“Let me say that the game is up when the Nauruan Government cancels tourist visas for Australians and New Zealanders because they might see something that could be reported”, Prof Owler said.
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As protests continued outside Brisbane’s Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital – where baby Asha has been receiving treatment after being injured on Nauru – doctors issued the government with a set of demands, calling chiefly for the immediate removal of all children from detention.
Asha was due to be sent back to the camp after a court ruling in favour of the government’s offshore immigration detention policy, but the hospital caring for her refused to release the infant until a “suitable home environment is identified”.
Dutton said on Sunday doctors had agreed to release the baby and her mother into community detention but their asylum claims would still be subject to the normal processing.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton caved to public pressure on Sunday afternoon, saying the 12-month-old Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital burns patient could stay in Australia – for now.
Children’s Health Queensland chief executive Fionnagh Dougan said the Immigration Department advised there was “no imminent plan for the family to return to Nauru”.
The one-year-old girl, known only as Asha, and her parents face being returned to a camp on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru, about 3,000 km (1,800 miles) northeast of Australia.
Under the deal reportedly struck on Saturday, the baby would be released into community detention at Pinkenba in Brisbane.
Australian medical Association president Professor Brian Owler said the government was close to “crossing” a line in its treatment of the infant.
Protesters blockaded the hospital to prevent the child being removed.
Daniel Webb, Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, said he had been denied access to Asha’s family.
Sources close to the family are hoping rumours Asha and her parents will be released into community detention today will prove true.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said deportation of the 267 children will be decided “on a case by case basis”.
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The number of asylum seekers travelling to Australia by boat rose sharply in 2012 and early 2013.
