Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Home Affairs has repeatedly refused requests from medical professionals to transfer from Nauru to Australia the traumatised children urgently needing medical treatment. Instead, it's been left to the courts to show compassion and common sense. Indeed, just this year, the Federal Court has issued transfer orders for the following cases: a 10-year-old boy who attempted suicide three times and needed surgery; a young girl who attempted suicide three times; a 14-year-old girl who doused herself in petrol and set herself alight; a 17-year-old boy who suffers from psychosis and needed to be reunited with his mother; an adolescent girl suffering major depression and traumatic withdrawal syndrome; a critically unwell baby; a 12-year-old boy refusing fluid and food for nearly two weeks; a 17-year-old girl refusing all food and fluid and diagnosed with resignation syndrome; a 12-year-old girl who has attempted suicide several times, also setting herself on fire; and a 14-year-old boy suffering major depressive disorder and severe muscle wastage after not getting out of bed for four months. This is appalling. It simply beggars belief how the minister grants visas to au pairs on humanitarian grounds while ignoring the dreadful illnesses of these traumatised children on Nauru. The hypocrisy of these actions is shameful.

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