Candlelight vigil voices angry over Australian refugee policies

Despite Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's government's claiming victory over illegal migrants arriving by boat to Australia, opposition to the coalition's hardline refugee policies is coalescing around human rights concerns which was expressed Thursday night at a candlelight vigil in Sydney.

With momentum and criticism building in equal measure for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's latest refugee plan ( Cambodia agreeing to resettle asylum-seekers), anger has again flared inAustralia's track record on refugee policies of the past and the present.

Refugee supporters gathered in Sydney Town Hall Thursday night, marking 100 days since Iranian refugee Reza Barati was killed on Papua New Guinea's (PNG) Manus Island during the violent suppression of an uprising in February.

As part of a push for an independent inquiry into Barati's death and the attacks on Manus-based asylum seekers in February, Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, described the official investigation as a farce.

Manus Island has become the flashpoint for anger over Australia 's hardline refugee policies since the February riot was brutally quashed by PNG police resulting in Barati's death.

"One the one hand, the Cornall inquiry is riddled with contradictions and discredited by reports of collaboration between G4S and the PNG Mobile Squad. While on the other, the PNG police directly contradicts the Cornall inquiry and impossibly denies that PNG police were involved in the brutal assault on the asylum seekers," Rintoul told Xinhua.

Since taking office in September last year, Tony Abbott's coalition has diverted refugees directly to detention centers in Papua New Guinea and the island state of Nauru, a policy that has seen success in cutting boat arrivals, but split public opinions after reports of violence, intimidation, and spiraling mental health issues.

The conservative coalition government has struck a hardline on this divisive issue making it clear that even those granted asylum will never be permitted to re-settle in Australia.

While UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) senior adviser Tom Vargas criticized Morrison's plan to send refugees to Cambodia, the agency's Jakarta office has said the number of refugee registrations has plummeted from 100 per day to 100 per week since the coalition's Operation Sovereign Borders and the hardline policies it implements.

According to Morrison, some 250 refugees have now returned to their home countries resulting in a genuine reduction of numbers in Australia's own notorious detention centers, including Christmas Island.

"The Christmas Island population of detainees has been halved under the term of this government under Operation Sovereign Borders," Morrison told reporters on Monday.

However, in the wake of a budget released earlier this month, described by Treasurer Joe Hockey as a budget to "end the age of entitlement", the Refugee Council of Australia has also been stripped of key funding amounting to 140,000 Australian dollars every year.

CEO of the council Paul Power described the loss of funding as damning.

He said "While we and other agencies maintain constructive dialogue with other members of the government, it is clear that Mr Morrison has little interest in the ideas and concerns of non- government agencies which support refugees and asylum seekers."

Rontoul said the cost of reducing refugee's infiltrating Australia by boat is far too high, accusing the Australian and PNG governments of collaborating to shut down a PNG national Court inquiry into the Manus Island detention facility.

"Both inquiries are determined to whitewash their respective government and police authorities, while any semblance of independence is trashed," Rintoul said.

Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm said the government' s current approach is expensive, lacks compassion and treats foreigners as something to be feared.

"It's time to open the front door to immigrants and recognize the prosperity that accompanies the free movement of people," Leyonhjelm said.

Earlier in the week, Morrison expressed "great regret" as he released the controversial "independent" report into the Manus Island violence to the public.

The report placed the violence upon refugees at Manus Island at the hands of the formidable PNG police's "mobile squad", facility contractedguardsboth local and expatriate- as ell as locally employed Salvation Army workers.

The report also said Manus Island residents were also involved.

The 23-year-old Barati died from massive brain injuries after a terrifying assault led by a Salvation Army worker.

Amid the carnage, another asylum seeker also had his throat slit.

The Salvation Army has released a statement, saying its former PNG employee accused of leading the brutal attack "is a caring Christian man".

Rintoul told Xinhua "The detention center on Manus Island is not tenable. Scott Morrison must bring the Manus Island asylum seekers to Australia and the detention center must be closed."

While the Liberal Democrats Senator-elect David Leyonhjelm was far more direct.

"The solution is to open the front door and allow them legal entry upon payment of a fee," he said.