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Today marks seven years to the day since Labor reintroduced offshore detention in 2013. In that seven years we have written a dark and shameful chapter in our country’s story.
There have been harms and degradations beyond count. People brutally killed, children irreparably damaged, and countless lives destroyed. But the most heinous crime has been the destruction of hope.
Indefinite detention means no hope for a family, or an education, or a job. It means an end to dreaming about anything good in the future.
And still some languish in exile without hope, while others have been coerced back into danger and persecution. Those brought to Australia for medical treatment remain imprisoned indefinitely at Ministerial whim.
They should be here, in our community, where they can be free and safe. But if the bipartisan lockstep of cruelty can’t accept that, surely now it’s time to accept New Zealand’s kind offer to help.
By that one simple act we can help the very people we have harmed so grievously for seven long years. We can help them regain the hope that we took away. We have to do it, and we have to do it now. Because seven years in offshore detention is seven years too long.
