Detention policy

Good news for Australia today – there have been “sweeping changes” announced to Australia’s mandatory detention policy (ABC News Online).  The Age reported on this today, and in an interview with Dr Graham Thom from  Amnesty International, Lateline foreshadowed these changes last night.  The upshot is that detention of asylum seekers will be a last resort and it’s likely that large numbers of people who’ve been indefinitely detained are likely to be released into the community.  This is such a more humane and sensible attitude to take.  You can also read the transcript from Radio National’s The World Today...

 

On ya Kev!

 

 

Kalbarri

We’re back from our holiday in Kalbarri – the first time we’ve ever stayed in one place for 7 nights on holiday!  We camped for a few nights, including at Coalseam and at  Eurardy Bush Heritage Reserve, where we met Paul and Leanne, and their 2 girls, Beth and Maysey.  Beth is 2 years old, and Harrison just adored her.  Leanne took us on her morning native animal monitoring run, and we checked their traps for dunnarts, frogs and native mice (I maintained a respectful distance...).  Leanne weighed and measured the animals before releasing them.  At Kalbarri we had a unit right across from the area where volunteers feed pelicans each morning (Harrison got to throw a fish to them).  We went bushwalking, canoeing and even hired a little surf-cat and went sailing.  Many of the tourist things in Kalbarri are a bit amateur and over priced, but the location itself is fabulous.  Plus there’s a cafe run by a woman with celiac disease, so we could buy food for Harrison with confidence.  On our last night we had a sensational meal at the Grass Tree restaurant, and the chef was really helpful with Harrison’s meal – he had a large (and healthy) kids menu with several things on it that were gluten free, and was happy to make whatever Harrison wanted to eat.