Sophie Trevitt Profile picture
May 27, 2019 12 tweets 4 min read Read on X
THREAD: I have been having some of the most heartbreaking conversations of my life with men on #Manus who see the Morrison Government's reelection as a death warrant.

"When there is no hope or light in life for the individual that makes the life completely different." #auspol
These men are saying that things are extremely bad. People are despairing. My friend tells me that people are self-harming with razor blades, overdosing and attempting suicide - they have lost so much hope.
They are scared that the media have stopped reporting what's happening. He says there were multiple incidents today alone.

"No one in this world can not imagine how bad and serious is."
He asked me why the government won't accept New Zealand's offer. He says the men won't come to Australia. They only want their freedom.
Now, at the beginning of a political term, I can only hope that there is no political milage to be won by making these men suffer any more. Some of them have been on Manus for 4, 5, 6 years.

"Truly my mind is no longer function."
We have to get them off. There are good people in the Liberal Party. There are good people in the Labor Party. We need to find them and convince them that now is the time to be leaders. There are no electoral points to be won. We have to find a end this extraordinary cruelty /end
Maybe you can all help me make a list of the MPs on both sides who we know want change and ask them to call for action before we have (more) dead men on our hands. #auspol
.@LaundyCraigMP is no longer sitting but no doubt has influence with some of his former colleagues. @BroadbentMP stood with him and Julia Banks to call on the Morrison Government to show some humanity to children suffering offshore.
SA Labor Leader @PMalinauskasMP spoke out strong against indefinite detention last year. He cannot be comfortable with refugees on #Manus trying to kill themselves from fear they will never be free.
Of course @gedkearney has condemned the torture of refugees on Manus and Nauru - we need her voice in Labor calling for a united position to get these desperate people off Manus and resettled.
I didn't realise that @MarisePayne backed a move for legislation in 2005 that would cap detention at 90 days. How tragic that the indefinite torture of these people has continued for another 14 years. Surely it must end.
theage.com.au/national/libs-…
Labor's @LindaBurneyMP does not support indefinite detention and I am sure could not tolerate the anguish that these men are currently enduring

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More from @SophieTrevitt

Jul 28, 2021
The Min says the $35mill will out "these historical factors that lead to a Royal Commission to bed"

It doesn't do that, because the NT Government has failed to implement the NT RC recommendations. In some cases, it has flagrantly flouted them. THREAD 👇
sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2…
Rec 10.2 - The Northern Territory Government close the current Don Dale Youth Detention Centre

#DonDale has not closed. Instead the NTG is investing millions$ to expand and refurbish the decommissioned adult prison so that it can detain a higher number of children
Rec 11.2 – Territory Families ensure that a child or young person is placed in a detention facility nearest to the place of residence of his or her family

❌Children from Alice Springs are regularly, forcibly transferred +1000km away from their families to #DonDale
Read 8 tweets
May 7, 2021
I think people might not understand what happens when you put a child in prison - and how it can lead to a bright, hopeful future turning into whole life behind bars.

First, young kids are usually arrested and locked up on remand for minor, non-violent offences.
Theft, property damage, motor vehicle offences - I'm not saying these things aren't bad - but they're behaviours born of need, impulse and boredom. They are not malicious or cruel.

So these kids are picked up by police, not necessarily very gently either, locked up &
hauled before a court. Maybe they're granted bail, maybe not. if they're Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander they are less likely to be granted bail than if they are non-Indigenous.

If they get bail, chances are they'll be put on conditions they have no chance of complying with
Read 11 tweets
Apr 25, 2021
Head of NT News @DeniseCahill18 urges the NT Government to exercise caution when implementing youth justice law reforms that could impact generations of children to come.

It's not every day I agree with the NT News, but here we go.. #ntpol

Thread 👇 ImageImage
For decades, children around the country ~ but particularly First Nations kids ~ have been let down by Labor and Liberal Government's obsession with law-and-order state election campaigns. In fact, everyone has been let down - because our communities are none the safer for it.
This is not a problem unique to the Territory - although the NT Government's backflips when it comes to youth justice reform have been particularly monumental in recent years.

I've written about them here: theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Read 11 tweets
Mar 23, 2021
I know everyone's fixated on Parliament House, and fair enough some horrific stuff is going down, but right now the Northern Territory Government is announcing reforms that will see the number of Aboriginal children thrown into prison cells SKY ROCKET. newsroom.nt.gov.au/mediaRelease/3…
These reforms are so regressive and harmful. They fly in the face of the Royal Commission, and will only drive more children into police and prison cells (and if you think conditions have improved in youth detention since the Royal Commission, my experience is that they have not)
There are 43 times the number of Aboriginal children locked up behind bars in the NT than non-Indigenous children. When I was a lawyer in Alice, there were ZERO non-Indigenous kids behind bars. Now the NTG wants to build new prisons to fill with more of kids - it is disgraceful.
Read 7 tweets
Mar 22, 2021
This is terrible. These knee-jerk, highly politicised, dangerous law reforms will take the NT back to pre-Royal Commission days, filling up youth prisons with Aboriginal kids the way they were prior to @4corners expose on the abuse in Don Dale. #ntpol

ntnews.com.au/news/politics/…
I don't know how to be any clearer: what didn't work then, is not going to work now. Making bail tougher, locking more kids up on remand, slapping on GPS devices.. is not going to keep people safe - it's going to criminalise more children and hurt everyone in the long run.
Final thing - youth prisons in the NT are pressure cookers of abuse, unmet physical, mental and emotional needs, overcrowding and harm. They are no place for children - particularly not kids who have tough stuff going on in their lives. These places break kids. I saw it.
Read 4 tweets
Sep 16, 2019
THREAD: Extremely grateful to be at this @Change_Record event today hearing from MPs, experts and an extraordinary Aboriginal woman Jess about her experience of incarceration #aisles #indigenousX #prison
Jess was made a ward of the state as a child, dad had schitziphrenia, mother had addiction issues, and Jess described “finding acceptance in all the wrong people and they made me feel safe”
“Everyone I trusted hurt me. Everyone in the system who should protect kids didn’t. The label the police give you is like you’re an animal.”
Read 9 tweets

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