The Home Affairs Department has rejected calls to release any asylum seekers or refugees being held in immigration detention in Australia over COVID-19 concerns.
“Health controls and physical distancing cannot be maintained. It is just impossible. Further, not only are the people in immigration detention in danger, but so are the people who work there, and their family and friends.”But a spokesperson for the Home Affairs Department said no detainees had tested positive to coronavirus.
Though no cases have been recorded among immigration detainees in Australia so far, a contractor employed by Serco, the company that oversees safety and security in all onshore detention centres and alternate places of detention in Australia, was found to have been infected by the virus earlier this month.
Moz Azimitabar, a Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker who was brought to Australia from Papua New Guinea for treatment of chronic asthma believes it's only a matter of time before he and others are infected. "It’s really scary. Some of the guys here, including myself have asthma and breathing difficulties. We don’t want to get this virus.”In an audio recording provided to SBS News, a female Serco officer at the Mantra Bell City Preston could be heard trying to calm several fearful detainees.
All visits to detainees by family members and friends have been stopped, as well as all non-essential and non-critical outpatient appointments at clinics and hospitals.
Excellent news, these frauds aren’t even practicing social distancing in their hall protest, they’d be a liability anywhere they went Best deport
Poor Serco?
Duttollini is a psychopath, he’ll have more blood on his hands. CrimesAgainstHumanity
GailCoastie No, we’ll wait till they all have virus, then bring them right into the middle of Sydney
Why to release them just to put them in lockdown?
There seems to be 2 very different schools of thought about this. One group seem to have read the article and have made up their own opinion about it. The other read the headline and took it as another opportunity to have a whinge
Why think he would act any differently.
Sad.
They are safer locked away.
Release them to where
What’s our crime? Illegally entering a country
Dutton practices the Aushwitz doctrine. The only way you will leave my detention camps is...... 💀🇦🇺👎
Releasing them into a population that's about to explode with cases is a bad move. If the UK jumped off a cliff, would the SBS have advocates saying that we should do it too?
I agree, they will be safer where they are. Over 3,000 with the virus.
There’s a time for everything and now is not the time to release more people into the community. Ironically, they are much safer where they are. Probably safer than most of us!
Of course we wouldn’t. But why am I not surprised PeterDutton_MP has a policy answer for this but not for cruise ships or the lack of social distancing airports. Mr Prime Minister ScottMorrisonMP when will The Minister take responsibility for failings in his department
The thing you've got to understand about Australia is we're sick of hearing people whinge about all their problems.
So often I am appalled at Australia's treatment of asylum seekers and refugees and here we are again
As if Dutton would do that 🤣. He would be loving his knew military lock down of citizens alongside his police with machine guns at our airports.
deniseshrivell Dutton enjoys killing detainees
Heartbreakingly hard nosed to the end.😠The libs don't care about people who've really been through hardship.They can't even imagine what it would be like.COVIDー19 coronavirusaustralia coronavirusaus Coronavirusus coronavirusUSA coronavirus coronavirusnz
Agree, they can stay where they are👍
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