Greens MP appalled at Christmas Island appointment

Greens MP appalled at Christmas Island appointment

Friday 3rd October 2014

Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC has reacted with disbelief to the appointment of former Liberal MP and refugee hardliner Barry Haase as Administrator of Christmas Island.

“I am appalled and saddened by the appointment, which is yet another example of ‘jobs for the boys’, but I’m not surprised,” Mr Chapple said.

“Barry Haase is well known for his unsympathetic views on asylum seekers, similar to those held by Minister for Immigration Scott Morrison, which is obviously why he got the job.

“Some of Mr Haase’s choice comments include: ‘there would be no self-harm in the detention centres … if they hadn’t got on a leaky boat’, denying that the Government’s handling of the situation has anything to do with the desperate situation of refugees, when independent investigations have found that it quite clearly does!

“I shudder to think what his response will be to child sexual abuse and other sexual assaults at the centre.

“I have visited Christmas Island numerous times and have good friends there. It is a wonderful community, and a beautiful and fascinating natural environment, and there’s no denying the presence of this savage detention centre casts a pall over the whole island,” Mr Chapple said.

Mr Chapple agrees with outgoing Administrator Jon Stanhope, who has criticized the Federal Government’s hard-hearted and insensitive approach to asylum seekers, of which this appointment is just another example. Mr Stanhope had likened the current period in Australia’s history as it relates to refugees to the White Australia Policy and the forcible removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families or Stolen Generations policy.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255

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