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Blog: Dear Prime Minister

On July 30 2016 I started writing letters to the Prime Minister of Australia to protest against the imprisonment and torture of the asylum seekers in the offshore detention centres of Manus Island and Nauru. I started with the intention of writing a letter a day for every person in detention until they are all freed. There are more than 1800 asylum seekers in off shore detention. These are those letters and any response from Mr Turnbull.

You can't buy silence

Dear Prime Minister,

Dr Peter Young, former director of mental health services in the Manus island detention centre (2011-2014) states that the Australian government has settled the Manus island detainees' class action so that the refuges' testimonies would not be heard in open court.

The government is so intent on keeping these things quiet. It’s denying the public the opportunity to know whats going on, and be held accountable. ... It’s certainly not a fair amount ... It doesn’t represent the degree of suffering they were put through. ... it’s a drop in the ocean
— Dr Peter Young: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/06/16/manus-settlement-not-fair-amount-says-detention-psychiatrist_a_22255682/

As the Huffington Post points out the $70 million settlement is nothing compared to the estimated $14 billion Australia has spent on detention on recent years. It is paltry even compared to the $257 million refurbishment of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection's office space.

End the coverups. End the suffering. Bring them here.

First Dog on the Moon: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/16/what-do-manus-island-detainees-and-tony-abbott-have-in-common

First Dog on the Moon: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/16/what-do-manus-island-detainees-and-tony-abbott-have-in-common