The Australian Greens have today urged the Immigration Minister to relinquish his role as the legal guardian of 26 Vietnamese unaccompanied children in detention in Darwin and release them into the community.
“The Minister must cease being the legal guardian of all unaccompanied children and be replaced by an independent advocate who can act in their best interests and stand up for their welfare,” Greens’ immigration spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said.
“This desperate plea in a letter today from a 10-year-old Vietnamese child shows he’s not acting in their best interests.
“These children, some as young as seven, have been moved between three detention centres since they arrived in Australia in March last year. Just at the point they develop ties with ordinary Australians who visit detention centres in their own time to offer support, the children are moved on again as if they were mere objects.
“We know of advocates in Adelaide who have offered to sponsor and house these children.
“No child belongs in detention and keeping around 50 of them locked up across Australia is hindering their development and causing them mental harm, as the Australian Medical Association and other experts have repeatedly said.
“I’ve raised the welfare of the Vietnamese children with the Immigration Minister before and have today asked if his department can brief me about them.
“The Greens repeat their call for the Immigration Minister to release every child as a priority and let them live in the community while their claims for protection are assessed.
“As parliament’s recent immigration detention inquiry report recommended, the government must also replace the Immigration Minister as the legal guardian of unaccompanied children. The minister must no longer have the conflict of interest by being their legal guardian as well as their jailer.
“Enough excuses, Minister Bowen. Every child must be moved out of detention today.”
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