Invertebrate fuckhead Tony Abbott has once again slithered out from his hiding place to shart out one of his hot takes, this time to argue in favour of keeping children on Nauru.
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Speaking to Ray Hadley on 2GB, Abbott played down the importance of a YouGov Galaxy poll commissioned by the Sunday Telegraph that indicated that 80% of voters would support taking children and their families out of detention on Nauru and moving them to New Zealand, arguing that ‘kids off Nauru’ is a good slogan, but “a dreadful guide for policy“.
Abbott described detention on Nauru — which one study has claimed has a rate of suicidal behaviour 41 and 26 times the Australian average for men and women respectively and has seen suicide attempts from children as young as seven and 12 — as “no hellhole by any means“, going on to say that “if you like living the tropics, it’s a very, very pleasant island“.
We’re going to have to take Abbott’s word at how nice it is there, as the Nauruan government almost never grants visas to journalists (the exceptions being former Liberal Party political advisor and dog fan Chris Kenny and A Current Affair). Although it has long been the government’s line that the Australian government has no part in Nauru’s decision whether or not to grant access, documents recently unearthed by The Guardian have called this in to question.
I went to Nauru in 2016 when it was charging a non-refundable visa application fee of $8000.
It was waived for Sky on the condition that we not report it. We did.
Nauru officials would openly admit the fee was to deter the ABC and Guardian
This is a little more blatant.. https://t.co/SXHIhGLb2d
— Laura Jayes (@ljayes) July 2, 2018
Last week, Greens senator Nick McKim had a visa request denied by the government of Nauru, which they said was due to his visit not having the support of the government:
BREAKING: I have been refused a visa to visit Nauru. The reason? The Australian Government told them not to let me in. Kids are at risk of dying and Morrison doesn’t want anyone to see. #KidsOffNauru pic.twitter.com/MEKYhvr0oj
— Nick McKim (@NickMcKim) October 26, 2018
Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders were ordered off the island, where they had been providing mental health care services to the detainees. Doctors Without Borders described the conditions on the island and the condition of the detainees as “beyond desperate“.
