2 Feb 2016

No children should be sent back to Nauru - Aus Greens

1:48 pm on 2 February 2016

The Australian Greens want a guarantee no children will be sent back to Nauru, regardless of the outcome of tomorrow's High Court challenge against offshore detention.

Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young

Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young Photo: AAP

The future of Australia's offshore detention centres and the fate of 260 people from Manus in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, who are presently in Australia, will be affected by the court decision.

The case, brought by the Human Rights Law Centre, challenged the legality of Australia's policy to detain asylum-seekers abroad.

Greens' immigration spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said the fate of the 90 children and their families sat with the prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, and they should be allowed to stay in Australia.

Ms Hanson-Young said people seeking asylum come to Australia because it was strong enough to protect them and integrate them into its community.

She said Australia should get on with establishing a fair and efficient system to do just that and stop terrorising them with the prospect of their being sent back to the disaster on Nauru.

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