Terry Sarten: Aussie government in denial over Nauru issues

FENCED IN: Asylum-seekers on the island of Nauru voice their concerns to journalists.

WHAT can I say when there is so much that needs to be said?

I could begin with a horsey haw-haw response to Mark Todd saying he lost an Olympic medal chance because his steed knocked over four fences.

Does this mean that it is the horse, not the rider, doing all the hard work and so can be the one blamed for not getting a medal?

Does it mean that Japan beat New Zealand in the Olympic rugby sevens because we played badly or because they actually played incredibly well? There is some concern this might damage the corporate All Black brand which tells us rugby is now all about money and marketing.

Does the fact supermarkets are finding that self-service checkouts are losing them money because customers are taking the opportunity to shoplift by "lifting" rather than paying for groceries mean we have crossed another moral line in the sand?

Remember when the price of petrol went up and the number of fill-up-and-drive-off incidents escalated and forecourts installed cameras and pre-pay pumps?

This has always struck me as an odd measure of right and wrong.

The crime price point seemed to be a critical factor - below a certain value it was not worth it but then when it went it up, voila, suddenly it became ok to steal.

But among all these media nuggets, none outshines the dazzling ignorance and contempt of Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton with his response to revelations about the treatment of detained asylum-seekers on Nauru.

Papers leaked to the media document an horrendous list of abuse and degrading treatment to detainees, including children being held on the island.

The minister's response was to accuse asylum-seekers of setting themselves on fire, deliberately self-harming, or making false allegations of sexual assault in order to come to Australia.

"I have been made aware of some incidents that have been reported ... false allegations of sexual assault, because in the end people have paid money to people smugglers and they want to come to our country."

This comment demonstrates an astonishing blindness to the facts and a stubborn unwillingness to admit the policy has failed.

Having gone down the path of indefinite detention on remote islands beyond Australian borders, it seems the Australian government is not about to acknowledge this has all gone badly wrong. That would mean having to address the rights of asylum-seekers.

There have been comparisons to fascism because those who speak out about the asylum system can be jailed for "unauthorised disclosures".

Some have spoken out - traumatologist Paul Stevenson spoke off having "never seen more atrocity in a four-decade career that includes helping victims of the Bali bombings and Boxing Day tsunami".

The leaked documents detail 2000 incidents in the Nauru camp showing the damage this is doing to the lives of those trapped by the policy of refusing them entry to Australia. Half of these involve children, although they are only one-fifth of those incarcerated.

It contains seven reports of sexual assault, 59 of assault, 30 of self-harm and 159 of threatened self-harm.

New Zealand has offered to take these asylum-seekers but Australia has rebuffed this as simply giving refugees what they want, thereby encouraging people into the arms of people smugglers.

That this is absolute rubbish is obvious to all but the Australian government.

We can do our part by voicing our anger that children (and their parents) are being subjected to this form of cruel and completely pointless manipulation.

Australia are our neighbours and everyone needs good neighbours but not ones who neglect human rights by holding children in dangerous, harmful conditions.

-Terry Sarten is a writer, musician and social worker - feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz