ANMF Media Release 19 October, 2018

The country’s largest union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), has joined the College of Mental Health Nurses and other healthcare professionals in calling on the Prime Minister to urgently evacuate over 85 children and their families from the Nauru and Manus island detention camps.

They say nurses have a “responsibility to advocate for the fair and compassionate treatment of people who at risk and in need of health care, including those who are enduring mental health distress and despair.”

The Federal Secretary of the ANMF, Annie Butler, said Mr Morrison must order the evacuation of children and their families from Nauru as a matter of urgency to stop their suffering.

“Australia’s current policy of keeping babies, young children and their families locked-up in mandatory detention centres is morally reprehensible,” Ms Butler said today.

“As nurses, we are all too-aware of the devastating impacts that mandatory detention is having on the physical, mental and emotional health of asylum seekers, particularly those young children living behind bars.

“In joining the College of Mental Health Nurses, the Australian Medical Association (AMA), Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) and a host of other peak NGO and health professional groups, we are lending our voice to growing number of calls for the humane treatment of refugees being detained on Nauru and Manus Island.

“Mr Morrison must listen and act.”