October 19, 2015
No compassion from Australians
Labour MP Kelvin Davis says the Prime Minister is failing New Zealanders locked up in Australian detention centres.
He says John Key allowed Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull to walk all over him during their weekend summit, rather than pushing for a humane solution to the way Australia is deporting former prisoners.
Mr Davis is on remote Christmas Island hoping to get in to talk to New Zealanders who are being detained indefinitely in what he describes as inhumane physical and psychological conditions.
One of the detainees texted him last night that an Iranian detainee in a nearby cell had slashed his wrists and neck.
"These guys are just languishing here full of despair. There is no compassion from the Australians. There is a lack of humanity. This is bigger than me running round trying to get attention. As Maori we need to come together, people from across all political parties, because today it's an Iranian over stayer, tomorrow it's one of the cousins, and we've got to prevent that at all costs," Mr Davis says.
He says detainees are separated from their families and from legal advice, but it makes much more sense to leave them in the community until the process of appealing the cancellation of their visas is complete.
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