I discovered today that my daughter wrote to the Prime Minister about it.
This is what she wrote.
To the Hon Tony Abbott MP,
On the 31st of March, 2015, I was listening to Radio
National on my way down to school with my dad. It was a Tuesday, and a normal
day. On the radio, a lawyer called Julian Burnside was talking, and he caught
my attention. He was talking about the effects of offshore detention on
children, my age and younger. Right now, 133 children are being held in
immigration detention facilities within Australia, and 107 are held in
detention on Nauru. He was telling a story of a young girl and her family. This
girl was 11 years old. To put this into perspective, she is 2 years younger
than me. She had come over from Iran to
seek asylum in Australia, and had then been sent to one of our detention
centres, with the rest of her family, for 18 months. She was horribly
mistreated here, abused by guards and under-nourished. They came to live in Australia,
because she was in such a bad way that she needed psychiatric help. Here, the
11 year old child hung herself with a bedsheet. They took her to hospital. At
hospital, no one was allowed to visit her because ‘visiting hours on Nauru were
from 9am-5pm’.
If an 11 year old child is trying to KILL herself, because of what us
Australians are doing, what does that mean? Because of Australians, because we
lock people away who just need safety and help, because of our law, children
are trying to kill themselves.
There is another girl right now, 5 years old, who is in Darwin. She
has been told that she has to go back to Nauru, back to the place where she was
treated how no child should be treated. Back to her nightmare. This child is
also suicidal. This 5 YEAR OLD CHILD is trying to kill herself. And why?
Because of what our law has done to her.
Julian Burnside went on to remind us that seeking asylum is not
illegal. Nor are these people criminals. You and your government claim that
by keeping the ‘criminals’ in offshore detention that you are protecting
Australia. Do you think that a 5 year old child, who wants to kill herself, is
likely to be more of a danger to Australia or to herself? Do you think that
sending her back to Nauru, to ‘protect Australia’, is worth her life?
I can’t get my head around the fact that while I live my life, while I
get driven to school by my dad, while I enjoy normal Tuesdays, children younger
than me are killing themselves. And there’s nothing I can do. But you can. You
have the power to save people’s lives. You can do more than I can.
It is your government that is doing this to human beings. It is your
law that makes children kill themselves. It is our narrowed and stubborn minds
that mean innocent people die. It is Australia that needs to save lives.
Get your act together Australia.
I look forward to hearing your response.
Yours sincerely,
Imogen Senior, (Age 13)
