The Australian Democrats have called on the Premier to extend his compassion for five asylum seeker children to all those who remain in detention in South Australia.

Democrats Refugee spokesperson Kate Reynolds MLC, who visited Baxter again on Saturday with Federal Democrats Leader Andrew Bartlett, welcomed the Premier’s comments in State Parliament today in relation to five children.  The High Court ruled last week that the Family Court did not have jurisdiction to release the children from detention. The children had been living in the community with carers for the past eight months but may be returned to Baxter in the future.

“We welcome the Premier’s decision to speak out for these children, and it is heartening to see that at last this government has acknowledged that it is not in the ‘best interest of these children’ to be detained at Baxter,” she said.

“However, there are still 27 other children, including a newborn baby, who remain in detention at Baxter Detention Centre and at the Pt Augusta Residential Housing Project.

“The Premier says that he has called on both the Prime Minister and the Minister for Immigration to show compassion for the five children.

“We now call on the Premier to lobby the Prime Minister for all families in Baxter to be released to community detention, including the family with a baby boy born just last week.

“Any parent who has sat down and talked with these families, as we have, will know that Australia’s mandatory detention scheme places unbearable strain on the parents as well as the children kept imprisoned for indefinite periods of time.

“Whilst the physical space available to the women and children in the Housing Project is an improvement over what is available for the fathers, older brothers and single men, everyone is suffering as a result of the women and children being forced to live apart from the men in their family in an attempt to provide a more normal life for their children.

“But, as one little girl asked Senator Bartlett on Saturday, ‘Why can’t my Daddy live with me – he hasn’t done anything wrong and I don’t like having to fill in an application form and wait for permission every time I want to see him.  He’s my daddy’.

“All these children deserve the protection the Premier can offer – firstly by lobbying the Prime Minister, and secondly by using the South Australian Children’s Protection Act to ensure that they do not suffer more harm under Mike Rann’s watch.

“The time is now Mr Rann.  These families are desperate.”

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Kate Reynolds