Australia is rivalling, and even surpassing, other countries in its treatment of political prisoners.
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Political prisoners are people who are not criminals, but are imprisoned because of their beliefs. Typically their beliefs contain ideals such as equality, free speech and civil rights.
The majority of Australia's political prisoners are asylum seekers who have fled unjust regimes.
The current sorry chapter in our history of political repression began with the Tampa election. Former Liberal prime minister John Howard played the racist game to perfection declaring "we decide who comes to this country and the circumstances under which they come".
Later, Labor PM Kevin Rudd followed in his footsteps when he announced to asylum seekers arriving by boat "you will never be settled in Australia".
It's now been 20 years since Tampa, and seven years since Rudd's announcement.
Despite the disgust many Australians feel about the inhumane and senseless refugee policies perpetuated by both parties, each year it seems to just get worse.
Despite the disgust many Australians feel about the inhumane and senseless refugee policies perpetuated by both parties, each year it seems to just get worse.
It's incredible to think that we have locked up a few hundred innocent people for more than 2500 days under conditions guaranteed to drive them mad, at a cost of over $9 billion.
Human rights advocates have campaigned on the basis of ethics, of health, of decency, of economics, yet things seem to get worse.
What sense can we make of keeping a family with two infants locked up on Christmas Island, when once they were productively engaged in the Biloela community?
What sense is there in keeping asylum seekers medevacced to Australia imprisoned in two hotels in the heart of Brisbane and Melbourne?
The Ruby Princess debacle underlined what many people would agree on: that Australian Border Force and the Department of Home Affairs are a far greater risk to Australians than asylum seekers.
Spokesperson for Sydney Refugee Action Coalition Ian Rintoul reported that 50 workers from Villawood immigration detention centre went to a manager's party at the Casula Crossroads Hotel, the site of a COVID-19 outbreak.
Guards at Villawood are prevented from using personal protective equipment, and even hand sanitiser is confiscated from guards trying to bring it in for personal use. Who oversees that contract?
Meanwhile, the Australian Financial Review and a subsequent inquiry by the Auditor-General has exposed the questionable financial deals that department uses to run immigration detention.
Contractor Paladin abandoned its headquarters at a Kangaroo Island shack not long before the bushfires.
Perhaps they saved millions of dollars going up in smoke. Where is the sense in all this?
There is none. It's all "cartoon thinking".
A social media post illustrates cartoon thinking with Donald Duck and family sitting down to eat ... roast chicken. With a rabbit that runs off a cliff, but gravity doesn't work until he looks down. With a cat that runs around naked all day, but wears swimmers at the beach.
Take a quick look as asylum seeker policy. Excising Australia from the "migration zone"? The Biloela family a threat to Australia? A company with its headquarters in a Kangaroo Island shack given a $423 million contract to provide security on Manus?
You could call it legal fiction, you could call it Kafkaesque, but "cartoon thinking" describes it best.
After 20 years of trying, of patient argument and passionate appeals, the hilarious perspective might save us from what appears to be an endless, tragic, debacle.
Cartoon thinking? Let's get out of the Canberra bubble. Game over. It's time to respect the spirit of the UN Refugee Convention and grant those who fled here, the asylum they seek.
Cartoon thinking has consequences. A staff member at the overcrowded Melbourne Mantra hotel detention site has tested positive for COVID-19. Now all those in the Mantra hotel, as well as all the staff and their families, are fearful for their lives.
The government has repeatedly been warned that they risk creating an on-land version of the Ruby Princess.
At 3pm on July 19, 20 people will gather in Wheeler Place to commemorate the seven years of life lost by asylum seekers imprisoned in Manus and Nauru, and to demand the release of survivors. It will be a COVID safe event. People can also join via Zoom.
Niko Leka is the convenor of Hunter Asylum Seeker Advocacy
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