The two Sydney funerals for the asylum seekers who died trying to reach Christmas Island was heartrending. That some of their relatives were able to gather to mourn them was some small consolation for them. From ancient times to today so many other asylum seekers have died and have lain unburied.
Ordinarily the best response to such grief would be one of silent compassion. But even in death asylum seekers open a faultline in Australian culture and society. Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott wondered aloud at the expense of bringing people from Christmas Island to an Australian funeral. They later backed down on the timing – but not the substance – of their comments.
Psychologists who work closely with asylum seekers were appalled that bereaved children should be returned to Christmas Island. They again emphasised the harm done by detention.
It would be indecent in a time of grief to speculate about what individual politicians might have meant by what they said. But the larger considerations that affect asylum seekers' lives deserve comment. Three points stand out.
First, despite all the evidence of how destructive life in detention is for children, and despite the decision of the Howard Government not to detain children, large numbers of children remain incarcerated. That is shameful. No Australian should be able to contemplate with equanimity the conscription of children, the enslavement of children, the detaining of children and other forms of child abuse.
Second, it is evident that the system of mandatory detention for adults as well as for children is unreasonable. Professor Pat McGorry's famous description of detention centres as factories for manufacturing mental illness was modest and exact.
Yet detention centres, particularly those set in remote parts of Australia with a harsh climate which are known to be most destructive, have multiplied. They come at a huge cost. Detention is a swelling economic folly. If money is an issue, it would be far more rational economically, as well as more humane, to allow asylum seekers to live in the community while their cases are being processed.
Third, the fact that arrangements involving such barbarity and such economic nonsense continue without public outcry suggests that there is strong political opposition to change. That politicians cannot agree on better arrangements suggests that the resistance to change is located deeply in Australian society.
A recent conversation with a woman whose work had taken her to Christmas Island confirmed thse impressions. She struck me