http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/christmas-island/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/locking-up-children-is-not-making-us-safer/ Imagine an Australian child is orphaned overseas. The local Government appoints him a legal guardian. The first thing the guardian does is take the boy to jail-like conditions in a remote location where he will stay indefinitely. Would our headlines call this barbaric? Would there be outcry: children shouldn’t be treated this way? Surely he needs a comforting environment, surely there’s a better place for the boy than a detention centre? Why does he need to be so far from people who speak his language, people who could give him some support? Doesn’t he need a carer, maybe a counselor more than a guard? It would no doubt be a scandal. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/locking-up-children-is-not-making-us-safer/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/locking-up-children-is-not-making-us-safer/#item8089 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-harrowing-look-inside-australias-detention-centres/ I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-harrowing-look-inside-australias-detention-centres/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-harrowing-look-inside-australias-detention-centres/#item7844 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/parties-were-politicking-while-people-were-still-trapped/ Before the body count was even finalised politicians used the latest asylum seeker tragedy to regurgitate their entrenched positions on border control. At least seven people – including children - are dead. More are missing and thought to be dead, trapped in their boat which capsized off the coast of Java. Seventy people, from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan were on board. Forty or 48 had been rescued, depending on your news source. Authorities believe the boat was heading for Australia. See news.com.au for the latest information. Last night while the numbers were still murky, political imperatives were crystal clear. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/parties-were-politicking-while-people-were-still-trapped/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/parties-were-politicking-while-people-were-still-trapped/#item7055 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-now-a-symbol-of-policy-failure/ “Everyone has been accounted for…..we think.” The chaotic events on Christmas Island last week were the clearest sign of dysfunction in Australia’s immigration detention system in close to a decade. Had it not been for the recent devastation in Japan, images of rioting, tear gas, fires and general pandemonium on Christmas Island would have led every bulletin and been on the front page of every paper in the land. That they were not has bought the Government some breathing room, unfortunately, their response thus far appears to be largely in keeping with the ham-fisted ineptitude that has characterised their time in office. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-now-a-symbol-of-policy-failure/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-now-a-symbol-of-policy-failure/#item5480 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gillards-hands-are-tied-as-rioters-voice-their-protest/ There is a central immigration question which never gets answered: Should Australians be asked to live next to people who have sewn their lips together with wire as a protest? Or put another way: Should they have to share a community with people who, a few months previously, had fought police and destroyed public facilities? Whether they should or not is still unanswered. But the fact is, they do. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gillards-hands-are-tied-as-rioters-voice-their-protest/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/gillards-hands-are-tied-as-rioters-voice-their-protest/#item5433 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-proof-the-whole-system-is-broken/ Australia’s immigration detention system is at breaking point. Events on Christmas Island over recent weeks are a clear expression of the frustration and despair felt by asylum seekers, some of whom have spent over two years behind bars in remote, overcrowded centres, waiting for their claims to be processed. The escalation of turmoil follows months of increasing unrest in detention centres around the country. Incidents of self-harm, including hunger strikes and attempted suicide, have been steadily rising. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-proof-the-whole-system-is-broken/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-proof-the-whole-system-is-broken/#item5421 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-slowly-drifiting-out-of-control/ While the enormity of the Japanese earthquake disaster has pushed the importance of other news to one side, there has in the last week been growing troubles at our immigration detention centres which at another time would be front page news. Last night there was another riot at the Christmas Island detention centre, involving 250 asylum seekers who armed themselves with improvised weapons, threw rocks at police and set tents and sheds alight, forcing another 280 detainees to be moved for their own safety. The Australian Federal Police have taken over security for Christmas Island which now, while already being packed, has now been further damaged according to the Department of Immigration. The death of a 20-year-old Afghan detainee at the Scherger centre in Queensland overnight has also been reported. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-slowly-drifiting-out-of-control/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/christmas-island-slowly-drifiting-out-of-control/#item5413 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/compassion-is-a-quickly-expendable-commodity/ In the giddy afterglow of Kevin07, as the nation’s lefties rejoiced at exorcising the devil that was John Howard, it was assumed that the nation would become a more compassionate place. These same people obviously haven’t been paying attention. There are now more children in detention than there were under Howard. Right now there’s 1045 of them. Just 28 of them are in community detention; that is, not behind bars but being cared for in private homes, in keeping with the softer policy that Howard introduced in 2005. One of these children, Seena Aqhlaqi Sheikhdost, was trundled back to Christmas Island this week, a few hours after he had buried his parents. Whether you agree or disagree with mandatory detention, you’d be hard-pressed to argue that locking up a nine-year-old on the day he’s attended his parents’ funeral meets the dictionary definition of compassion. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/compassion-is-a-quickly-expendable-commodity/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/compassion-is-a-quickly-expendable-commodity/#item5183 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/desperation-is-driving-the-asylum-seeker-debate/ The wretchedness of grief on display at the burial of two asylum seekers who perished at Christmas island, and the swift point scoring by Opposition spokesman on immigration Scott Morrison rebuking the government for flying grieving relatives to the event, illustrate the extent to which Australia’s refugee policy is driven by desperation.  On the one hand, there’s the desperation of people fleeing for a better life, with all the tragedy that it entails. Then there’s the frantic effort of local people to save lives as the calamity unfolded on the shores of Christmas Island last year. Few could have been unmoved by the accounts of Christmas Islanders who helplessly watched the disaster evolve and who spoke emotionally of its lasting impact. Desperation also drives the politics of refugee policy, something made patently obvious again this week.  After pausing for a nano-second during the Christmas Island calamity, the toxic political narrative seems set to lunge along its usual course. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/desperation-is-driving-the-asylum-seeker-debate/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/desperation-is-driving-the-asylum-seeker-debate/#item5167 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word/ Apologising is tough work. Most of us are hard wired to defend our actions, even when deep down inside we know we were wrong. There are certainly historical precedents that show politicians are reluctant - to the point of childish stubbornness - when it comes to saying sorry. So here’s to Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, who this morning apologised for his “insensitive” comments questioning whether we should foot the bill for families to attend the funerals of those who died in the Christmas Island boat tragedy. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word/#item5144 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 I’ve just returned from two weeks visiting some of Australia’s most remote detention facilities. In eight different centres across Christmas Island, Curtin, Perth and Darwin I met with hundreds of asylum seekers caught up in Australia’s policy of indefinite detention. If people in Australia were able to replicate my harrowing trip and come to any conclusion other than detention is a cruel, expensive and unnecessary farce of a policy, I would be shocked. Unfortunately, one of the problems with these centres being so remote is that most Australians will never get this opportunity. So let me tell you what I saw.