Rally to end offshore refugee detention

out of detention.

“It’s kids off, everyone off and bring them here,” said Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition on Saturday. More than 1,400 people are being held on the Australian-run detention centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea, some for years. The rally organisers said thousands attended the protests in each city, but local media had smaller estimates. There was no estimate from police. Australia refuses to allow asylum seekers arriving by boat to reach the country. It says the policy deters people smugglers in Asia from plying their trade and saves lives by stopping people sailing in unseaworthy boats from Indonesia to Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is under increased pressure to immediately resettle children on Nauru, after aid agencies and doctors raising concerns of a health crisis.

Worsening mental health has left some of the children on Nauru in a “semi-coma- tose state”, unable to eat, drink or talk, says humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which was ejected from Nauru by the island’s government.

Morrison’s government is on the verge of losing its majority after a devastating by-election on 20 October, and key independents have warned their support hinges on him freeing children on Nauru.

On Monday, 11 child migrants were evacuated from Nauru for medical treatment.