both physically and mentally whilst politicians essentially look the other way.}

_{In the present terrible circumstances, the Labor party should bite the bullet, decide that enough is enough and take the political  risk of declaring that all detainees in offshore detention should be brought to Australia  without delay for their safety and well-being. This would allow an orderly progression to appropriate third countries, which would include the US and NZ, but would exclude Third World countries such as Cambodia. Those wishing to remain in Australia, where a number of them have family connections, should be allowed to do so.}

_{It is time to bring this shameful chapter in our history to an end.}

_{Yours sincerely,}

_{Mike Griffin}

_{39, Rogers Drive, Valla Beach NSW 2448}

Julia's letter to Sydney Morning Herald "Sounds Familiar"

Sounds familiar

Halfway through reading Amitav Ghosh's novel set in India, Field of Poppies, I came across these lines about a group of people in a camp, awaiting transportation on a British-owned ship:

"The climate of the city - hot, humid and damp - made things worse, for many people fell ill. Some recovered, but others seemed to want to sicken and fade away, so disheartened were they by the waiting, the rumours, and the disquieting feeling of being held captive".

Sound familiar? But this novel is set in the mid-19th century, not 2014, and it's not an Australian offshore detention centre, though it may sound like it.

Julia Osborne Nambucca Heads