Nearly 32,000 have signed this petition in just one week. But in that time, we’ve had no indication that the government is taking this issue seriously despite multiple instances of COVID-19 occurring in immigration detention centres around the world.
Meanwhile, desperate detainees have written to the prime minister and asked him to keep them safe from a COVID-19 outbreak, by letting them return to their family homes and communities in Australia.
We know that the notorious Kangaroo Hotel in Brisbane has been booked out by the government and that detainees in a Brisbane centre have been moved. That hotel is now surrounded by temporary emergency fencing. This is not a solution. It’s another cruise ship-style situation waiting to explode.
Alison Battisson
Director Principal, Human Rights For All
Change.org/SaferAtHome #SaferAtHome
Dear Prime Minister,
We the detainees currently being held within Australian Immigration Detention Centres as a collective are writing this open letter raising our serious concerns about the ongoing COVID-19 (Corona Virus) pandemic that has now reached Australia.
It is only a matter of time before it will breach our closed environment.
Detainees are taking as many precautions as they possibly can under the circumstances however the lack of medical resources available for detainees to help prevent the spread of the virus is insufficient.
People in detention across Australia are anxious and scared of COVID-19. We are currently being incubated in a potential death trap in which we have no option or means to protect ourselves within these confines.
Metaphorically speaking, we are sitting ducks for COVID-19 and extremely exposed to becoming severely ill, with the possibility of death.
We have many vulnerable people among us with pre-existing medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart conditions. A large majority of us are within the age range of high risk to becoming infected with COVID-19.
We all have experienced mental health problems due to the uncertainty of our detention, along with our loving families and believe this pandemic is now causing extreme strain and anxiety on our children and families, many of whom are near breaking point.
Our loved ones need us to be with them, to be there in person to offer our support and comfort in these unprecedented times.
Globally political leaders including our own Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison are enforcing people to self-isolate. Both the New South Wales and Victoria states are going into lockdown.
All employees under the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship. Migrant Service and MulticulturalAffairs who currently work in detention such as Australian Border Force, Serco Staff, Kitchen Staff, Cleaning Staff, Maintenance Staff, tradesmen are able to come to work without having to wear protective clothing such as masks, special suits or gloves.
The staff are on a continuing rotation roster which we believe to be unacceptable as this causes an exceedingly high potential for COVD-19 to be transported within detention centres. The centres are drastically medically under-resourced. There are not enough doctors, nurses or resources to tend to us should an outbreak occur.
For the protection of the Australian community and the detainees, we advocate that the officers and other employees self-isolate with their families to discontinue being high-risk carriers whom could potentially cause mass deaths within the detention centres, also within their families
and the Australian community.
We strongly believe the current management of detainees health and safety poses multiple breaches to the Victorian Health & Safety Act 2004.
Tensions and anxiety are mounting at a rapid speed within the detention centres and we implore you to save the lives of many people by putting forward conditions that we can adhere to whereby we are reunited with our families and continuing to be monitored by the Immigration Department of Australia.
We look forward to your speedy response.