The Appalling Asylum Seeker Conditions

[azureline**]

This is disgraceful and I can only hope the people who are in charge fix this asap.

An asylum seeker who was moved off Nauru to give birth is being locked up for 18 hours a day in a detention centre in Brisbane while her week-old baby remains in hospital with respiratory problems.

The case of Latifa, a 31-year-old woman of the persecuted Rohingya people of Myanmar, has shocked churches and refugee advocates.

She was separated from her baby on Sunday, four days after a caesarean delivery, and has since been allowed to visit him only between 10am and 4pm in Brisbane's Mater Hospital. The boy, named Farus, has respiratory problems and needs round-the-clock medical care.

Latifa is confined to the Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation, 20 minutes away, where her husband and two children, four and seven, are being held.

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Latifa's husband, Niza, is not allowed to visit the child at all, according to people in daily contact with the family.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/asylum-seeker-mother-kept-from-newborn-baby-in...

[cherry*135]

A driver employed to pick up a woman from the hospital at say midnight,, would have to be paid a minimum of 2-3 hours (depending on the award) and penal time... the 20 min trip wouldn't take very long.  Drivers wouldn't just get paid the 20-30mins the trip took each time.

A local woman with a baby in hospital would be able to drive herself there and back at any hour most likely, or get a family member to do pick up and drop or or she would pay for a bus or taxi herself.

[punch*drunk]

If there was no request made by the mother for extra time, then its unlikely that extra staff would have been made available "just in case"

There is no doubt in my mind that if a request for extra visiting was made and denied that it would have been included in the story.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@am*3 wrote:

My guess with the timings for the transport is that, they allowed a driver to take the Mum there and back in day shift (9am -5pm). Any hours before 9am and after 5pm would involve penal time, more cost for the Dept.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people in the world suffering from persecution, religious differences, wars, famines, etc, which cause them to want to/to flee their country. This has been going on for decades, even longer. Singling out one of those groups for 'special benefits' wouldn't be fair.

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it isn't just one staff member that is required. Legislative minimums are 2 staff per person (ratio changes as mode of transport changes). Plus the availability of the transport vehicle/s, supervision of a high flight and safety risk for the duration of that 8 hours. The staff on hand at the detention centre to facilitate "coming and going" - they don't just swipe their card, sign a form saying they're not carrying prohibited items, and say see ya when I feel like coming back.....

also remember that this woman was in a centre whose security levels were lower than her status.

I read somewhere there were another 50 woman in detention awaiting childbirth, to go through Darwin. If this woman were to be given 24/7 indefinite access, what precedent does this set for those 50 women? Where are the money and the staff to come from for them? What about all the prisoners?

Somewhere there has to be limits, other wise we won't be able to provide care and help for the amount of people that we do. Wdo not have an inexhaustible money or resource supply.

I'm more concerned about their acommodation an Nauru than having restricted access for a few days.

I've only spoken to someone in the prison service and someone in charge of a suburban detention centre, so can only go off what they say is involved, but then I spose they wouldn't know anything, right? I spose that nurses and polka would know more than they, right? Cos they deal with this stuff every day as part of their jobs and lives, right?

[cherry*135]

The accommodation in Nauru (& Manus Is probably isn't much better), and being sent to Nauru or Manus Island only, is supposed to be the main deterrent for getting on a boat to Australia. If you know that is definitely where you are going to end up when you set off in a boat to Aust., then you can hardly complain about it.

Those reasons are expected to stop people attempting to come to Australia by boat, knowing they will never settle here.. it may work too.

[punch*drunk]

So I was reading that 80% of the Nauru accomodation (enough for 600 poeple I think) was damaged in the riots in July. They were rebuilding and the asylum seekers needed to be housed in tents whilst the rebuilding was happening. Does anyone know if the rebuilding has stopped now, or are they continuing. Did they have a chance to move into any new accomodation before they were sent back out into tents?

The accomodation that was damaged was new this year.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@am*3 wrote:

A driver employed to pick up a woman from the hospital at say midnight,, would have to be paid a minimum of 2-3 hours (depending on the award) and penal time... the 20 min trip wouldn't take very long.  Drivers wouldn't just get paid the 20-30mins the trip took each time.

A local woman with a baby in hospital would be able to drive herself there and back at any hour most likely, or get a family member to do pick up and drop or or she would pay for a bus or taxi herself.

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you are right, but I don't know enough about penalty rates to pass comment too much. The person I know in charge of the centre in Brisbane (a group home sort of thing) is on salary, but the NSW prison officer is certainly on pretty serious penalty rates. He was sick for a few weeks a few months back and said his sick pay was nearly 1/4 of what he normally earned.

but it's not just the actual driving either, it's the supervision whilst she's outside the facility. they don't just drop em off at the front door and say "we'll be back at 6 to pick you up, make sure you behave!"

(this will scare yas) the prison officer said that sometimes prisoners don't have security whilst theu're in hospital (if they are really low security and depending on their reason for incarceration etc), but they are all transported back to the prison hospital as soon as they are able to be moved and not dependent on specialized medical equipment that only the hospital would have.

[izabsmiling]

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@punch*drunk wrote:

If there was no request made by the mother for extra time, then its unlikely that extra staff would have been made available "just in case"

There is no doubt in my mind that if a request for extra visiting was made and denied that it would have been included in the story.

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Punch, Considering where they have come from and how their people have been and are treated there she may have not  known that she could ask or even been game to ask?

Is it more that Medical Professionals,Human Rights reps and members of the Australian public who are saying the situation isn't/wasn't what we would consider right going by our own Country's standards?

I would share my home with that family right now if I could.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Images of homeless and stateless Rohingya Muslims forced to flee a deadly outbreak of sectarian violence in Myanmar are being projected onto the outside walls of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, putting a spotlight on a tragedy that has unfolded as the former pariah state has won praise for embracing democracy.

Myanmar says the display, at an institution constructed in Washington to depict the genocide against Jews during World War II, is inappropriate. It can be seen by tourists and passers-by just a few blocks from the White House, where only six months ago President Barack Obama paid tribute to President Thein Sein.

Stark, black-and-white images by American photographer Greg Constantine, are projected at night on the museum's external walls. They combine searching portraits with pictures of the scorched settlements that the Rohingya were forced to flee, leaving more than 100,000 confined to camps. They are denied citizenship in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and are typically regarded there as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

http://news.yahoo.com/holocaust-museum-highlights-myanmars-rohingya-081005174--politics.html

[*crikey*mate*]

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@am*3 wrote:

The accommodation in Nauru (& Manus Is probably isn't much better), and being sent to Nauru or Manus Island only, is supposed to be the main deterrent for getting on a boat to Australia. If you know that is definitely where you are going to end up when you set off in a boat to Aust., then you can hardly complain about it.

Those reasons are expected to stop people attempting to come to Australia by boat, knowing they will never settle here.. it may work too.

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yeah i know, but I think those conditions were a bit rough. even in Thailand the camps I know of have a roof and a few walls. (dirt floors though) even the processing centre right on the border had proper buildings (albeit, not too clean, but they did the best they could)

I'm all for off shore processing, and I'm all for making it a deterrant, but I do think those conditions were a bit substandard for long term accommodation vs just a couple of nights. (but I only saw the one picture)

I'm not saying make it into a holiday park complete with water slides, but even just a few halls with bunk beds (like the army barracks and prison barracks in the holocaust).

I think if we can do better than a tent for our prisoners, we could probably do a bit better for our asylum seekers. it doesn't have to be disney land, but......

spose then you also have to consider we hear how some start riots etc and cause damage to the buildings etc.

as my PO friend said, every prisoner is volatile and volatile people do some pretty bad things when they feel there is no other option...

[polksaladallie]

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@my*mum wrote:

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@polksaladallie wrote:

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@azureline** wrote:

Some of the posts here were saying we need to give them time to set up protocol for this situation as it has never happened before.......... so, why and how did they have time to organise and implement the 10 am to 4pm scenario?

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Those posts are obviously wrong, Az.  There are thousands of detainees some of whom have medical issues, including childbirth, tests, surgery, etc., and have to go to hospitals with escorts.  This probably happens on a daily basis, it's just that we don't know about it.  If it was broadcast, the uglies would come out of the woodwork and behave appallingly.

I used to shop at Toombul shopping centre, and regularly saw people from the Virginia motel shopping there with escorts.  No-one bothered them, and there were no bombs in their trolleys.

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Obviously, they're not.

Your first paragraph lacks indepth thought. I'd go as far as to say, any thought.  Are these people transferred at their will for indefinite periods of time? Whenever they like? Are these detainees coming from places without established routines?

 A trip to hospital for an appendicectomy or childbirth is hardly "at their will" 

This lady was transferred for her surgery, she received medical tests, monitoring and care. She gave birth and was transferred to and from the hospital for this. She was then able to meet her subsequent "appointments" as they were organized for her.

Please provide statistics of how many detainees have given birth in Brisbane?

Detainees are all over Australia, not just Brisbane.

Paragraph 2, and the people you saw shopping, they were able to do this as often as they liked? They could just wake up and say, I'll head off to the shops in about half an hour, not sure how long I'll be there for either, so just keep the people on standby, be a good chap and rally the troops for me, will you?

The guards were permanently there, didn't have to be "rallied"

They are given specific time frames and days on which shopping trips etc are available.

and your flippant remarks about bombs is appalling. You don't think they would have had checks and searches upon leaving and returning to their facilities?

 Of course they didn't, it was not Guantanamo

You're the only poster who is concerned about bombs

You're also ignoring the differences in security status' that would be assigned to people already partially assesed and released into the community verses those who have been here a few weeks.

 They were not released into the community.  They were in detention, as are all the others who have to go to hospital sometimes

Even prisoners in our prisons have different levels of security status'.

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[*crikey*mate*]

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@punch*drunk wrote:

So I was reading that 80% of the Nauru accomodation (enough for 600 poeple I think) was damaged in the riots in July. They were rebuilding and the asylum seekers needed to be housed in tents whilst the rebuilding was happening. Does anyone know if the rebuilding has stopped now, or are they continuing. Did they have a chance to move into any new accomodation before they were sent back out into tents?

The accomodation that was damaged was new this year.

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Lots of pics here - I haven't looked at it yet - but it does look a bit nicer at first glance than what i found yesterday

New tent accommodation at Nauru regional processing centre

18-09-2013 - Additional tent accommodation at the Nauru regional processing centre for unauthorised maritime arrivals has now been erected, including beds.

*goes off to check out the pics*