MP calls for Nauru refugees to be permanently settled
CANBERRA: Senior federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese has renewed calls for people in offshore detention centres to be permanently settled so they can have certainty about their future.
He was responding to a new report that says most refugee children on Nauru are experiencing a rare mental health condition that could affect them for life.
Doctors’ assessments say children are displaying mental health conditions, including suicidal symptoms, likely to worsen the longer they are held at the offshore processing centre.
‘‘These people need to be settled, they need to get that certainty,’’ Albanese told Sky News yesterday.
‘‘It’s very clear there are real mental health issues of keeping people in detention for that period of time.
‘‘The Government are unprepared to find solutions that are not only in the interests of those refugees, but the interests of Australia as well.’’
The report, released by two prominent refugee organisations yesterday, includes detailed cases of child and adult trauma.
Information provided by Prof Louise Newman and Dr Vernon Reynolds, who spent almost two years working on the island, say traumatic withdrawal syndrome is real and ‘‘lifethreatening’’.
The condition results in children not eating or drinking, and incontinence.
‘‘No organic condition accounts for the severity of the degree of symptoms,’’ the report states.
‘‘We estimate there at least 30 children on Nauru currently experiencing symptoms of traumatic withdrawal syndrome, but some staff members and clients on Nauru are reporting significantly higher numbers.’’
Refugee Council of Australia spokeswoman Kelly Nicholls said it was the right time to highlight the report with the Pacific Islands Forum taking place this week.
‘‘The Government is trying desperately to hide the reality from Pacific Island leaders and media,’’ Nicholls said.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre advocacy director Jana Favero said she had been in contact with over 100 people desperate for help.
‘‘Parents have been calling us . . . as they try to force food and water into limp bodies of their children . . .’’ she said. — AAP