Russell Brand Asks If Tony Abbott Should Feel Guilty About Child Abuse In A New Video About Asylum Seekers
He then answers that question with an emphatic yes.
Last week the Human Rights Commission presented “The Forgotten Children” inquiry into the welfare of children in Australia’s immigration detention centres to the government. It did not go well.
To start with, the findings were all-round awful. In March last year there was a combined total of 1,068 children in Australia’s various detention centres and the average duration of their stay was a whopping one year and two months. It was found that two-thirds of those subjected to prolonged enclosure also suffered from serious mental health problems and, over the 15-month period of the inquiry, there were 128 documented incidents of self harm among children, 33 incidents of sexual assault and 27 cases of voluntary starvation; a growing trend in both Manus Island and Darwin Detention Centres.
The inquiry suggested changes to the Migration Act to ensure child safety and recommended that all children be freed from detention centres as soon as possible. There were also calls to establish a royal commission into the matter; an idea which has gained considerable support from the public.
Poll via SMH.
Despite all this, Tony Abbott claimed the Commission should be “ashamed of itself” for taking part in what he called “a blatantly partisan politicised exercise” and instead suggested they should congratulate Scott Morrison on his successes as Immigration Minister.
The inquiry was quickly tabled and he then went on to make an ill-advised comment about the Holocaust.
Because of this, Abbott has understandably garnered a negative reaction from President of the Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs, the United Nations and anyone who isn’t currently employed as a Liberal MP. But today he has gained one more vocal opponent: Russell Brand.
In a call back to his related video earlier this month, Brand has once again admonished the Australian government for its immigration policies and treatment of asylum seekers and repeatedly referred to our detention centres as “concentration camps”. He also pulls off another gleefully on-point impersonation of Tony Abbott with a great aside about the PM not giving a shit about the death of Bambi’s mum. It would almost be funny if it weren’t so goddamned tragic.
Though Brand is well-known for this controversial and sometimes grating style of social justice, there are also moments here where he emits a frank and startling sense of lucidity.
“This is surely Tony Abbott blatantly saying on the tele that he feels no guilt about the children being sexually abused in the concentration camp,” he said.
“All you have to add is a bit of time for that to be one of the worst things that’s ever happened in history. Except it’s happening now. That’s even worse than it happening in history because we can still do something about it.”
Of course there are a number of organisations such as the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and the Refugee Action Coalition doing a lot for this cause — the words “Shut down Manus” were even written in the sky over Sydney yesterday — but there’s a lot more which could be done.
Either way, with the comedian now receiving direct correspondence with asylum seekers on Manus Island as well as increasing support from campaigners in the UK and abroad, this is definitely not the last we’ll be hearing from Russell Brand on the matter.