What About The Children?

[the_great_she_elephant]

I am amazed and disgusted that in all the indignation over what Gillian Triggs should or shouldn't have done or who said or didn't say what to her, not ONE SINGLE POLITICIAN  except, finally, Malcolm Turnbull, has commented in any way on the contents of her report..

She found that  over a 15-month period from January 2013 to March 2014, spanning both the Labor and Coalition governments  there were 233 recorded assaults involving children and 33 incidents of reported sexual assault. 

If these findings are true - and as far as I know nobody has so far disputed them -   then what is going to be done about it? Who had the duty of care? who is going to be held responsible. What measures are going to be put in place to stop this abuse happening in future?

Both Gillian Triggs and George Brandis are astute and comparitively wealthy adults able to instruct top  legal practitioners to protect their reputaions - but who is going to protect the safety of these children? How many more children have been abused since March 2014? Is a child perhaps being abused in a detention centre  even while you are reading this post? 

Surely to goodness after all that was learned from the Children In Care Royal Commission this report cannot simply be put in a "don't want to know" basket while both sides of Pariament try to gain political mileage out the motives of the Human Rghts Commissioner or the behaviour of the Attourney General.

At some point -though probably not in the lifetime of this government  or even  the one that follows it - there will inevitably be a Royal Commission into the treatment of children in detention centre. what do you imagine its findings are likely to be?

[*pepe]

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@idlewhile wrote:

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@icyfroth wrote:

Well...Gillian Triggs herself put her own severely disabled child into foster care because she felt she should focus on her abled children.

So...

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This poor excuse for a human being has no credibility, her actions damn her and her bias is rampant.

She is doing what the left has always done, use children for politcal purposes and she is being exposed for it.

The left are exposed for their support of her and its patently obvious why.

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you mean like the 'children overboard affair' ?

o wait, that wasn't the left was it....

[vicr3000]

No, the left didn't need to throw them overboard, they let them sink, drown all by themselves.

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@monman12 wrote:

Did she lie when she said that there were armed guards at the Christmas Island detention Centre?

Why did she delay an inquiry into child detention until after the 2013 election.?

"Triggs says she decided to wait until after the 2013 election............"

Why did she speak during the caretaker period, quite inappropriately, with two Labor ministers, a fact concealed from the then-opposition ?

TGSE:   "Did she lie when she said she was offered a prestigious position if she resigned as President of the HRC"

How would anyone know?  when she declared at the Senate hearing:

"I don't recall the precise words but I know that he said that I would be offered other work with the Government."

Did the previous  human rights commissioner, Sev Ozdowski,  lie when he said that he found the timing of last year's inquiry "odd"?

Forget all the partisan nonsense and sand flinging, the children now out with the bath-water  and the sisterhood defence,   as soon as  Triggs said she decided to wait until after the 2013 election she politicised the HRC.

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 Did Mr Moraitis lie when he said he had put the offer of another job to her?

Did he lie when he agreed both jobs could not run concurrently?

[vicr3000]

I think the whole AHRC is pointless. Why write a report if it has no consequences.
No one can enforce it..

The whole thing is a WFTAM


Cut them and halve the ABC budget and you would have your billion $ saved.

[gleee58]

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@monman12 wrote:

Did she lie when she said that there were armed guards at the Christmas Island detention Centre?

Why did she delay an inquiry into child detention until after the 2013 election.?

"Triggs says she decided to wait until after the 2013 election............"

Why did she speak during the caretaker period, quite inappropriately, with two Labor ministers, a fact concealed from the then-opposition ?

TGSE:   "Did she lie when she said she was offered a prestigious position if she resigned as President of the HRC"

How would anyone know?  when she declared at the Senate hearing:

"I don't recall the precise words but I know that he said that I would be offered other work with the Government."

Did the previous  human rights commissioner, Sev Ozdowski,  lie when he said that he found the timing of last year's inquiry "odd"?

Forget all the partisan nonsense and sand flinging, the children now out with the bath-water  and the sisterhood defence,   as soon as  Triggs said she decided to wait until after the 2013 election she politicised the HRC.

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She did not lie when she said she saw armed guards.   

She did not speak to 2 Labor ministers about the Inquiry during the care taker period.

She did not delay the Inqury until after the election, nor did she say that she did..

But she happens to be a woman and that seems to be all some people need to judge her as a liar and incompetent.

Triggs did not say she decided to wait until after the 2013 election.

[debra9275]

And did Mr. Moriatis lie when he said he "lost" his notes

[vicr3000]

Glee

Trigg being a woman is irrelevant. No one has said it is important.
STOP reading sexist outrage and things when they are NOT there.

She DID NOT see armed guards, she knew that but put it in to inflame the situation
And certainly didn't ask questions to clarify which she should have.

[gleee58]

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@vicr3000 wrote:
Glee

Trigg being a woman is irrelevant. No one has said it is important.
STOP reading sexist outrage and things when they are NOT there.

She DID NOT see armed guards, she knew that but put it in to inflame the situation
And certainly didn't ask questions to clarify which she should have.

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and the sisterhood defence

Since you failed to notice that was the comment my comment was in asnwer to.  So please stop telling me I read something that wasn't there.

She saw armed officers and all the departmental official needed to do was correct her instead of making out she was telling lies.  The comment was in the draft report and was corrected before the final version went to print, as is the standard procedure.  No, the commission did not include any comments in the report just to inflame the situation.

You seem to think she wrote the report on her own. "She" didn't write the report. The human rights commission, of which she is the president, wrote it.

Why do you keep arguing about something of which you know nothing?

You must suffer from the same syndrome as the childmen Macdonald and O'Sullivan. When presented with the evidence just ignore and keep fighting over nonsense.   

[icyfroth]

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@gleee58 wrote:

She did not lie when she said she saw armed guards.   

No she didn't lie about the armed guards. She just didn't tell the truth, that they weren't guarding the the detainees. They were actually Customs Officers.

She did not speak to 2 Labor ministers about the Inquiry during the care taker period.

She was seen doing just that.

She did not delay the Inqury until after the election, nor did she say that she did..

'course she didn't say she did. Sheesh. It's glaringly obvious she waited on releasing her report until after the election.

But she happens to be a woman and that seems to be all some people need to judge her as a liar and incompetent.

Triggs did not say she decided to wait until after the 2013 election.

Her professional credentials are impressive, never mind about her being a woman. It's sad that she let herself be used by the political  players.

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[gleee58]

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@icyfroth wrote:

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@gleee58 wrote:

She did not lie when she said she saw armed guards.   

No she didn't lie about the armed guards. She just didn't tell the truth, that they weren't guarding the the detainees. They were actually Customs Officers.

No, she made a mistake and instead of correcting her the childmen bayed for her blood.

She did not speak to 2 Labor ministers about the Inquiry during the care taker period.

She was seen doing just that.

No, she was not.

She did not delay the Inqury until after the election, nor did she say that she did..

'course she didn't say she did. Sheesh. It's glaringly obvious she waited on releasing her report until after the election.

It's glaringly obvious  you have no idea what you're talking about in relation to the report, Triggs or the commission.  Nor did you read the post I was answering in which it was claimed multiple times that she did say just that.

But she happens to be a woman and that seems to be all some people need to judge her as a liar and incompetent.

Triggs did not say she decided to wait until after the 2013 election.

Her professional credentials are impressive, never mind about her being a woman. It's sad that she let herself be used by the political  players.

She did not let herself be used by the political players. She did her job, which is more than can be said of childman Macdonald.

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The Commission appeared at a Senate Estimates hearing of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on February 24.

President Gillian Triggs tabled a letter she sent to the Senate Committee on 10 December 2014 that set out a timeline of meetings with ministers about children in detention issues. 

The letter states “My records indicate that while I regularly discussed concerns about children in immigration detention with all ministers for immigration, I did not specifically refer to the proposed review / inquiry with any minister in the previous government.”

The letter also clearly sets out how the President’s concerns about children in detention were raised with the previous government in 2012 and 2013.

“The Commission has regularly engaged with the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (subsequently the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) on matters relating to children in immigration detention.

“Since 2012, this has involved meetings and letters at regular intervals expressing concerns about children in detention centres in Curtin, Manus Island and Christmas Island, the situation of unaccompanied minors and a repeated urging of the government to ensure that the detention of children is a matter of last resort, by implementing a presumption against detention of children.

“My records show that issues relating to children in detention were raised in every meeting that I had with the Minister.”

At the recent Estimates hearing, Professor Triggs made an opening statement reinforcing the Commission’s view that the report is about the children, and not about politics.

“The Inquiry took place from January 2013 to October 2014, covering the periods of both the former and current governments. The bipartisan nature of government responsibility is clear on any fair reading of this balanced and objective Report.

“The medical and other data in the Report provide credible and objective evidence that mandatory, prolonged, often isolated and indefinite detention, has a significantly damaging effect on children.

“The Commission has worked tirelessly over the last decade, up to and including 2013, reporting on the failure of both governments of the time to comply with their international obligations. 

“I seek to table a document that summarises the more than 180 separate pieces of work completed by the Commission on immigration detention and asylum seekers over the past five years.

“In July 2012, my predecessor, the Hon Catherine Branson reported the results of her Inquiry into the Age determination process for children held in detention.

“Following that Inquiry, the Commission was fully committed to a program of action:

• Conducting monitoring visits to detention centres in mainland Australia and Christmas island; within 8 weeks of my appointment in July 2012, I was at Villawood Detention Centre and 4 weeks later I was on Christmas Island interviewing children and their families. The Report of these visits was the first of three such reports in my first 15 months as President.
• The Commission issued 36 reports to Parliament in relation to 89 complainants between 2010-2014 in respect of immigration detention and asylum seekers, each of which must be independently assessed.
• Providing a Report in October 2013 to Parliament -the “Snapshot Report”- which considered the continued detention of the children
• Providing submissions to Parliamentary Committees examining proposed changes to the Migration Act and other Acts
• Intervening in High Court matters relating to the detention of asylum seekers, (CPFC and Megaming v The Queen).”