A protest in Sydney by Australians angered by their country's treatment of refugeess.

Australia is becoming the dodgy racist neighbour next door.

The older white guy who's quite charming in a rough and rugged sort of way. Always good for a laugh, throws great parties and knows how to have a good time.

They swear a lot, but even that sounds charming. Occasionally you'll see a nasty side in their relationships but these moments are generally forgiven because that's their business, everybody has had these sorts of troubles and most of the time they've been a good and close neighbour. Especially, in times of need.

CHRIS SKELTON/STUFF We owe it to Australia to point out that its treatment of refugees is unacceptable, says Oscar Kightley.

Furthermore, we have our own issues at home without worrying ourselves about what's happening next door. Right?

Well… surely it's time for a quiet word. Before our dear neighbours take their place among the favourites to take the title of worst human rights abusers in the 21st century so far.

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This week the fallout continued from UK newspaper The Guardian's recent expose of thousands of leaked incident reports from the Nauru detention centre, one of two places offshore that Australia built to hold refugees and asylum seekers.

The leaked documents – nicknamed the Nauru Files - reveal assaults, sexual abuse, self-harming attempts and living conditions that paint a picture of "routine dysfunction and cruelty." The Guardian found that more than half of the cases involve children.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's initial reaction to the leaked reports were to play down their significance. He then attacked reporting about the files, accusing Australia's Save The Children of leaking them. Save the Children politely denied this and said the government was "shooting the messenger."

A day after the leaks were published, Australia and Papua New Guinea jointly confirmed that Aussie's other 'OPC' (Offshore Processing Centre), on Manus Island, would close.

It's been surrounded by controversy since it was opened, closed, then re-opened in 2012. Recently, a Papua New Guinea court had to tell the Australian government that holding people against their will is – you know – illegal.

However, there's no plan for the 854 men who've been kept prisoner in the centre.

Papua New Guina don't want them. The refugees are in their territory only because Australia brought them there, in a prison that they'd had built.

The countries of origin don't want them and refuse to take them back. Besides, 98 per cent of the men whose cases have been processed by Dutton's own department were found to be refugees with a "well-founded fear of prosecution" and are owed legal protection.

The Aussie government has tried for three years to build third-country deals so that the refugees can be repatriated. Apart from one man from the Nauru centre, who was resettled in Cambodia, those efforts have come to nada.

Still Dutton stubbornly reaffirmed his government's stance that there's no way any of them would be setting foot in Australia.

New Zealand's own record on refugees isn't that great. The quota we take under our international obligations has stayed the same low number for 30 years.

But we didn't illegally hold hundreds of them for years in an environment where they're subject to mind-breaking abusive conditions. So you know, there is some moral high ground that we hold here in terms of having a quiet word.

Good mates have to tell each other when they're being dicks. It's part of what comes with being a good mate.

In lieu of our Government developing a conscience, all the Australians I know are thoroughly decent and kind people.

How long will Dutton be allowed to be so stubborn, before enough of them make him realise that's not acceptable?

That to treat people like this is not only un-Australian, but inhuman.