Australians would like to think of ourselves as accepting and welcoming as a people. When we stand to sing our national anthem we stand tall and proudly sing “for those who’ve come across the sea we’ve boundless plains to share”. As seen in the weeks following the 2005 Boxing Day tsunami, Australians as a whole rallied and raised vast amounts of money for charity. Australia parades its self as a developed, civilized ‘Democracy’. Yet, how is it that we are unable to extend this level of generosity to people feeling war and persecution, seeking sanctuary on our land? How is it that we are able to accept our actions that result in the cruel and inhumane treatment of fellow human beings?
When Najaf Mazari dreamt of Australia, all he sought was “to stand upon the soil of a land where rockets did not land on my house in the middle of the night” Fleeing unimaginable torture and persecution, he fled to Australia, desperately hoping to find safety like many Afghani Hazara men. It did not matter to Najaf why this conflict was occurring, why him. What mattered was finding safety. However safety was not what he found here in Australia. Malcolm Fraser, former Prime Minister of Australia from 1975-1983, has said, in an article published in the Age (with regard to the detention centers in Australia) “ask yourself this: are we prepared to allow our government to establish a regime so brutal that the terror it creates would rival the terror from which people flee?”
In every detention centre across Australia and on Nauru and Manus island, there have been widespread incidents of self-harm and attempted suicide, as a result of the cruel treatment of these people, seeking safety after having encountered some of the most brutal, tyrannical regimes in all of History. People who have survived horrendous torture and persecution, finding detention centers in Australia too much, which has resulted in the continuous reports of grievous self-h...