Immigration Minister slams asylum seeker alarmists over suicide attempt claims. - Ellen Whinnett, National Politics Editor, Herald Sun, July 10th, 2014. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has hit out at incorrect claims that a dozen women tried to kill themselves in the Christmas Island detention centre, saying he would not be distracted by partisan commentary. His comments follow reports in The Age newspaper on Wednesday that stated as fact that “12 women detained on Christmas Island have attempted suicide in the past few days’’ and quoted three independent sources. On Thursday, the newspaper backed down and reported that while seven women had threatened self harm, and four had self-harmed, there was only one suicide attempt. Speaking from Sri Lanka, where he is visiting officials to discuss Australia and Sri Lanka’s co-ordinated efforts to stop people-smugglers, Mr Morrison said it wasn’t easy to manage detention centres “filled to the brim with people who arrived illegally by boat under Labor.’’ “That job is not made any easier by shrill and baseless claims about how this job is being done, designed only to undermine the Government’s strong border protection policies that are stopping the boats and saving lives,’’ he said. “What previously went unremarked upon and usually unreported on under Labor, has become a matter of alleged national outrage under the Coalition. “The Government will continue to not be distracted by such partisan commentary and will continue to simply do what we said we would do, and that is stop the boats.’’ Mr Morrison said the Government understood the concern people held for those who self-harmed, but that the government was also concerned about privacy and the potential for public comments to encourage copycat behaviour. He said the Coalition was reducing the number of people in immigration detention. Mr Morrison remained in Colombo on Thursday, where he was meeting officials and handing over two Australian patrol boats to the Sri Lankan navy. He refused on Thursday to give any update on the fate of the 153 passengers being held in limbo aboard the Customs vessel Ocean Protector, after their boat was intercepted en route to Australia. The passengers, thought to be mainly Sri Lankan Tamils, are thought to still be on the high seas, with Australia, Sri Lanka and India all reluctant to accept them. The group includes 29 children, some as young as two years of age. ***(Just a reminder to all that these people COULD have gone to Tamil Nadu in India and been quite safe there)*** Statements are due to be returned to the High Court this morning from lawyers representing some of those on board. The Full Bench of the High Court will convene to consider whether Australia should process the passengers’ claims of asylum.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 13:24:09 +0000
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