CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Scott Morrison has responded to impassioned pleas by the people of Biloela at the United Nations by declaring the mandatory detention of children debate is subjecting Australian children to “needless anxiety”.
Morrison was asked for his response to people of Biloela who had accused the political classes of failing the younger generations of Australian born Tamils.
Morrison told reporters he acknowledged “how deeply people feel about this issue” but said the public debate was replete with disinformation about Australia’s detaining kids on Christmas Island policies.
“It often comes as news to people when I share with them Australia has the highest per capita investment in high-thread bedsheets in detention centres of any country in the world” Morrison said – in the process neglecting to mention that the Tamil kids on Christmas Island are currently in agony due to their dental problems caused by lack of nutrition and sunlight.
Morrison said he would use his looming address to the UN – his final public commitment before leaving New York for Australia on Wednesday – to address the lack of awareness about “the action Australia has been taking [towards deport the Biloela Tamil family without anyone knowing]”
“I do understand that people feel strongly about this, but I think we also have to take stock, we have to ensure we get a proper context and perspective,” Morrison said.
“I want children growing up in Australia to feel positive about their future, and I think it is important we give them that confidence that they will not only have a wonderful country and pristine environment to live in, that they will also have an economy to live in as well. Unless they are Tamil kids born to poor brown people and born in some one-horse town in central Queensland”
“I don’t want our children to have anxieties about these issues.”
“You might be able to come back once we deport you. Just chill out”
