The Morrison-Joyce Government doesn’t like talking about its failure to manage Australia’s immigration detention centres for the past nine years, and Labor shares community concerns that this failure is impacting the lives of detainees.

The Morrison-Joyce Government has thankfully closed the Brisbane Kangaroo Point hotel detention facility (also known as an APOD) and has also released some refugees and asylum seekers into the community, but many, such as those in Melbourne’s Park Hotel, remain in detention.  

Mr Morrison has effectively been punishing these men because they were transferred to Australia under the Medevac legislation.  

Regardless of where they are held, the Morrison-Joyce Government must ensure the ongoing health and welfare of these people.

It would be very concerning if the immigration detention conditions were exacerbating their health conditions.

Labor has been calling on the Government to solve this issue and provide these men with appropriate accommodation options.  

It is unclear why they are not being placed on bridging visas, like other individual transferees.

The operation of Australia’s onshore immigration detention centres is the responsibility of the Australian Border Force – part of the Department of Home Affairs – and, ultimately, the Morrison Government.

Australia’s onshore immigration detention centres should be places of administrative detention, and not punitive detention or correctional facilities.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman is able to investigate complaints about the immigration functions of the Department of Home Affairs, can inspect detention centres, and have a statutory reporting function to report to the Minister for Home Affairs about people who have been detained for more than two years.