Refugee Treatment Quotes

The way a government treats refugees is very instructive.

Even Australians who take a very, very hard line about asylum seekers - and unfortunately there are more than I would like to think - are probably a bit uncomfortable with the kind of treatment that has been meted out to children in detention by the Australian Government, in their name.

I'm in total sympathy with Dick Smith's sentiments; I only wish there were grounds for saying we Australians would never tolerate such appalling treatment of refugees being carried out in our name.

I see the sharp inequality between how Haitian and Cuban refugees are treated in Florida. Both groups come here because their lives are equally desperate. But on arrival, the Haitians are incarcerated, and some are immediately repatriated, whereas Cubans get to stay and are eligible for citizenship.

Today, as yesterday, a nation is judged by its attitude towards refugees.

Social niceties are not in order for men who would turn away refugees fleeing for their lives based on their faith to have them suffer in camps.

The treatment by some towards these young refugees is hideously racist and utterly heartless. What's happening to our country?

Operation Sovereign Borders has worked and delivered a human dividend that is compassionate and fair... our plan is simple. We won't change it. Labor will.