00:00well we're in complete shock with this as you've heard
00:06Tony Burke went to Nauru yesterday this landed late
00:10last night on a Friday evening so first and foremost we're really
00:14in shock we are of course concerned with the financial implications
00:18that are being spent for more money but we're also really concerned about the
00:22human rights and the harmful implications I've heard words such as people being
00:26resettled people being transferred but this is about deportations so taxpayers
00:31money is going to harm people to strip away their human rights to strip away
00:36their legal protections and lead to deportation so like everyone else when
00:40they hear this first of all we're shocked in the way that was done but we're also
00:45shocked and deeply concerned about the impact that this will have on the lives
00:49of people in our community as we just heard previous deals with Nauru have been
00:55heavily scrutinized there have been concerns about the level of services
00:58there have you received any assurance that some of those issues have been
01:03addressed we've received no assurances at all and I think it's quite ironic that
01:08when the Labor Party were in opposition they were calling for greater
01:11transparency about Nauru they were calling for greater accountability they
01:14were calling for an end to the transparency but now they're in
01:17government they're actually implementing and continuing the very things they
01:21criticized we through our detention rights advocacy program we're in
01:25contact with refugees who have been sent to Nauru we know that for you know 12
01:31years ago we sent people to Nauru and there was a reason why they left you have
01:36the UN Human Rights Committee who has been saying Australia is responsible for
01:40those we send to Nauru they're saying that that there are harms it's a well
01:44documented policy of failure of sending people to Nauru but there's
01:49absolutely no oversight of this I mean we're learning about it through the
01:52media we've only seen the statement that was made on the Department of Home
01:55Affairs website and then the breaking news so we are deeply concerned because
01:59at the end of the day we hear directly from people who are transferred to Nauru
02:04we know the impacts we know that there's lack of appropriate medical
02:07facilities we have no idea what will happen to them the president of Nauru in
02:12some addresses when talking of people possibly being deported to Nauru also
02:17flag that they could then possibly be deported to their home countries so so
02:21what that practically means is that people who Australia has recognized as
02:24refugees as part of the refugee convention we say we won't return them
02:28to harm but by sending them deporting them to Nauru Nauru could then send them
02:32to harm so Australia's actions are leading to harm to persecution and
02:38possible death so we are significantly concerned and there is no information that
02:43we have what we have is what you have and there's a lack of oversight or
02:47transparency this deal as it stands relates to about 280 non-citizens many of
02:54whom have a history of violent offending why do you say that this amounts to mass
03:00deportations and why do you warn that you sort of went into it there you warn that
03:05this deal is dangerous oh look there's so much in this answer I'll try to be as
03:09concise as possible first of all this deal needs to be really looked at in the
03:14context of the bill that's before parliament on Tuesday the Albanese
03:18government introduced a bill to parliament they're trying to rush it through
03:22early next week which would strip the ability for people who the government
03:26wants to deport from taking any inaction to court to stop that now the
03:31government has also said oh this is only a small group of people but if we have a
03:35look at the visa classes and the conditions that they have named that
03:39could be part of that bill and the figures from department of home affairs
03:42says that that could be up to 80,000 people so we're not just talking about a
03:46small group of people also any other visa classes could be added to it
03:51so it sets an awful precedent now even if it was just one individual who were
03:56trying to deport in this case we're talking about many more and the
03:59potential for it to have even wider implications we should be deeply concerned
04:03because we are looking at deporting people simply because they are not
04:08citizens in Australia I think we probably all know someone who is not a
04:11citizen and we are defending the right for people to be treated equally and to
04:16have their full consideration before the law before the courts so that strips
04:21away that it strips away their safeguards and it sends a very clear message to
04:26people in our community that they will be treated differently so it's dangerous for
04:30the precedent it sets it's dangerous to those individuals it's dangerous because
04:34it could have wide-ranging implications but it's also dangerous because it could
04:39expand even further so it's dangerous and it's devastating and it's without
04:44precedent and it will lead to deportations and that is something we
04:47should all be worried about what is being done to other people who are in our
04:50community
04:50you
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