Understanding why 200 refugees have been detained in hotels for over a year
Refugee advocates have accused the Federal Government of “torture” for detaining almost 200 refugees in hotels around Australia for as long as 16 months. There’s a few things you need to know to understand how we got to this point and what might happen next.
Understanding the story
1 - Who are the almost 200 refugees detained in hotels in Australia?
2 - Why has the Federal Government refused to release them?
3 - What are conditions like in detention?
4 - What happens next?
1 - Who are the almost 200 refugees detained in hotels in Australia?
Most of them used to be part of Australia’s controversial offshore detention program, which involved holding refugees indefinitely on Manus Island, Nauru or Christmas Island. Some were there for six years. Then the Medevac law came along.
Medevac law?
Medevac is the nickname given to the law forced through Parliament at the beginning of 2019 that allowed sick refugees to come to mainland Australia to receive medical treatment unavailable offshore. Almost 200 used the program before it was repealed at the end of 2019. When it was repealed, those refugees that used the program weren’t put back offshore. They were just put in hotels and motels instead.
2 - Why has the Federal Government refused to release them?
The Federal Government promised that no refugee who arrived by boat from 2013 would be permanently resettled in Australia. When the medevac law was passed without the Federal Government’s support, they vowed to keep that promise. “We always said that this was a backdoor way of people getting into Australia so we resisted it,” Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge said in July.
Every now and then, a handful of hotel detainees leave. Last week, five flew to the U.S. for resettlement. Some have been released into the community on bridging visas. But the Federal Government has repeatedly said the detainees will not be permanently resettled in Australia. Refugees are left in a similar position to how they were before medevac - detained, and with no knowing how long for.
3 - What are conditions like in detention?
News reports have pointed to two facilities in Melbourne and one in Brisbane currently holding refugees. Across all, refugees have access to a corridor, common area and their own rooms. In some, according to advocates and detainees, they have access to a gym for one hour per day.
Advocates thought those evacuated to Australia under the medevac law would be kept in hospitals. Instead, detainees have been kept in hotels and hotels, where they say they have received little medical treatment. When the Human Rights Commission visited the Mantra Hotel in Melbourne last December, he found the conditions “not appropriate” because there were no dedicated health facilities and little open space.
4 - What happens next?
The Federal Government will continue looking for alternate resettlement options - essentially, trying to find other countries willing to accept the refugees. Advocates have been ramping up pressure on the authorities after it was confirmed 49 refugees would be moved from Melbourne’s Mantra Hotel to another similar facility.
“My life is exactly the size of a room and a narrow corridor. And inside my room, I feel I am like a fish inside an aquarium… The whole of my life is this window to see the real life, where people are driving, walking; when they wave at us. And when I wave back at them. This is my life.”
Mostafa (Moz) Azimitabar to The Age on Thursday. Moz has been in Melbourne’s Mantra Hotel for more than 13 months.