Morrison Government must act urgently in the face of COVID catastrophe in immigration detention
A coalition of human rights lawyers is calling on the Morrison Government to act urgently to ensure the safety of people held in Park Hotel Alternative Place of Detention amid an escalating COVID-19 outbreak.
On October 17, three men who had been transferred from offshore detention for medical treatment and held in Park Hotel Alternative Place of Detention tested positive for COVID-19. Nine more men were reported by Australian Border Force to have tested positive on 19 October.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Morrison Government has been warned repeatedly by medical experts that it needed to release people from detention to protect their health, the staff moving in and out of the centres and the broader community from a widespread outbreak. In June, the Australian Human Rights Commission called on the Morrison Government to reduce the number of people in detention immediately, and to improve conditions to manage the COVID-19 risk more safely. The Australian Medical Association Vice President on Monday called for the Federal Government to intervene and allow the men to live in community detention.
In the Park Hotel Alternative Place of Detention, the Morrison Government continues to hold more than 40 people two years after they were transferred from offshore detention for medical treatment
Human rights lawyers have highlighted the Federal Government’s duty of care owed to the people held in immigration detention centres. They have called on the Morrison Government to urgently act to uphold this duty of care by:
protecting the safety of the men in Park Hotel, including by safely releasing people into housing in the community where they can isolate and protect themselves from COVID-19; and
releasing people from immigration detention centres throughout Australia to protect against future outbreaks in line with the repeated medical evidence.
Quotes
David Burke, Legal Director, Human Rights Law Centre: “The Morrison Government’s failure to safely release people from immigration detention has placed these men's lives at risk. After 18 months of experts sounding the alarm, it’s time the Government listened and urgently let people out of these high-risk facilities to isolate in safety.”
Sanmati Verma, Senior Lawyer, Clothier Anderson Immigration Lawyers and Deputy Chair of Visa Cancellation Working Group: “The Government has been warned about COVID risks in immigration detention for 18 months – by courts, medical experts and independent commissions – and yet done nothing. It is clear that detention facilities cannot be safely managed and all those detained must be released, as a matter of urgency.”
Sarah Dale, Centre Director and Principal Solicitor, Refugee Advice and Casework Service: “We have a duty to keep those in our care safe, this is an obvious failure because it was completely avoidable. The continued detention of people, purely on the basis of their status having arrived from Nauru or PNG is absolutely inexcusable, it must and can, come to an end immediately.”
Carolyn Graydon, Principal Solicitor and Manager Human Rights Law Program, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre: “These men have been arbitrarily detained in closed immigration detention for two years. Aside from denying them their freedom, this has also placed them at unnecessary risk of contracting Covid-19 during a national pandemic. They should be immediately released into home quarantine arrangements, so that they can effectively socially distance and protect themselves from the outbreak at the Park Hotel.
“It is shameful that as of September, only 17% of immigration detainees had been fully vaccinated, despite the Government knowing for around 18 months that they are a high risk group. The Government has routinely played politics with the health of people in detention and after years of inadequate medical care many simply do not trust the Government. It is time to consider the health and lives of these men, and to immediately release them into community care.”
David Manne, Executive Director, Refugee Legal: “The recent COVID-19 outbreak in immigration detention underscores that conditions in detention simply do not comply with basic requirements for social distancing, self-isolation and safety – they are crowded, cramped and unsafe. The Government has failed in its clear cut obligation to protect people from the risk of potentially fatal infection. It now has the opportunity to heed the expert medical advice by ensuring people are released into safe accommodation. If the Government does not act now, it risks compromising the safety of people in detention by denying to them the same protection that everyone deserves during this pandemic and neglecting the duty of care it owes to people detained.”
Alison Battisson, Director Principal, Human Rights For All: “These men are mentally and physically vulnerable. They were and are at significant risk of complications from COVID-19. Now is the time to release them. It is the legal and moral choice.”
George Newhouse, CEO and Principal Solicitor, National Justice Project: “It’s hard to fathom the cruelty of this Government. The men in the Park Hotel have been held in detention for years without hope. Now they are exposed to COVID-19 in detention as a result of incompetence and poor planning. It’s time for them to be released into the community.”
Lucy Geddes, Asylum Seeker Health Rights Project Lead, Public Interest Advocacy Centre: “The Government owes a duty of care to the people it detains. The Park Hotel COVID outbreak reflects what we already know from our case work: that many people in Australian immigration detention are not getting timely access to the medical care they desperately need, including COVID vaccination. Women and men in detention deserve fair and humane treatment, consistent with this fundamental duty of care.”
Media contact:
Michelle Bennett, Engagement Director, 0419 100 519, michelle.bennett@hrlc.org.au