Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Abbott government likes the mantra they have stopped the boats. They may have stopped the boats but they have not stopped asylum seekers. They have not dealt with the issue of refugees. People in my community are sick and tired and really are over the treatment and the language around people, desperate people, seeking a better life. One such group is the Outer Eastern Asylum Seekers Support Network. They recently sent me an email that indicated a day in the life of members of their group.

'Yesterday was a very dark day but even darker for Akbar, who pleaded with me to accompany him to his immigration appointment. As I went with Akbar at his request I had to be identified as someone with a purpose title so I signed in as his pastoral carer, which earned me the title of Pastor. His case worker was Jill filling for Jane his usual case worker. We had the first session, locked in a room with a security guard outside, with a young lady, Rosa-marie, who was gentle, but frank. She explained after hearing our story and attempts at legal action et cetera that she had to hand over to a senior staffer, Nicole.

Nicole came in, arranged for a translator, and then asked us to wait outside as she wanted to talk to Akbar alone. Ten minutes later she came and said Akbar was detained and would be transferred to detention and we could go home. Or we could ring him now—on the other side of the wall—but we could not see him. 'You must leave.'

I rang Akbar and he was very distressed and said, "John, I cannot take anymore. I want to die. I have swallowed all of my sleeping tablets that the doctor gave me. John, I do not want to live." I pleaded with him in vain but alerted the staff. Jill, the fill in-case worker, called out to those at the front counter, "You have locked him in so he will kill himself—why?"

Sitting in this area watching were about 12 to 15 people of many nationalities, some with children, waiting their fate of their application re their visas. When we were asked to leave, I said, "Not until I know Akbar is alright."

We met with the manager later and protested the method, process and aggression. After we went downstairs, we were summoned back to talk again to the manager, who told us they had called the medical team and Akbar was sent to RMH. He said I had permission to visit him. We made a very heavy point of how unprofessional were their methods and pointed out it must not only effect asylum seekers but would cause enormous stress and damage on staff.

I visited Akbar about an hour or two later at Royal Melbourne Hospital emergency, where he was all tubed up and really out of it. The two immigration staff let me sit with him for quite some time and said they were waiting for the security guards to take over.

Akbar's housemates had called me re the outcome. I did not have much option but tell them. They came into the city immediately to visit Akbar at the Royal Melbourne Hospital but were refused by the new security guards that immigration must have ready for these situations . They waited at the hospital, hoping to see him. I went back into the city, knowing they may be stranded. We met at the Royal Melbourne Hospital at 6 pm, but the security guards would not let us see him.

I gave the guys a lift home, but both are very, very distressed. I've learnt from this experience what collective evil means in this context. Here is a fine man—mature, intelligent, qualified, sensitive and a Christian who through birth circumstances has an unacceptable ethnicity; therefore, he has to suffer. He was adopted at age six by a Muslim family with a kind father. Soon after his father died, his step-brothers made life hell for him. He is married with a wife and 3 children. He has had many setbacks in his life, but he has also been incredibly successful. Because of his difficult teenage years, he has studied and become independent of his family. Since he has come to Australia he has been baptized and attends the Persian church which meets at New Hope Baptist in Blackburn.

What does Australia do to him but treat him like a criminal, an outcast, a leper? What I saw yesterday was just plain disgraceful.

One positive thing I've learnt is that the asylum seeker community network is amazingly vibrant and connected.'

And so writes one of my constituents about an experience with a human being—not some entity that has arrived here on a boat to be condemned but a human being. At the same time, another constituent wrote about the forced deportation of a mother and her baby back to Nauru. At the same time, another of my constituents has written to me about the plight of an asylum seeker family who have been granted status on Nauru and their ability to get their child's arm fixed—to have medical treatment on Nauru for their son's arm. The Australian government is refusing to allow him to come to Australia for treatment.

And on and on it goes in our name. At what stage do we say as a community, as a society, as an Australian people: 'Enough is enough. Not in my name'? Surely there has to be a better way of dealing with the situation that is only growing in magnitude. We can keep talking about stopping boats, but we have not stopped refugees.