One year on, Labor must end detention of asylum-seekers on Nauru

7 September 2024

In July last year, when the final refugees were removed from Nauru, there was some hope that it would signal the beginning of an end to the abhorrent practice of offshore detention.

A few months later, the Labor government started secretively transporting and locking people up again on Nauru.

It is now 12 months since the first new groups of asylum-seekers were sent to immigration detention on Nauru by Australia and we know as little about their health and welfare as the government cares about the lives of any refugees.

Refugee Action Collective condemns the Australian government for keeping offshore processing in place when it has had such a disastrous history of causing the worst forms of harm and cruelty.

There’s no resettlement plan, no legal transparency about the processing of the claims. It’s just an expensive political exercise in flexing muscles for its own sake.

People escape war and persecution so they can live free and in safety. It doesn’t matter if they arrive by air or sea, their treatment should not be discriminatory, secretive or fundamentally unjust.

RAC calls for the asylum-seekers on Nauru and in Papua New Guinea to be brought here and offered protection.

We also call for the government to abolish offshore detention and mandatory detention.