In the last week two significant statements about people detained on Manus Island and on Nauru have appeared.
The Australian Catholic bishops issued a statement deploring Australian treatment of these vulnerable people, declaring that enough is enough, and endorsing the campaign to bring them here. It pledged the cooperation of Catholic health, welfare and educational agencies to care for them pending their final settlement.
Later Island of Despair, the Amnesty report on conditions on Nauru, was published. It joined a series of other independent reports on conditions on Nauru and Manus Island. It gave instances of the failure of a duty of care to the people detained there, the deterioration of their mental and physical health and the brutal culture that enfolded them. The Amnesty report claimed that the Australian government was responsible for 'a system deliberately set up to cause harm to people'.
The response of the government has been to deny the findings, to attribute them to unsubstantiated claims by people who are detained and by organisations advocating for them, and to insist that all is well. It has not responded to the statement or to the offer made by the bishops. Likewise, the Opposition has remained all but silent, as yet another wave of horrific revelations have been uncovered.
This ritual dance of visits and reports by independent humanitarian groups, blanket denial by government spokespersons and subsequent attempts to silence criticism and more critical reports has gone on for years. It has corroded trust in government and in agencies involved in Nauru and Manus Island. It poses the question, Should we believe the government, whose assertions that all is well are constantly undercut by new reports of abuse, despair and harm, or give credence to independent overseas visitors who have seen and talked to people in Nauru and Manus Island?
Few would believe the government and its spokespersons, from the Prime Minister down. Even many of those in favour of the government's policy would regard its ritual disavowals as pure spin.
In a democracy, it is unhealthy for the government to be routinely mistrusted and disbelieved. In any society it is unhealthy for women, children and men in its care to be imprisoned indefinitely without trial, and to live in conditions where mental and physical illness breed and where compassion has no play. For the self-respect of any nation it is unhealthy to have credible accusations of the use of torture as an instrument of policy levelled against it.
The bishops are right to say that enough is enough. For the people who have languished on Nauru and Manus Island, enough has long been more than enough. A policy that deliberately inflicts harm on one group of people to deter others from coming to Australia is ethically obnoxious. Given the success of the government in stopping boats it is also superfluous. At a time when the government is prepared to cut costs at the expense of the most vulnerable in society, it is a flagrant luxury. It is now time to bring the people detained offshore to Australia, where any necessary processing can be done. They must live in the community.
"For the self-respect of any nation it is unhealthy to have credible accusations of the use of torture as an instrument of policy levelled against it."
The bishops have promised the resources of Catholic organisations to help educate the children, care for the health and meet other needs of the people who are detained. This would be coordinated by the Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum (CAPSA). Many Catholic parishes and groups have also expressed themselves willing to help.
When a significant sector of the community is ready to help care for vulnerable people, it is proper to allow them to do so. The asylum seeker detention regime has become foetid because it privileges deterrence over care, control over responsibility and exclusion over invitation. It is time for us to look to community groups that know about responsibility, care and invitation. The disaster that are the regimes on Manus Island and Nauru demonstrate the harm done to people and nations by government policies that shut out compassion. It is time for the government to draw on the wells of compassion that exist within the nation.
Samuel Dariol is a social and environmental activist and coordinator of the Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum.
Cartoon by Fiona Katauskas