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A humanitarian crisis: call your MP and demand action

The 600 men Peter Dutton has dumped on Manus Island Detention Centre are sick, starving and thirsty.

No food, scrounged rainwater, and the lights won't turn on. All they have is the looming threat of violence by nearby armed forces that have aimed guns on the centre before, and the protests of locals if they move into (unfinished) facilities within Manus town.

The men are in danger if they stay, and they are in danger if they leave.

And despite the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding, Turnbull and Shorten are sticking to their lines, and Dutton is shouting his into every talkback radio microphone he can find.

But there is a glimmer of change — with other politicians, from all sides, taking to social media to voice their concern.

Liberal MP Russell Broadbent has already called 'enough' on Manus and Nauru. And ALP politicians like Andrew Giles, Susan Templeman and and Lisa Singh are speaking out too.

We need to make this trickle into a roar — pushing politician after politician over the line with a wave of community outrage.

Can you urgently contact your MP and ask them to join other politicians in speaking out?
  • The Manus Island detention camp closed on 31 October.
  • By cutting off vital services, Dutton hopes to starve these people into "transit" centres that haven't even been entirely built yet, where refugees will be prone to violent attacks, robberies and thefts. These men have been subjected to frequent attacks in the past -- attacked with knives and machetes -- and Human Rights Watch has said the violence is going completely unchecked.
  • The PNG national police chief said he can't guarantee the safety of refugees. The camp is being handed over to the PNG Defence Force, who recently opened fire on the centre, injuring nine. And the PNG government has flown in the notoriously unpredictable Mobile Squad - a paramilitary unit - to help clear the camp.
  • The government is responsible for placing these men in harm's way, and they're doing their best to downplay the very real danger they're in.
  • These men can't wait for resettlement arrangements which may take months, they need safety now.

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