Asylum seekers in Bell City Mantra hotel Preston call for release
Dozens of asylum seekers have been trapped in a 4-star Preston hotel for seven months, at an estimated cost of almost a million dollars. But despite it being a “place of torture”, there’s no word on when they will be out.
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The 55 asylum seekers detained in Mantra Bell City for seven months have no signs of impending freedom, despite increasing public support for their release.
The men were brought to Australia from Manus Island and Nauru, some having spent up to six years offshore.
But seven months later there is no sign they will be returned or released, leaving them in permanent purgatory inside the 4-star hotel.
The refugees are being housed in 27 rooms, taking up an entire floor of one wing of the hotel.
The Leader has estimated the cost over 223 days at $160 a night to be about $963,360.
Social media posts have also detailed an extensive guard presence with rooms checked about three times a day.
The asylum seekers were brought here under the Medevac Bill, a piece of legislation allowing refugees access to healthcare as long as they had recommendations from two Australian doctors.
They would have been released into the community after treatment but that legislation was repealed in December last year, leaving their fate at the hands of the Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton.
Refugee Action Collective spokesman Chris Breen said while the idea of staying in a hotel might conjure images of a holiday, there was no mistaking these men were prisoners.
“It’s become a place of torture,” he said.
“They can’t open the windows to get air. They’re stuck inside nineteen hours a day.”
“The only way they can get exercise at all is if they request to go back to Broadmeadows Detention Centre.”
Mr Breen said they were not allowed access to computers or outside materials but were allowed to use their phones.
Some of the men have taken to social media to encourage support for their release, including Kurdish musician Moz Azimi.
“There’s not any outdoor space for breathing for the refugees who have been transferred to Australia through the Medevac bill,” he wrote on Twitter.
“We have been locked up in hotels by the Australian government.”
For 6 years on #Manus I was called KNS088 and now they call me a detainee.
— Moz_azimi (@AzimiMoz) December 9, 2019
They have locked up dozens of refugees myself included at some Hotels in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide.
Help people? https://t.co/gPUPzXH6IG
A Facebook page titled Manus to Mantra and claiming to be a refugee inside the hotel posts almost daily about life inside.
“Isn’t it cheaper to let us into community instead of locking us up into hotel rooms?” one post said.
“Why wasting taxpayers money on destroying sick lives?”
An Australian Border Force spokesperson said detainees transferred to Australia for medical treatment were expected to be returned after that treatment was complete.
The spokesperson said decisions to place detainees in hotels or other forms of accommodation were determined case-by-case.
They refused to answer when the asylum seekers would be released.
More than 100 people turned up to Bell Mantra on Saturday to show their support for the asylum seekers, holding signs calling for compassion and their immediate release.
Darebin Mayor Susan Rennie attended the rally and previously visited the men with Councillor Gaetano Greco.
“I, like many people, am very concerned at the deprivation of their human rights and liberty,” Cr Rennie said.
“(When I visited) I was touched by their kindness, their forgiveness and gentleness.”
“I look forward to a day when I could have these men over for afternoon tea at my house, see them in my workplace and meet them in the library.”
Cr Rennie said Darebin Council was keen to explore ways to make the services available to Darebin residents also available to the asylum seekers.
Mr Breen said the government had no other choices but to let them go.
“They originally came by boat, which is not illegal under any Australian law. They’ve committed no crimes,” he said.
“There’s nothing else to do with them.”
“The question is going to be how long does it take to get these people into the community.”
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Mr Breen said the RAC would be encouraging ongoing action from the community to keep pressure on the government for their release.
“There is no reason for those people to be there,” he said.
“And we’re saying the same for the people remaining on Manus (Island) and Nauru.”
The Department for Home Affairs and Bell City Mantra were contacted for comment.