After eleven years, history repeats in offshore detention
Eleven years after former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the introduction of mandatory offshore processing, the Albanese Government must change course and provide thousands of people who have suffered for over a decade dignity, safety and freedom, said the Human Rights Law Centre today.
People transferred to Australian-run detention centres in PNG and Nauru pursuant to this policy endured treatment and conditions that amounted to torture. Many endured irreparable physical and mental harm and tragically, 14 people died.
In June 2023, the last people subjected to regional processing were finally evacuated from Nauru to Australia, though dozens remained abandoned in Papua New Guinea. But it was merely months after the detention centre in Nauru stood empty before the Albanese Government forcibly sent new arrivals to Nauru for the first time in nine years.
There are now close to 100 people subjected to offshore processing in Nauru. The Albanese Government has no plan for their future. Medical and support services are limited, and smart phones have been confiscated in an effort to isolate people from the outside world.
Just weeks ago, despite allegations of corruption and mismanagement of funds, the Albanese Government committed further funding to the Government of Papua New Guinea for the provision of services to people it abandoned there, instead of finally bringing them to safety in Australia.
Around one thousand people who suffered years in offshore detention before being transferred to Australia remain here on precarious visas, denied the chance to rebuild their lives.
Laura John, Associate Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, said:
“The Albanese Government had the opportunity to end this system of calculated cruelty, but instead it has chosen to put politics over people. It is making the same mistakes that were made 11 years ago – condemning people to years of suffering in remote locations with no path to permanent safety, and attempting to conceal this cruelty from the Australian public. History is repeating, and the Albanese Government must urgently change course.
“Offshore detention must be shut down for good. Every person taken to PNG or Nauru by the Australian Government must have a pathway to a permanent, safe future – whether they arrived yesterday or a decade ago. People who have survived this offshore regime must be allowed to finally rebuild their lives here in Australia.”
Media contact:
Thomas Feng
Engagement Director
0431 285 275 thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au