[Greens-Media] Manus disturbance shows offshore failure

[Schultz-Byard, Noah (Sen S. Hanson-Young)]

MEDIA RELEASE

Monday, 17 February 2014

Manus disturbance shows offshore failure

Regular reports of unrest and disturbance on Manus Island and Nauru show that offshore processing is an expensive and serious policy failure from the Abbott Government, the Australian Greens have said.

"The Manus Island detention centre has always been inhumane but it's clear that, under the Abbott Government, the situation there is at boiling point," the Greens immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"The Immigration Minister must be up front with the Australian people and explain how his government's failures led to this disturbance.

"Manus Island and Nauru are putting individual people in serious danger, just like Tony Abbott's illegal tow-backs.

"Rather than spending billions of dollars locking up thousands of people in island detention centres, the Australian Government should be leading a genuine regional solution as it did in the wake of the Vietnam War.

"The reported disturbance is very concerning and I will be travelling to Manus Island in the coming months to inspect the detention centre and to meet with refugees myself.

"How did the country of the fair go become the country that locks refugees up on remote Pacific islands because they asked for protection?"


Media Contact: Noah Schultz-Byard 0427 604 760


NOAH SCHULTZ-BYARD  STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER

OFFICE OF SENATOR SARAH HANSON-YOUNG
AUSTRALIAN GREENS SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
[fb-icon]<https://www.facebook.com/Senator.Sarah.Hanson.Young>[twt-icon]<https://twitter.com/sarahinthesen8> [ag-icon] <http://sarah-hanson-young.greensmps.org.au/>
Level 7 / 147 Pirie St, Adelaide, SA 5000
TEL  +61 8 8227 0425   |   MOB  +61 427 604 760   |   FAX  +61 8 8227 0426

[email_sig]