Pull your head in, Australia

We owe it to our neighbours to point out that their treatment of asylum-seekers is inhuman.

AUSTRALIA is becoming the dodgy racist neighbour next door. The older white guy who’s quite charming in a rough and rugged sort of way. Always good for a laugh, throws great parties and knows how to have a good time.

They swear a lot, but even that sounds charming. Occasionally you’ll see a nasty side in their relationships but these moments are generally forgiven because that’s their business, everybody has had these sorts of troubles and most of the time they’ve been a good and close neighbour. Especially, in times of need.

Furthermore, we have our own issues at home without worrying ourselves about what’s happening next door. Right?

Well… surely it’s time for a quiet word. Before our dear neighbours take their place among the favourites to take the title of worst human rights abusers in the 21st century so far.

This week the fallout continued from UK newspaper The Guardian’s recent expose of thousands of leaked incident reports from the Nauru detention centre, one of two places offshore that Australia built to hold refugees and asylum seekers.

The leaked documents – nicknamed the Nauru Files – reveal assaults, sexual abuse, selfharming attempts and living conditions that paint a picture of ‘‘routine dysfunction and cruelty.’’ The Guardian found that more than half of the cases involve children.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s initial reaction to the leaked reports were to play down their significance. He then attacked reporting about the files, accusing Australia’s Save The Children of leaking them. Save the Children politely denied this and said the government was ‘‘shooting the messenger.’’

A day after the leaks were published, Australia and Papua New Guinea jointly confirmed that Aussie’s other ‘OPC’ (Offshore Processing Centre), on Manus Island, would close.

It’s been surrounded by controversy since it was opened, closed, then re-opened in 2012. Recently, a Papua New Guinea court had to tell the Australian government that holding people against their will is – you know – illegal.

However, there’s no plan for the 854 men who’ve been kept prisoner in the centre.

Papua New Guinea don’t want them. The refugees are in their territory only because Australia brought them there, in a prison that they’d had built.

The countries of origin don’t want them and refuse to take