Kids scooter around behind the high walls of Christmas Island's Phosphate Hill detention center yesterday. One paced with hands and wrists slouched in pockets with his fantastic baseball cap drawn lower, another bounced ping-pong balls routinely on a bat, one more threw a tennis ball in the air.
Just who these folks were, and how old, has developed into governmental football.
With 18 travellers saying being less than 18 years old on the first boat to arrive since the Malaysia policy came into effect, the government continues to be assaulted by the opposition and UNICEF for declaring there would be ''no blanket exemptions'' for those under 18.
That number fell by one a short while ago. ''One person has self-acknowledged being an grown-up,'' explained an immigration spokeswoman. The Immigration Department would definitely carry out ''essential age determination investigations'' on the other youngsters, she reported.
Most of the team have been demonstrated to be 16 or 17 years of age, government sources claimed. The littlest child is accompanied by a parent.
But 13 in the group state they are unaccompanied children, maximizing the prospect of the government sending unaccompanied young adults back to Malaysia, where they will be required to support themselves as they quite simply hang around ages for processing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, talked about: ''Some of these are of course infants, others are folks who claim they're 17 and there'd be further more examination executed on that.'' He explained there'd ''no blanket exemptions'' mainly because ''as sure as night follows day, that if you have blanket exemptions people smugglers would exploit that loophole and put children on boats and we'd be dealing with the dangerous situation of boatloads of children.''
However shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, said: ''If a parent or guardian partcipates in an action of bastardry towards the child, we simply cannot make it worse for the child by dropping them in a 3rd country without having any error. I am sorry, one evil shouldn't be compounded by another evil by a government".
''I know where exactly the government is coming from, I realize the concern about having more children arrive unaccompanied but, ultimately, we have got to place the youngsters initially here. I simply dislike the thought we are mailing these to Malaysia.''
Mr Bowen said checks were being made for sensitive and vulnerable asylum searchers before any moves occur.
A popular immigration lawyer in Sydney, Mr. Christopher Levingston is upset with this move by the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. "Even if there are wrong doings in the part of some asylum seekers, the state mechanism cannot and must not participate in an act of cowardice. This is wrong, just wrong", Christopher Levingston says, "This is a open air violation of Child Convention, UCCPR and all signed and ratified international laws and Australian domestic laws".
Thirty-five single male adults on the boat are being held at the high-security North West Point detention hub. Even though they had been read a statement on Thursday letting them know they would not be processed in Australia and would be delivered to Malaysia, sources inside the centre said numerous men were shocked to watch early morning television and listen to about the Malaysia transfer. The men asked security guards what would happen to them.
These single males are likely to be one of the first small group moved to Malaysia.
There are 693 asylum seekers in detention on Christmas Island, including the newest boatload. Nearly all are being held at North West Point, with family groups and children at Phosphate Hill.
Spirits among employees is low. ''The decline of the emotional health of workers is significant,'' said the Union of Christmas Island Workers chief, Kay Bernard.
Nevertheless, she accepted the appointment of a new administrator in the detention facility.
Just who these folks were, and how old, has developed into governmental football.
With 18 travellers saying being less than 18 years old on the first boat to arrive since the Malaysia policy came into effect, the government continues to be assaulted by the opposition and UNICEF for declaring there would be ''no blanket exemptions'' for those under 18.
That number fell by one a short while ago. ''One person has self-acknowledged being an grown-up,'' explained an immigration spokeswoman. The Immigration Department would definitely carry out ''essential age determination investigations'' on the other youngsters, she reported.
Most of the team have been demonstrated to be 16 or 17 years of age, government sources claimed. The littlest child is accompanied by a parent.
But 13 in the group state they are unaccompanied children, maximizing the prospect of the government sending unaccompanied young adults back to Malaysia, where they will be required to support themselves as they quite simply hang around ages for processing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, talked about: ''Some of these are of course infants, others are folks who claim they're 17 and there'd be further more examination executed on that.'' He explained there'd ''no blanket exemptions'' mainly because ''as sure as night follows day, that if you have blanket exemptions people smugglers would exploit that loophole and put children on boats and we'd be dealing with the dangerous situation of boatloads of children.''
However shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, said: ''If a parent or guardian partcipates in an action of bastardry towards the child, we simply cannot make it worse for the child by dropping them in a 3rd country without having any error. I am sorry, one evil shouldn't be compounded by another evil by a government".
''I know where exactly the government is coming from, I realize the concern about having more children arrive unaccompanied but, ultimately, we have got to place the youngsters initially here. I simply dislike the thought we are mailing these to Malaysia.''
Mr Bowen said checks were being made for sensitive and vulnerable asylum searchers before any moves occur.
A popular immigration lawyer in Sydney, Mr. Christopher Levingston is upset with this move by the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. "Even if there are wrong doings in the part of some asylum seekers, the state mechanism cannot and must not participate in an act of cowardice. This is wrong, just wrong", Christopher Levingston says, "This is a open air violation of Child Convention, UCCPR and all signed and ratified international laws and Australian domestic laws".
Thirty-five single male adults on the boat are being held at the high-security North West Point detention hub. Even though they had been read a statement on Thursday letting them know they would not be processed in Australia and would be delivered to Malaysia, sources inside the centre said numerous men were shocked to watch early morning television and listen to about the Malaysia transfer. The men asked security guards what would happen to them.
These single males are likely to be one of the first small group moved to Malaysia.
There are 693 asylum seekers in detention on Christmas Island, including the newest boatload. Nearly all are being held at North West Point, with family groups and children at Phosphate Hill.
Spirits among employees is low. ''The decline of the emotional health of workers is significant,'' said the Union of Christmas Island Workers chief, Kay Bernard.
Nevertheless, she accepted the appointment of a new administrator in the detention facility.
0 comments:
Post a Comment