Refugee policy architect praises Nauru — even though he's never been there
If you know anything about the plight of refugees who arrive to Australia by boat only to be locked up in mandatory detention facilities like the one on Nauru, you know that their living conditions aren't great. You may have even seen some disturbing images or read harrowing leaked reports from inside the camps.
But the co-author of the immigration policy responsible for these facilities isn't too concerned about them -- even though he's never actually been to Nauru.
Despite reports of physical and sexual abuse, refugees setting themselves on fire in protest of imprisonment, UN condemnation of the camp's "life-threatening conditions," and accounts of "filthy" facilities men, women and children are forced to live in — this guy is full of praise for the detention centres.
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Retired Major General Jim Molan is one of the architects of Australia's border protection policy, Operation Sovereign Borders, and last night on ABC program Q&A, he was all too happy to share his thoughts on Nauru, a.k.a. that place he's never been to.
He told the live audience that "every Australian should be extraordinarily proud" of their country's immigration policies and jumped to the defence of the "extraordinary medical facilities" on Nauru, saying "most Australian towns would give their right arm" for the same standard of services.
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Molan disagreed with comments from fellow panel member, Amnesty International's Dr. Anna Neistat, who said the conditions on Nauru were "one of the worst" she'd ever seen and involved "enormous levels of suffering and essentially keeping them [refugees] hostages."
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Despite being shrouded in secrecy and inaccessible to the media, photos do exist of the facilities on Nauru, from both visitors, former staffers and people who have managed to smuggle in cameras. And it doesn't look good.
Are you seeing what we're seeing, Mr. Molan?
Jerico Mandybur is the editor of Mashable Australia. Previously, she worked as a digital editor at SBS, Oyster Mag, MTV and ASOS. Tweet her at @jerico_m.
