Crossbenchers to attempt bill to remove children from offshore detention

Federal crossbench MPs, led by independent Kerryn Phelps, will attempt to push a bill that will force the Government to remove all children and their families off of Nauru.

Following increased pressure on the Government to remove refugee children from offshore detention on Nauru, Independent Kerryn Phelps, who recently won the Wentworth by-election, has announced that she intends to put forward a private memberā€™s bill in Parliament next week with the aim of removing all remaining children and their families from the island.

The bill, if passed, would also result in the immediate evacuation to mainland Australia of asylum seekers or refugees in offshore detention who are deemed physically or psychologically ill.

Dr Phelps said that ā€œas a doctorā€ that she could not continue to tolerate people ā€œsuffering on Australiaā€™s watch in indefinite offshore detentionā€.

She went on to say that it was ā€œincredibly importantā€ that the issue was ā€œback in the hands of the medical professionā€ and that ā€œthe government gets out of the wayā€.

Evacuating children from Nauru was a landmark issue in Dr Phelpā€™s Wentworth campaign, which was triggered by the ousting of Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister. Ā However, the independent member will need to acquire an absolute majority of 76 supporting votes in order to have the bill debated in Parliament.

It is known that Dr Phelps has already secured the support of other crossbench MPs and that Greens MP Adam Bant has declared his support of the bill.

A Labor party spokesperson said that they would consider the bill after it had been formally introduced to parliament. However, even with Laborā€™s full support, the bill would need the support of at least one Government MP and all crossbench MPs in order to secure the needed majority.

Christian Woods
Christian Woods
Christian is a morning reporter and technology columnist for Best in Australia. Christian has worked in the media since 2000, in a range of locations. He joined Best in Australia in 2018, and began working in Melbourne in 2019.
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