Australian lawyers welcome decision on asylum seeker baby

Transcript

The Law Council of Australia has welcomed the move by the Australian government to release an asylum seeker baby into community detention, but says more must be done.

The baby girl known as 'Asha' has sparked a week of protests in Australia, with members of the public campaigning for her and her family to not be sent back to a detention centre on Nauru.

She was taken to Australia for medical treatment after being injured on the island.   

Bridget Grace spoke with the council's president, Stuart Clark, and began by asking him about the family's community detention.

STUART CLARK: What that means is they live in the community, they are free to move around.  The family will have some reporting obligations, to report regularly to the Department of Immigration.  And the department will provide them with accommodation or the cost of accommodation, meals or the cost of meals, healthcare and a small living allowance for incidentals.  But the family will be prohibited from working for remuneration, in other words prohibited from taking paid work while they are in community detention.

BRIDGET GRACE: I understand that this is a temporary measure, that the minister has indicated that the baby will still be returned to Nauru?

SC: The minister has not expressly said that.  What the minister has said is that those who arrive by boat in Australia will not be allowed to settle in Australia, and that those people that are here will be returned to Nauru.  Now that was a general statement not a specific statement in relation to this child.  The point that the Law Council has made, and I should say the Law Council in Australia represents the Australian legal profession.  The point that we make is that holding children in detention under any circumstances is unacceptable, save for a very brief period to allow for health and security checks.  We say that the interests of the child are the primary consideration, if not the paramount consideration and it would be rare if ever that it is appropriate to hold a child in detention.

BG: I guess it's not determined then if they will be sent back to Nauru, it's a bit of a gray area?

SC: Absolutely.  The fate of this child in terms of where it remains is in the hands of the minister.  We understand that there is an asylum application to be considered.  The problem is that even if the family is entitled to asylum in Australia, the position of the Australian government is that they will not be settled in Australia.  Now in relation to that we say two things.  Firstly we say that indefinite detention in circumstances where somebody hasn't committed a crime let alone been convicted of an offence is simply unacceptable, it's contrary to the rule of law, it's contrary to the very character of countries like Australia and New Zealand.  It is not acceptable.  On that basis we say that you simply can not continue to hold these people in Nauru indefinitely.  And we're calling on the government, we're calling on it's regional partners, and we're calling on the international agencies to resolve once and for all the position of the people that remain on Nauru.  

BG: I understand that there are other asylum seekers, I've got 267 who are in Australia at the moment for medical treatment does that mean that they might be released into community detention as well?

SC: Well that remains to be seen.  The minister certainly hasn't said anything in relation to those people.  One assumes that a number of those people may be in hospital or other treatment facilities.  Frankly it's not entirely clear where all 260 odd are.  We simply don't know.  But the fact remains, the situation on Nauru has to be resolved.  I guess one of the concerns is, whilst there has been very intense focus on this particular child.  The fact that this issue has been at least temporarily resolved doesn't take away from the position of the others.