Following is a transcript of the report on the 7.30 report last week. It is about time progressive minded Nauruan leaders spoke out against their exploitation by the Howard Government. Doubtless bully boy tactics will be honed up to put Nauru back in its place. It is notable that no Ministers would front for this interview:
"KERRY O'BRIEN: Ever since the 'Tampa' crisis five years ago, the island of Nauru has been at the centre of Australia's so-called Pacific Solution for processing asylum seekers. More than 1,200 asylum seekers were detained there, most of them gradually being granted refugee status. But since late last year, the Nauru Detention Centre has held just two men. And one of those men, an Iraqi, was recently flown to Brisbane for urgent psychiatric treatment. The Nauru Government says that after more than four years, it's time for Australia to resolve the plight of these two detainees. But as Peter McCutcheon reports, while both men are considered refugees, they've been left in limbo due to adverse security assessments from ASIO.
PETER McCUTCHEON: This is one of two refugees ASIO has labelled a threat to Australian security, but Muhammad Faisal - who was filmed by a friend on Nauru three months ago - says he has no idea why.
SUSAN METCALFE, REFUGEE ADVOCATE: He will say, "Why, only me? He doesn't understand. He truly does not understand what's happened to him.
MUHAMMAD FAISAL: No friend. No anything. No sleeping. All the time you are thinking is very bad. Bad dreams.
PETER McCUTCHEON: The 25-year-old fled Iraq five years ago. He and more than 200 others were taken to Nauru after their small wooden boat was intercepted on the Indian Ocean by the Australian Navy. Last weekend, Muhammad Faisal was flown into Brisbane for psychiatric treatment because of concerns he would kill himself. That leaves fellow countryman Mohammed Sagar, who has also been assessed a security threat, as the last asylum seeker on Nauru. Their plight provides a challenge for Australia's policy of processing asylum seekers offshore.
SENATOR ANDREW BARTLETT, AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS: It's a perfect example of what happens when you have a government that doesn't care about basic rules of justice and basic fairness.
SENATOR AMANDA VANSTONE, IMMIGRATION MINISTER: They have an adverse security assessment. I don't think Australians want us to bring people to Australia who have an adverse security assessment, but we are very concerned and we're doing everything we can.
PETER McCUTCHEON: Five years ago, the Australian Government set up detention centres on Pacific islands in order to discourage and stop boat people entering Australian waters. The largest of these centres was set up on Nauru, which has processed nearly 1,200 people since 2001. Most of these have been accepted as refugees. With each goodbye, the numbers on Nauru have dwindled, until last November there were just two men left.
SUSAN METCALFE: I've just been able to get a visa again on the basis of my research and it means a lot to the two men that I can came there and spend some time with them.
PETER McCUTCHEON: Susan Metcalfe is a refugee advocate who was doing research on the effects of the Australian Government's Pacific Solution policy. The 7:30 Report caught up with her in May on the eve of her departure to Nauru. Her two visits to the tiny Pacific island this year were filmed by friends. Apart from delivering gifts from Australian supporters, Susan Metcalfe says Muhammad Faisal, in particular, has needed emotional support.
MUHAMMAD FAISAL: One hour for me is one week. If I'm living inside of the camp or outside the camp that's in a jail.
SUSAN METCALFE: He's a very social person, so when all of his friends left in November last year, he very quickly went downhill.
PETER McCUTCHEON: Muhammad Faisal and Mohammed Sagar's bid for asylum reached a stalemate after an interview with Australia's intelligence and counter-terrorism agency ASIO. Although assessed as genuine refugees, they were considered to be a security threat for reasons ASIO will not disclose.
PROFESSOR IAN HICKIE, DETENTION HEALTH ADVISORY GROUP: The worst situation is to be left with no decision or an indeterminate situation. A person can't adapt to that situation. That's the greatest risk factor in terms of their ongoing mental health.
PETER McCUTCHEON: Immigration Minister Senator Amanda Vanstone declined to be interviewed for this report. But she spoke to the 'Insiders' program about the two Iraqi men in June.
SENATOR AMANDA VANSTONE: We are very concerned about the health of these two people, but, in a sense, we are between a rock and a hard place.
PETER McCUTCHEON: Australian Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett, who's met the two men on Nauru, says that's not good enough. He argues if the men were in Australia, they'd have a right of appeal.
SENATOR ANDREW BARTLETT: They've basically had their future taken away. Frankly, I'm surprised it hasn't come to something more serious sooner.
PETER McCUTCHEON: But do you think most Australians would accept the situation where two refugees are brought into the country, even though ASIO deems them to be a security risk?
ANDREW BARTLETT: Well, we don't know what it means by "security risk". Whether it's just a character issue, or something more serious.
MUHAMMAD FAISAL: You ask how is Muhammad, he is very good, and hello to everyone.
PETER McCUTCHEON: Muhammad Faisal attempted to take his life earlier this year and a medical report, warning he may try again has prompted the Nauruan Foreign Minister to speak out.
DAVID ADEANG, FOREIGN MINISTER, NAURU: Our problem essentially is that it's most unfair, and we don't think it's compassionate consideration of their case to be held uncertain for too long a time.
PETER McCUTCHEON: While Muhammad Faisal is undergoing psychiatric treatment in Brisbane, the Nauruan Government won't commit itself to accepting him back.
DAVID ADEANG: The processing centre is that. It is a processing centre, not a residential facility, security assessment or not. And frankly speaking, it does not reflect on us very well as a government, as a country and as a people to be held responsible for somebody who, on our soil, turns out to be mistreated to the point he becomes suicidal.
PETER McCUTCHEON: Whatever the reason for the adverse security assessment, there's little doubt five years of isolation on Nauru added to Muhammad Faisal's suffering. The United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees has been trying to find another country for the two Iraqis, but without success. That failure, the UNHCR acknowledges, may in part be due to ASIO's security assessment.
SENATOR AMANDA VANSTONE: Australia's security and the well-being of the Australian population is probably the most vital responsibility a government has, and when your security agency refuses to give a security clearance, it puts you in a very, very difficult position.
SUSAN METCALFE: Now I don't know what's gone on in their cases. No-one can know that. But I know them very well. I've become quite close to both of them, and if this is what I'm being protected from, I think it's absolutely ridiculous. I think there's a big problem here.
KERRY O'BRIEN: Peter McCutcheon did actually approach three ministers for fresh comment on this case - Senator Vanstone, Mr Downer and Mr Ruddock. They all declined."
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