Refugee advocates have released a petition calling for a Royal Commission into the treatment of immigration detainees and refugees in Australia.
AAP reports that refugee advocacy group Project SafeCom spokesman Jack Smit said the terms of reference called for in the petition were developed over several months by advocates around the country.
Mr Smit said the petition, which has been circulated by email to 15,000 people, was particularly timely, given revelations last week that more than 100 Australian citizens, permanent residents and overseas visa holders may have been wrongly detained on Australian soil over the past three years.
He also called for federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley to speak out against the government's immigration detention policies, after opposition immigration spokesman Laurie Ferguson last week called for a "full judicial public inquiry" into the immigration detention system.
"The time has come for the ALP to redeem itself from its weak-kneed lack of opposition with what amounts to a dire human rights emergency, and for Mr Beazley to break his silence, which only seems to indicate he is terrified of the issue," Mr Smit said in a statement.
"Mr Beazley should make a landmark speech on the dark shadow of the Howard government's treatment of refugees and asylum seekers and its total disregard of maintaining Australia as a leader in human rights issues."
2 comments:
Yeah, I reckon it's time for Beazley to go where he's never been before.
Politically it's the time to do it, too. There's no boats and so it'd be hard for the Libs to run a scare campaign.
But he won't. The ALP has only one thing on its mind. Winning the next election. Unfortunately the obsession blinds it to the work it should be doing that would actually help it to grow and vitalise itself.
Yes, I think the ALP does need revitalisation through a shot of idealism - I hope those with links to Labor will press to get this message across.
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