We can learn from the children
My opinion of the Prime Minister locking up innocent people in
detention centres is just a few words; what a
I-don't-care-how-other-people-feel-Prime Minister!! The people coming to
Australia to have a better life, have done totally nothing wrong. They
do not deserve to spend their life locked up in detention centres like
birds in a cage. People who live in a peaceful world don't know how it
feels to be in a country that is not peaceful, which is why some people
(like the Prime Minister) do not wish for asylum seekers or refugees to
come to Australia. As we are all human beings, we should all understand
that everyone would like to be in a safe place rather than a dangerous
place. Therefore, we should all try to understand why these people have
come to our country and we should treat them and us together equally.
Year 6 girl.
Asylum seekers are people who seek shelter or peace. There may be a war in their country, starvation, unfairness and cruelty. There are a whole lot of other reasons for emigrating from their country. I have watched issues on the news about these asylum seekers. They have been rejected by the government of Australia. This is horrible to me, it is like asking someone to play with them and they say “no” in an awful tone. These poor asylum seekers climb fences, burn things and try to commit suicide. Watching this happen, it makes me feel angry that they are locked up in detention centres. They are treated like animals! It makes me feel outraged. Even animals shouldn’t be locked up in such a horrible way. Some women and children have been released. Some children painted pictures, pictures that expressed their feelings. These pictures showed signs and sad faces, that said, Ï WANT FREEDOM - FREEDOM - FREEDOM FOR ME. I can imagine the children's faces while painting these sad pictures. Their faces would be sorrowful.
Thinking of them, my mind flashes back to the people still locked up
in those horrible, loathesome places - the detention centres. Those
people must be stamped with horror and fear of being sent back to their
country where there is a war. If they were sent back, they would be
punished in a cruel way. I feel very sorry for those children who are
clearly depressed. I think we should treat these desperate people as
humans with the generosity that Australians used to have.
Year 6 girl.
My reaction to the treatment of asylum seekers is that it isn't fair because asylum seekers immigrate to another country to seek help. They did not come here to get locked up in mandatory detention centres and wait for years and years to be sorted out. It also costs the government money to keep them anyway.
A better idea would be to give the people a little community to live in and they they would have a better life. If this happens then they wouldn’t go on hunger strikes or attempt suicide. This would cost the government and tax payers less.
Also, why doesn't the Prime Minister John Howard apologise to the
people who he said were throwing their children overboard? Personally I
thing being locked up for years is pretty bad when you consider all the
good things the asylum seekers could do other than being locked away.
Year 4, boy.
My reaction to asylum seekers is fairly strong. I think that if John
Howard came along from another country by whatever means and the Prime
Minister of Australia was [child's own name], he wouldn't like it if he
had to go to a detention centre would he? But if the people came from
another country and they were bad people like murderers trying to hide
from the police in their own country, then they should go to the
detention centres. They should only stay their for about a week then go
back to their own country to prison. When asylum seekers come to this
country they should be allowed to enter this country and live straight
with a job and have some money for a start. They should live in the
community with about $50,000 to start them off.
Year 6 boy.
These are just some of the views expressed by children at Yagoona Public School, speaking publically at the Chilout SAD Rally in Sydney, March 7, 2002. Their teacher, Noreen Navin, is an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at the school. Yagoona Public School has many children who are immigrants, and also has families who have been held in the detention centres.
Noreen's students watched a recent episode of "Behind
The News" the ABC children's news program. The program reported on
asylum seekers in Australia and exposed the government's "Children
Overboard" lie. Many of the children were horrified and deeply
affected by the revelations. Following discussion in class, Noreen asked
the children to write an opinion piece.
With the ChilOut SAD Rally approaching, Noreen thought the views of the
young students would be an interesting contribution. She asked her
students for permission to submit their opinion pieces to the ChilOut
organisers. When asked why, she explained that a group of people would
be gathering to listen to various speakers on asylum seekers. The
children asked why they couldn't read out their own pieces themselves!
Five children, armed with palm cards, attended the rally in Martin Place along with their parents. These five have no public speaking experience, have never addressed a crowd of 800 people before and yet delivered their opinions confidently, clearly and with conviction enough to put most adults to shame. We were all struck by their determination, their lack of fear and their willingness to get up there and speak out!!