Transcript
Daniel Webb: It is pretty light on detail. There's no information about how many people it will apply to, no information about time frames, no information about whether anyone is gong to be left behind and if so, what the government plans to do with those innocent people. But look, the good thing is that finally after three years of pain and harm and limbo, finally the government has acknowledged that its detention centres on Nauru and Manus are unsustainable. They are dead ends and it's got to start looking at humane ways forward.
Ben Robinson Drawbridge: Those refugees from Nauru and Manus currently receiving medical care in Australia, or indeed, living in community detention in Australia, you think they could be deported?
DW: Well actually the government, when they announced this deal, specifically said that 370 people in Australia would be sent back to Nauru. We're not talking about people receiving medical treatment in that they're in a hospital and about to be discharged, we're talking about families in our communities rebuilding their lives. We're talking about kids that for the last year have been going to schools in our communities. Kids who've learned english, who've made friends, who are rebuilding their lives in our communities. Now, uprooting these families and sending them to Nauru would be fundamentally wrong and some sought of vague prospect of one day being sent to the United States doesn't make it right.
BRD: Is there also a danger that this deal could block the reunification of families split between Australia and Nauru?
DW: Absolutely, I was on Manus recently and I met one man whose wife and children are rebuilding their lives in Sydney. They fled Burma together but they arrived on separate boats. While his wife and children sit around a dinner table tonight, he will be in a queue with 850 other men inside the Manus facility. Lately, we've heard a lot of talk from our government about lifetime bans and about third country resettlement options, but nothing the government has said gives this father any hope that one day soon he'll be reunited with his children.
BRD: What happens do you think to the people the United States chooses not to resettle?
DW: Well this is the question. I think we've got to be clear, this has been a pretty dark chapter in our history. It only ends and the government only gets to pat itself on the back when each and every person who is currently suffering at their hands on Nauru and Manus are rebuilding their lives in safety. It's not enough to find a humane solution for one person or 100 people, every single person languishing on these islands for the last three years, deserves the chance to get on with their lives.
