The UN has severely criticised the Australian Government for its treatment of asylum seekers. The Australian Human Rights Commission has done likewise. In typical fashion of the present Government all criticism has been peremptorily brushed off and the PM (bover boy #1) attacked the critics.
The conditions on Christmas island, where many asylum seekers are actually behind bars, are said to be appalling. Oh no... says the Government. Just read this exchange between the head of the Human Rights Commission and the public servant in charge of dealing with asylum seekers. Public service double-speak at its worst. Shameful!
"TRIGGS: … Is it acceptable to have children, held on Christmas Island, in shipping bunkers, containers, on stony ground, surrounded by phosphate dust, in that heat, with no education, at the moment, an acceptable environment into which to send children?
CORMACK: We operate within the policy of the government of the day. We put in place measures that recognise that there will be, consistent with government policy, a requirement to detain children, and the last time I looked, president, there was no shipping container…
GILLIAN TRIGGS: I've seen them.
CORMACK: They are containerised accommodation, they are not shipping containers.
TRIGGS: Thank you very much, is that not a shipping container?
CORMACK: No it's not.
TRIGGS: What is it then?
CORMACK: It's not. It's modular accommodation. It is. If you want to use these emotive terms…"
The conditions on Christmas island, where many asylum seekers are actually behind bars, are said to be appalling. Oh no... says the Government. Just read this exchange between the head of the Human Rights Commission and the public servant in charge of dealing with asylum seekers. Public service double-speak at its worst. Shameful!
"TRIGGS: … Is it acceptable to have children, held on Christmas Island, in shipping bunkers, containers, on stony ground, surrounded by phosphate dust, in that heat, with no education, at the moment, an acceptable environment into which to send children?
CORMACK: We operate within the policy of the government of the day. We put in place measures that recognise that there will be, consistent with government policy, a requirement to detain children, and the last time I looked, president, there was no shipping container…
GILLIAN TRIGGS: I've seen them.
CORMACK: They are containerised accommodation, they are not shipping containers.
TRIGGS: Thank you very much, is that not a shipping container?
CORMACK: No it's not.
TRIGGS: What is it then?
CORMACK: It's not. It's modular accommodation. It is. If you want to use these emotive terms…"
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