Posted by John, October 18th, 2010 - under Refugees.

Tags: Asylum seekers, Detention centres

I am just a simple man. Maybe that is why I don’t understand the reasons Labor is building 2 new detention centres and renovating some others.

Why does the Australian Government lock up asylum seekers? They have committed no crimes. They are no threat to anyone.

Why don’t the heartless people who run Australia release all asylum seekers into the community? It is not such a crazy idea. It’s what we did before 1992. It worked well then and it would work well now.

In 1992 the then Keating Labor Government introduced mandatory detention to supposedly deter refugees. That isn’t going to happen.

Asylum seekers are fleeing repression, war, rape, torture and misery. The idea that a detention centre is going to make them stay in their country is laughable.

Labor Prime Minister has also announced that kids and families in detention centres will be released. So they are going to release some of the asylum seekers, but not all of them. Why not let them all out?

And get this. The new ‘no kids behind razor wire policy’ won’t be implemented until June next year. Why the wait? We as a community could be looking after them now.

Can we really trust Labor to deliver on this? It’s bad for kids now, so release them now.

My guess is this announcement about releasing kids has more to do with addressing overcrowding now and into the future than with any sudden conversion by Labor to humanitarianism.

The ALP knows the boats are going to keep coming. It’s a shit world out there and the Australia of Gillard and Abbott is one of the chief defecators.

To free up space in our current concentration camps for new arrivals Gillard and her Labor gang are going to release seven hundred kids and family into close community care. They will in effect be in detention, but in the community.

It wont be enough as the influx of people fleeing war and repression escalates. So the Prime Minister will build 2 new camps to house the extra asylum seekers.

We could help refugees immensely by not invading their countries in the first place.

We could help them to by having a large resettlement program for those in camps near the borders of the countries we have invaded or other hot spots where human beings are fleeing repression, torture, rape or murder.

For those who make the long dangerous journey to Australia by boat we should welcome them and let them move freely about in our community with all the support and assistance they need.

Don’t lock asylum seekers up. Let them live among us, freely.