2015-10-21
Every so often a case presents itself that goes beyond state and federal boundaries, beyond outrage and beyond political differences. Three months ago a 23-year-old woman — a young refugee from Somalia to whom Australia owes protection obligations — reported that she was raped on Nauru. Upon becoming pregnant she requested an abortion. As abortions are illegal in Nauru, she was flown to Australia. She is now back on Nauru, where her attackers are, after being flown out on a specially commissioned Royal Australian Air Force jet before she could speak with her lawyers. The abortion was not performed.
I cannot be sure of the details of this case amid allegations being made by this young woman's lawyers on the one hand and by the federal Minister for Immigration and Border Protection on the other. What I do know and what I despair at is that somewhere along the way Australia became a country that would even contemplate placing a traumatised rape victim back amongst her attackers just so we can maintain our hard line toward people fleeing persecution and war. This is not the Australia I grew up in — the Australia that provided a home to my family, who fled postwar Europe. When will this madness end? When will an immigration minister or a Prime Minister from either major party draw a line and say that is enough? We as a people are better than this, and we can do the right thing.