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Canberra Today 11°/15° | Saturday, March 30, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Stanhope rides forth to savage Labor over refugee policy

Jon Stanhope

FORMER ACT chief minister Jon Stanhope has strongly criticised Labor’s recent hard line on asylum seekers and refugees, saying the party’s policies on mandatory detention and offshore processing are inconsistent with Labor values.

Mr Stanhope, who has just finished a two-year stint as Administrator of the Indian Ocean territories of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands, will speak about his views on Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers and refugees at a public meeting at the Australian National University on Wednesday, November 5 at the Manning Clark Centre starting at 6.30pm.

“As a member of the Labor Party, I have never been able to accept that policies which fail to treat asylum seekers and refugees humanely and with dignity are consistent with Labor’s values and ideals,” Jon said.

“I was strongly critical of John Howard’s policy of locking up people, including children, in remote detention centres and it distresses me that the Labor Party has now endorsed and implemented policies which even exceed Howard’s cruelty.

“I challenge any senior members of Shadow Cabinet such as Tanya Plibersek, Anthony Albanese and Andrew Leigh to look me in the eye and tell me that these policies reflect what the Labor Party stands for,” Mr Stanhope said.

Dr John Minns of the Canberra Refugee Action Committee said “Christmas Island is where many refugees first experience the full horror of Australia’s mandatory detention system.

“As administrator of Christmas Island, Mr Stanhope has witnessed first-hand the state-sponsored abuse of these hapless people under the guise of border protection and national security. What he has to say will be very revealing indeed.”

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