Media Release 13 August 2020 Yesterday the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre was contacted by people detained at Yongah Hill detention centre in WA, who were worried that they had been asked to undergo medical checks, likely a ‘fitness to travel’ check in preparation for their transfer to North West Point Immigration Detention Centre on Christmas
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Today at an urgent 4pm hearing, The Honourable Justice Murphy of the Federal Court ordered that the previous orders made on Monday for the Minister to cease detaining a 70-year-old man at Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) by tomorrow, be extended. The man asked the Court to urgently intervene to prevent the Government from flying
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10 August 2020 Earlier today, the Federal Court of Australia ordered the Minister for Home Affairs to cease detaining a 68-year-old man with multiple health conditions at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA), to guard against the serious risk of COVID-19 infection. This is the first significant Court decision addressing the Commonwealth’s duty of care
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Reports that the Federal Government will reopen the Christmas Island Detention Centre highlight the failure of the Minister for Home Affairs to appropriately respond to the threat posed by COVID-19 in immigration detention. Today it was revealed that preparations are underway to staff the centre on the remote island, which is located 2,700km from Perth.
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A COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne detention facilities is imminent, with hundreds of lives of already sick people at risk from daily exposure to transmission. Up to 70 rotating staff work daily across different detention facility locations, in similar staffing and close contact conditions that caused lethal outbreaks in Aged Care centres. People detained at facilities
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