Refugees and asylum seekers
Oct. 6th, 2008 12:43 pmRudd's first boat people are being detained on Christmas Island, albeit not in the $30m-a-year 800-person detention facility. Well, there are only 14 of them. Who they are, where they're from, and whether they're seeking asylum, the guvmint isn't saying. They're not processing asylum claims much faster than the previous regime, either.
Remember Shayan Badraie, the six year old Iranian refugee whose mental and physical health fell apart in mandatory detention? You may have seen him on Four Corners back in 2001, thanks to a smuggled video camera. Shayan and his family survived and are getting on with their lives. A new book describes their ordeal, and the Immigration Department's utter indifference to the destruction of a child.
Even the guards were traumatised at immigration detention centres.
To end on a more positive note: check out the Miss Africa Australia Pageant.
Remember Shayan Badraie, the six year old Iranian refugee whose mental and physical health fell apart in mandatory detention? You may have seen him on Four Corners back in 2001, thanks to a smuggled video camera. Shayan and his family survived and are getting on with their lives. A new book describes their ordeal, and the Immigration Department's utter indifference to the destruction of a child.
Even the guards were traumatised at immigration detention centres.
To end on a more positive note: check out the Miss Africa Australia Pageant.