Human Rights Day Suicide Attempt Reaffirms Detention Centres as the 'Immigration Killing Fields' - "Yet another suicide attempt overnight in the Northern Detention Centre in Darwin marks the start of Human Rights Day for Australia, and this is ample proof that Human Rights are utterly unavailable and out of reach for people in immigration detention," WA Human Rights group Project SafeCom said this morning.

"A man was hospitalised in Darwin earlier this morning after trying to kill himself. Two weeks ago another man tried to kill himself in the Perth detention centre. Earlier this week someone tried to kill himself in the Villawood detention centre; and in the last couple of months, three men killed themselves in Villawood.

If anyone needs anymore examples that the Immigration Department and the Immigration Minister are failing in their duty of care and the application of human rights, they are clearly blind as bats," spokesman Jack H Smit said.
 

With just 361 words, the Prime Minister Mr Kevin Rudd said sorry to the Stolen Generations. These opening words, spoken in the Federal Parliament this morning, signify the beginning of a healing process in our nation.

We congratulate Mr Kevin Rudd for his leadership in uniting the nation by taking this reconciliatory and historical step forward. We also congratulate the Governor-General and the leader of the Opposition Dr Brendan Nelson for supporting the apology.

 Australians can now lift their head up nationally and internationally and be proud that our nation has the courage and conviction to acknowledge the ill treatment of the Stolen Generations, their descendants and families.

We are also heartened that the apology extends to all Indigenous people and we are particularly moved by the Prime Minister’s statement, “We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians”.
 

The Alliance Party (New Zealand) says that confusion and secrecy surrounding police actions around alleged "terrorist" activity needs to be cleared up. Alliance Party President Victor Billot says several issues needed to be resolved quickly in what was an unprecedented use of armed state power in a political context within New Zealand.

"The exact and detailed nature of alleged threats to public safety must be made public immediately, and not in a selective way; The scale and timing of police operations, and the use of police publicity to create an impression of immediate danger, must be investigated; the extremely wide nature of arrests and searches that have taken place must be justified."

Mr Billot says there are unattributed comments and spin flying around in the media, which seems to be aimed at building up a certain picture in the public mind and perhaps a climate of fear.

"Today would be the most opportune time for Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews to resign, with a picket being staged on his doorstep.

A letter writing campaign to the Minister is underway and an online petition has been sanctioned by A Just Australia in NSW, and a protest picket is being organised by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne in front of the Minister's own office in Doncaster," WA Human Rights group Project SafeCom said this morning.

"This cold stone-hearted man, who has as his brief to be open to the requirements of the UN Convention and to support Australia's intake of those refugees around the globe who are most in need of protection, has the audacity to ramp up the race card over Sudanese refugees - under the smoke screen of 'marketing' the supposed success of his Citizenship test through the media - by stopping Australia's intake of African refugees, while he refuses entry into Australia of 72 fully approved Sri Lankan refugees he holds imprisoned on Nauru," spokesman Jack H Smit said.