Since the first Australian churches offered sanctuary to the 267 refugees facing deportation to Nauru last week, a steady stream of voices have joined the call for compassion. Among them now are over 44 churches, five cathedrals, 21 mosques, and the premiers of five states.
The initiative seems to have sparked a nation-wide awakening. On Monday night, for a second time, thousands of people rallied around the country under the banner of #LetThemStay — the hashtag launching a heartfelt campaign from our screens to the streets.
Seas of protesters stood in public spaces holding banners, placards and candles, pleading for a show of humanity.
On the same night, human rights abuses in offshore processing centres continued, reiterating the necessity of the campaign. Australian friends of asylum seekers on Nauru reported that detainees had been physically assaulted by guards for taking extra fruit to eat from the centre.
Such allegations that do not exist in isolation. A senate inquiry into the detention centre on Nauru last year found that there had been 30 official reports of child abuse by staff, 24 of those involving physical contact, and an additional case of excessive force by the end of 2015.
Yet in light of the protests, the cry 'the tide is turning' can be heard from refugee advocates and activists across the nation. And though the currency of compassion we have seen blossoming in recent weeks seems a new development, the seeds have been sown for quite some time.
From the First Home Project in Perth that houses resettled refugees, to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre that serves hundreds daily, to persistent calls from Gosford Anglican Church to hold onto common decency in the wake of Islamophobic unrest, many have been at work suturing the wounds left on vulnerable people by an emotionally stunted nation-state that has closed its border and its heart.
The levels of psychological damage caused by mandatory detention have been well-documented in adults and children alike. Even the chief medical officer of the Australian Border Force has spoken out on this, and rightly so. The foundations of medical ethics lay in beneficence, a notion that must be revived and universalised to overcome the neglect asylum seekers are forced to endure.
Several of the refugees facing a possible return to Nauru suffer from severe physical ailments, including cancer and terminal illness. For any other patient, the immorality of causing them further harm would be seen as unequivocal; here, our dehumanisation of asylum