Woman risks jail time to address the 'abuse' of refugees on live TV
Monday night's episode of Q&A was even more frustrating than usual, which is saying something. The Australian live show features politicians and personalities debating the big issues weekly, and this week was another of those all-white panel nights.
But one questioner risked being arrested in order to give testimony to what's called one of Australia's biggest shames -- its alleged abuse of asylum seekers in offshore detention camps.
Tracey Donehue is a teacher who addressed the show via video link, telling the panel of the mistreatment of refugees she saw at Nauru's detention facility.
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Addressing Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, she asked what responsibility the Australian government has for asylum seekers. Fife responded by reiterating that the leaked incidents of beatings, self-harm and sexual abuse were being investigated and said: "I don't think there is anything systematically wrong with the system of offshore detention," which received boos and cries of "shame!" from the audience.
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Fellow panelist Corinne Grant wasn't having it however. The media personality and lawyer-in-training pointed out the risk that Donehue was taking by even appearing on television.
"By telling us what she saw in that detention centre exposes her to two years in jail under the Australian Border Force Act," she said. "The peak bodies that represent the professional organisations are not covered by the Whistleblowers Act."
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"Section 42D makes it illegal for any kind of worker or employee who was working in those detention centres to make public what has happened. That includes doctors and psychiatrists who have a professional obligation to report to their peak bodies when someone has been abused."
An impassioned Grant told the audience that their government was keeping the truth from them, saying: "The government is hoodwinking you. They don't want you to know what is happening in these centres because if you did, if you genuinely knew what was happening to these people, no-one in Australia would allow it to continue to happen."
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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.
