How the meeting may have gone…
Yesterday Petro Georgiou, Bruce Baird, Judi Moylan and Russell Broadbent met with Prime Minister HoWARd to discuss the Federal Government’s immigration detention policies. Specifically, Mr Georgiou’s private member’s bills for the release of all women, children and long-term detainees from detention.
Petro Georgiou on behalf of Bruce Baird, Judi Moylan, Russell Broadbent and Suki Lombard asked the Prime Minister to read, listen and watch. Petro had created a powerpoint presentation that was able to be projected onto the wall of the room. It contained,
- Images of children behind razorwire with vacant, lost gazes
- Images of the babies
- The sound of women wailing
- Community feeling
- The report of the state of mental health issues for people in detention
Image from here
John HoWARd was heard to have said,
"Oh my. How could I have presided over such cruelty and abuse? I will change the policy immediately. Moreover, I will fund a program of community workers to integrate every new Australian into our society and I will assign a mental health specialist to each person who has been detained. I hope Australia can forgive me for this wrong doing."