Families detained in Villawood yesterday received letters from the department saying they will be moved from Sydney to the Baxter facility in South Australia, a decision that will tear families apart, the Australian Democrats said today.
"These families are compliance cases, not asylum seekers. Some of the children are Australian citizens and will not even be able to visit their mum anymore. I am aware of at least 2 cases where the mother is detained and has children living outside in the community. What does that tell us about this government's family values and sense of caring towards a child's welfare?" said Leader of the Democrats and spokesperson on immigration Senator Andrew Bartlett.
On Monday the Minister for Immigration, Senator Amanda Vanstone announced only 1 'boat' child remained in mainland detention. This announcement angered welfare organisations, as the children kept in residential housing projects and other alternate detention places are not being counted.
"Clearly the Minister is trying to pretend that despite the housing projects having fences, guards and cameras, the residents are not being detained. Surely being kept under guard without freedom of movement is the very definition of detention?" said Democrats leader Senator Andrew Bartlett.
The announcement also angered families, who asked to be returned to the main detention facility. Yesterday the Minister for Immigration, Senator Vanstone accused refugee advocates of putting pressure on families to return to detention from the residential housing project. Senator Vanstone said she'd been advised of the conversations between advocates and families where this occurred.
"The important question here is where did the Minister get this information? Either this proves the department is monitoring people's conversations in breach of privacy laws, or the Minister has made up the information to detract from the message of this protest by asylum seeker families," said Senator Bartlett.
"It's also an insult to the families to say that they do not have the intelligence to assess the situation and make up their own mind. These families are angry that the Minister claims their kids are not in detention. The families decided to bring attention to their plight in the only way they know how. It appears to be the Minister who is putting pressure on the families, not advocates."
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