Face of Nation : The boat, Lazy Jack, will set sail this week from Cairns, bound for PNG where hundreds of refugees have been held in processing and transit centres since 2013. The so-called freedom flotilla will deliver 400 symbolic Aboriginal ‘passports’ as part of Sail 4 Justice.
At the end of the month-long journey to Manus, the sailors plan to give refugees the passports signed by Aboriginal elders and letters of solidarity penned by dozens of Australians.
“I think we all feel in our hearts that we have to take action,” said logistics coordinator Izzy Brown. “We can’t sit here and be silent while the Australian Government makes these massive human rights violations.”
This Friday marks six years since the Australian Government’s Regional Resettlement Arrangement between Australia and Papua New Guinea, known as the ‘PNG Solution’, was announced.
An Australian Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said no-one subject to regional processing arrangements will be resettled in Australia. Ms Brown said she was unsure how the Australian and Papua New Guinean governments would respond to the flotilla.
Cairns’ Koharu Arai, 7, and her mother Inge Arnold toured the tiny boat ahead of the voyage. Koharu gave her letter to the Sail 4 Justice crew at the Cairns wharf yesterday.
“Dear refugees, I’d like to welcome you to Australia. I hope you can come here and be safe,” Koharu’s message read. Ms Arnold said her children had struggled to understand Australia’s offshore detention regime.
Papua New Guinean national Alan Mongerma said he was compelled to support the flotilla because offshore processing policy and detention regime had created social problems on Manus Island.
“You have conflicts between the locals themselves, and then the locals and the refuges, and you have unwanted pregnancies,” he said.
“There are so many issues that have occurred because of the centre.” Mr Mongerma said millions of dollars spent on refugee processing had not helped locals.
Last month, the PNG and Australian Governments agreed to extend a $423 million security contract on Manus for a limited time. The decision followed complaints by security workers of underpayment and poor employment conditions.
“We have a shortage of classroom desks, teachers are not getting paid well. “Then you have the issues of the bridges and roads, shortages of medicine … there’s so many issues there.”
Home Affairs responded to Mr Mongerma’s concerns, saying a significant number of PNG nationals are employed by contracted service providers on Manus.
“The PNG Immigration and Citizenship Authority works closely with the Manus Provincial Government regarding the management of transferees on Manus, including impacts on the Manus community,” a spokesperson said. Ms Brown said the group was planning to meet with Manusian community leaders and church groups on the island. “The locals have actually been calling for an end to this insanity and I think PNG is really ready to move on this issue,” she said.
