People in indefinite detention across the country held peaceful protests demanding their release. Chloe DS reports.
501s
Three people protested their inhumane treatment on the roof of the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation detention centre. Chloe DS reports.
“MITA is worse than jail. People are losing their minds,” Joey Tangaloa Taualii, a prisoner in Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation told a Refugee Action Collective forum. Chris Slee reports.
Detainees on 501s continue to be forcibly flown from Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre to Christmas Island detention centre. Chloe DS reports.
In August, Pamela Curr from Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), and Sister Brigid Arthur, from the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project, travelled to Christmas Island to visit the men seeking asylum, who are currently held in the detention centre, more than 2600 kilometres from the nearest capital city, Perth. On their return they presented this report.
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About 200 people rallied on June 26 demanding people charged under section 501 of the Migration Act 1958 be freed and allowed to stay in Australia.
More than 190 people, mostly New Zealanders, have been ripped away from their families and put in prison on Christmas Island, 380 kilometres south of Java and 2650 kilometres north-west of Perth, pending deportation. The numbers are set to increase.
As of December last year, anyone who is not an Australian citizen who has spent 12 months or more in jail can be deported at the discretion of the immigration department.
By September, 75 New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders were being detained on Christmas Island awaiting deportation.
In this nine-month period, 406 New Zealand citizens had their visas cancelled, 95 had been deported and up to 184 were being held in detention centres.
