[1]About 6,000 people rallied in Melbourne to #LetThemStay, protesting the return of asylum seeker families to Nauru. Photo from Flickr page of Takver (CC license)
Following a 10-day stand-off [2] with doctors and hundreds of protesters, Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton finally confirmed [3] that 1-year-old asylum seeker ‘Baby Asha’ would not be deported back to the Australian immigration detention centre housed on the Pacific island nation of Nauru. She will instead be released into community detention in Brisbane along with her family, who are Nepalese Christian asylum seekers.
Community detention – where asylum seekers are placed in designated community housing – has been shown [4] to mitigate many of the negative impacts of closed or offshore detention by affording detainees a degree of independence and facilitating better access to services and community support. It also tends to be cheaper [5].
However, the fight to keep the Australian-born toddler in the country is far from over.
The case of ‘Baby Asha’
Initially brought to Australia for medical treatment after suffering accidental burns on Nauru, staff at Lady Cilento Children's hospital refused [6] to discharge ‘Baby Asha’ due to concerns she would be sent back to the offshore detention centre:
As widely reported, we are currently treating a young child from the Nauru Detention Center at the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital.
In line with every child who presents at the hospital, this patient will only be discharged once a suitable home environment is identified.
News of the hospital staff's stand quickly spread on social media. Hundreds of protesters (including Australian pop rock duo The Veronicas) gathered for days outside the hospital, demanding the government allow ‘Baby Asha’ and her family to remain in Australia.
Come out whenever you can and show your support for refugees! #LetThemStay [7] #LadyCilento [8] pic.twitter.com/RleIhYa3Km [9]
— Jordan Funke (@jordandeearn) February 12, 2016 [10]
#LetThemStay [7] @SeedMob [11] pic.twitter.com/BeAKqJl3dh [12]
— The Veronicas (@TheVeronicas) February 20, 2016 [13]
Reminder that we're now into day 9 of the vigil outside #LadyCilento [8] Hospital. Bloody incredible. pic.twitter.com/Nk9vy9grll [14]
— Sam Regester (@samregester) February 20, 2016 [15]
A week into the protest, reports circulated that the child's mother had been refused access to her lawyers and guards were preparing to move the child. In response, protesters stopped cars departing the hospital to check for a forcible removal:
Tried to speak with our client today. Access was refused. #LadyCilento [8] pic.twitter.com/BhuruMY84J [16]
— Daniel Webb (@DanielHRLC) February 20, 2016 [17]
#LadyCilento [8] on guard 2nite after threats to deport Baby Asha. Huge crowds staffing checkpoints around hospital pic.twitter.com/uwsqwHY5wp [18]
— Abraham O'Neill (@AbeONeill) February 20, 2016 [19]
On February 21, in a move advocates are hailing as a victory for people power, Immigration Minister Dutton made a statement confirming the family's transfer to community detention. However, he told ABC News [20] there would be no special treatment for them:
I couldn't be any clearer – once the medical assistance has been provided and the legal issues resolved, people will go back to Nauru… We are not going to allow people smugglers to get out a message that if you seek assistance in an Australian hospital, that somehow that is your formula to becoming an Australian citizen.
Health professionals later corroborated the transfer:
We can confirm that baby Asha has been discharged from #LadyCilento [8] hospital. Maybe if she visits again it will be as a doctor or nurse.
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) February 21, 2016 [21]
Reiterating her offer to resettle more refugees in her state, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk criticised Dutton's response as being too slow and lacking in “character and compassion”.
The decision by the Federal Govt to place Baby Asha and her mother in community detention was too slow. https://t.co/bZYkK6n41u [22]
— AnnastaciaPalaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) February 21, 2016 [23]
The broader picture
The controversy over the fate of ‘Baby Asha’ encapsulates the widening rift in Australia's asylum seeker and refugee policies.
She is but one of 267 asylum seekers in Australia who face deportation back to Nauru, following a recent decision [29] by the nation's highest court which upheld the legality of the current offshore detention regime.
Detractors from the government decry the inhumanity of returning asylum seekers to places where they are subject to harm and uncertain futures. Worryingly, the latest figures [30] provided by the Department of Immigration show that the average time spent in detention has blown out to 445 days.
Those who support the government's hardline stance fear that accepting asylum seekers who arrive ‘illegally’ by boat will only encourage more people to make the treacherous journey. There are also worries this would put a strain on Australia's social welfare system.
Complicating matters is the fact that independent media access to Nauru is extremely limited. New laws [31] brought in last year also threaten anyone working for the Department of Immigration with up to two years’ jail time if they disclose unauthorised information about what happens in detention centres.
If the Government is providing appropriate care in detention facilities they have nothing to fear from independent oversight #healthasylum [32]
— AMA President (@amapresident) February 21, 2016 [33]
Hey @Republic_Nauru [34] How about telling us: can Australian press come to Nauru and report on conditions asylum seekers are living in?
— Julian Burnside (@JulianBurnside) February 22, 2016 [35]
Despite the temporary reprieve for ‘Baby Asha’, there seems to be no end in sight for the fight over what Australia's legal and moral obligations towards asylum seekers and refugees should be.