Thirteen-year-old Imogen Senior was in the car with her dad – known to Croakey readers as Dr Tim Senior, a GP and Wonky Health columnist – when they heard Julian Burnside talking on the radio about children so desperate that they had attempted suicide while in asylum detention.
Yesterday, Imogen’s father discovered that she had written to the Prime Minister, and he published her letter on his blog.
It is re-published here with the permission of the author and her father.
*****
To the Hon Tony Abbott MP,
On the 31st of March, 2015, I was listening to Radio National on my way down to school with my dad. It was a Tuesday, and a normal day. On the radio, a lawyer called Julian Burnside was talking, and he caught my attention.
He was talking about the effects of offshore detention on children, my age and younger. Right now, 133 children are being held in immigration detention facilities within Australia, and 107 are held in detention on Nauru.
He was telling a story of a young girl and her family. This girl was 11 years old. To put this into perspective, she is 2 years younger than me.
She had come over from Iran to seek asylum in Australia, and had then been sent to one of our detention centres, with the rest of her family, for 18 months. She was horribly mistreated here, abused by guards and under-nourished. They came to live in Australia, because she was in such a bad way that she needed psychiatric help.
Here, the 11 year old child hung herself with a bedsheet. They took her to hospital. At hospital, no one was allowed to visit her because ‘visiting hours on Nauru were from 9am-5pm’.
If an 11 year old child is trying to KILL herself, because of what us Australians are doing, what does that mean?
Because of Australians, because we lock people away who just need safety and help, because of our law, children are trying to kill themselves.
There is another girl right now, 5 years old, who is in Darwin. She has been told that she has to go back to Nauru, back to the place where she was treated how no child should be treated. Back to her nightmare. This child is also suicidal. This 5 YEAR OLD CHILD is trying to kill herself. And why? Because of what our law has done to her.
Julian Burnside went on to remind us that seeking asylum is not illegal. Nor are these people criminals. You and your government claim that by keeping the ‘criminals’ in offshore detention that you are protecting Australia.
Do you think that a 5 year old child, who wants to kill herself, is likely to be more of a danger to Australia or to herself? Do you think that sending her back to Nauru, to ‘protect Australia’, is worth her life?
I can’t get my head around the fact that while I live my life, while I get driven to school by my dad, while I enjoy normal Tuesdays, children younger than me are killing themselves.
And there’s nothing I can do. But you can.
You have the power to save people’s lives. You can do more than I can.
It is your government that is doing this to human beings. It is your law that makes children kill themselves. It is our narrowed and stubborn minds that mean innocent people die. It is Australia that needs to save lives.
Get your act together Australia.
I look forward to hearing your response.
Yours sincerely,
Imogen Senior, (Age 13)
Unfortunately, I can just see the glazed look in Tony Abbots eyes when the name ‘Julian Burnside’ is mentioned.
Kudos Imogen.
Dr Tim Senior – you should be proud of Imogen. You’ve raised an amazing, compassionate, smart and articulate young lady.
Imogen – you’re gonna go far, kiddo. I’ll be an old man, but if you ever go into politics, you’ll have my vote!
Good on you, girl! Make sure your friends know what is happening too.
The policies Mr Abbott and his cronies (from both sides of politics) have put in place shame our country. Sadly it is your generation who may have to live with the long term consequences.
Thank you Imogen.
Well done, Imogen. And congratulations to her parents, who’ve raised her to be a good person, a citizen with good sense of justice and humanity.
More maturity than Abbott.
Hey Imogen,
That’s a very well written letter.
I’d like you to consider the privileged life we have in Australia and just how few 13 year old girls in the world enjoy what you have. It is a very big problem that many people in the world are trying to solve.
The girls Julian Burnside told you about on the radio are merely two of millions and millions who do not have your fortunate life. Tony Abbott and the government are having to manage the problem on a huge scale.
There are no easy answers. Get your dad to take you to have a look at how children live in Asia and Africa and you’ll see just how much they want to come and live in Australia and enjoy the sort of life you have.
You may not see much of a link between the plight of these two girls in detention and the global problem I’ve described but I just ask you to think about what it might be.
Bravo Imogen.
And well done David Hand, could you be more patronising?
Hi Imogen,
Congratulations on your letter to Tony Abbott, however I very much doubt that on its own, it will shame him into doing something meaningful to solve the plight of these unfortunate children.
But if you were to start a petition with say Avaaz.org which has 80 million members around the world, many of whom live in Australia, you might well succeed in creating such an avalanche of support for your very insightful plea, that Tony Abbott will simply be unable to ignore it.
All you need do to start your own petition is to contact Avaaz and have them circulate your fantastic letter to it’s members and then watch and see what happens.
I’m age 75 so I probably won’t be around to watch and see the great things that you will do in future years. You may even decide to follow in the wonderful Julian Burnside’s footsteps.
Best of luck Imogen
Contact: http://avaaz.org/en/petition/start a petition
Hi David Hand at #8
Yup there are millions of kids suffering around the world and Tony Abbott can’t help them all and it is a hard problem but please explain to me and Imogen how perpetuating cruelty where we have total control is in anyway sane, humane, reasonable or helping all those other poor kids where we have no control.
Just asking you know
Hey doggie,
Read all the posts ag