What now?
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The first people were sent to Nauru on 14 September 2012, under this second version of Australia’s offshore processing. Since then, hundreds of organisations in Australia and many UN bodies have been saying the same thing: this is a ‘crisis’ that has an easy answer. These people can simply be brought to Australia, and should have been brought here years ago. This is entirely within Australia’s power to achieve. The number of people involved is tiny. It would be an enormous cost saving to the government, and help to restore our credibility in the region and internationally. It would drain a poison that has been slowly engulfing our politics, our identity and our democracy. After six years, we must acknowledge that too much damage has now been done for this to be a solution. We cannot give these people back their lives. Yet it is surely our duty to try.
