Senator Andrew Bartlett
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
 
Meanwhile, on Christmas Island ... some freedom!

I mentioned in my last posting about the refugee baby, Amy, who was in detention on Christmas Island, where I hope to be visiting next month with a Parliamentary Committee to inspect the existing detention centre.

About three hours ago, I received an email informing me that baby Amy’s parents had been granted a visa today by Minister Vanstone and had left the Christmas Island detention centre this afternoon with Amy. I’m not certain at this stage what type of visas they were granted, although I expect it would be Temporary Protection Visas, which means they’ll have to go through it all again in a few years time.

Still, it is good when anyone gets freed, especially with a one year old baby, so we should be thankful to the Minister for acting wisely in this case. The family will be staying in a house out in the Island community for the moment and have supporters who will assist them.



Vietnamese Asylum Seekers on Christmas Island, including Amy and her parents
(young man in white t shirt with hand on Betty Cuthbert's shoulder and his wife
to the left peering over his shoulder) and advocate Kaye Bernard (kneeling in front)
November 2004.
I should mention that, apart from its detention centre, Christmas Island is a wonderful and fascinating place to visit. It has a number of plant, bird and animal species that appear nowhere else on the planet. Perhaps best known is the red crab, which migrates from its habitat in the forest floor to the ocean and back in huge numbers each year. The Island reputedly has the biggest diversity of crabs of any island. It also has fabulous coral and fish literally one step off the main beach, which means you don’t have to worry about boat hire to go snorkelling.

It also has an interesting social history and existing culture. Many of the signs on Christmas Island are in 3 languages – Chinese, Malay and English. The majority of the population of approx 1200 people is ethnic Chinese (many originally from Malaysia), and the rest is about equal parts ethnic Malay and white ‘European’.

It is expensive to get to, but well worth it if you can find a way – it’s much closer to Jakarta than it is to Australia. For those who still haven’t got over the introduction of the GST, it’s also a GST-free zone!

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Wednesday, March 30, 2005 Permalink
|


<< Home