Refugee Update
First, hopeful news: Scott Morrison raises prospect of asylum seeker transfer to New Zealand (GA, 16 October 2018). "But the PM says Labor must accept legislation banning any resettled people from ever entering Australia."
Labor moves to make medical transfers from Nauru easier (GA, 16 October 2018). "Proposals would give more weight to medical opinion and make the minister, not department officials, responsible."
Now disastrous news: Nauru orders Médecins Sans Frontières to stop mental health work on island (GA, 6 October 2018). "The medical NGO has been providing psychological and psychiatric services to residents, asylum seekers and refugees on the island since late 2017... MSF staff were also training and supporting local authorities in an effort to increase Nauru’s capacity to provide psychological and psychiatric treatment." MSF, who were forced to abandon both Nauruan and refugee patients with severe illnesses, called for the evacuation of all asylum seekers and refugees. Nauru's government responded that MSF had been "conspiring" against it.
Labor moves to make medical transfers from Nauru easier (GA, 16 October 2018). "Proposals would give more weight to medical opinion and make the minister, not department officials, responsible."
Now disastrous news: Nauru orders Médecins Sans Frontières to stop mental health work on island (GA, 6 October 2018). "The medical NGO has been providing psychological and psychiatric services to residents, asylum seekers and refugees on the island since late 2017... MSF staff were also training and supporting local authorities in an effort to increase Nauru’s capacity to provide psychological and psychiatric treatment." MSF, who were forced to abandon both Nauruan and refugee patients with severe illnesses, called for the evacuation of all asylum seekers and refugees. Nauru's government responded that MSF had been "conspiring" against it.