06.02.2016 - 06:13
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has written to the Prime Minister offering to “accept full responsibility” for the families and children brought to Australia from Nauru.
In a letter to Malcolm Turnbull – posted on Mr Andrews’ Facebook page and Twitter account on Saturday – the Labor premier told the Prime Minister that Victoria would gladly take on the asylum seekers rather than have them return to “a life of physical and emotional trauma” in immigration detention.
Mr Andrews’ letter comes after the High Court this week upheld the legality of detaining asylum seekers indefinitely on foreign shores, clearing the way for the return of 267 asylum seekers to Nauru, including 37 babies born in Australia.
“While I believe that in such clearly exceptional circumstances as these, you have a clear obligation to support these children and their families, a political argument is no benefit to them,” Mr Andrews told Mr Turnbull.
“Instead, I write to inform you that Victoria will accept full responsibility for all of these children and their families, including the provision of housing, health, education and welfare services. I want these children and their families to call Victoria home.”
Mr Andrews’ letter drew a mixed response on Saturday, with some accusing the Premier of grandstanding, while many others welcomed his stance. However, the letter also puts the Premier squarely at odds with Labor’s own National Platform – backed by opposition leader Bill Shorten – which supports offshore processing.
This could prove dicey for Mr Shorten, particularly given the sensitivities over asylum seeker policy within the federal caucus and the broader rank-and-file.
The push for Victoria to take responsibility for 267 asylum seekers came after 60 Australian writers – including Nobel laureate JM Coetzee and Booker prize winner Peter Carey – also wrote to the prime minister and immigration minister Peter Dutton condemning the government’s offshore detention policies as shameful and brutal.
In other developments this week, church leaders have openly defied the government by offering sanctuary to asylum seekers, while doctors risked jail to speak out about the conditions in detention and condemning them as “toxic” for children.
Mr Andrews told Mr Turnbull that returning the asylum seekers would be wrong, unfair and un-Australian.
“A sense of compassion is not only in the best interests of these children and their families. It is also in the best interests of our status and a fair and decent nation,” he said.
“There are infants among this group who were born in this country. Sending them to Nauru will needlessly expose them to a life of physical and emotional trauma.
“It’s wrong. Medical professionals tell us this. Humanitarian agencies tell us this. Our values tell us this, too. Sending these children and their families to Nauru is not the Australian way.”
Fairfax Media has sought a response from the Turnbull government. Meanwhile, Victorian deputy Liberal leader David Hodgett questioned why Mr Andrews was “grandstanding” on federal immigration matters rather than dealing with his own state issues.
“We’ve got a VLine crisis, a deficit budget, increasing crime rates, billions wasted on tearing up the East West Link contract and Daniel Andrews is focused on cynical grandstanding on federal issues,” Mr Hodgett said.
