Port Fairy resident Maggie Cavalieri says her bell ringing won’t stop until there are no children left in detention on Manus and Nauru Islands.
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The self-confessed “freedom bells” campaigner vowed to continue her bell-ringing at Port Fairy’s Fiddler’s Green at 5pm every Friday until the federal government releases all of the children held in what she describes as “appalling conditions”.
The federal government has announced that it aims to remove all asylum seeker children from Nauru by the year's end as concerns escalate about their deteriorating health after languishing on the tiny Pacific atoll nation for up to five years.
But ministers said the government is maintaining its policy of sending all asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat to immigration camps on Nauru and Manus Island.
“We will ring our bell for however many children remain in detention,” Mrs Cavalieri said.
“We started out with 52 and then on Friday there were 27. We don’t want to remain quiet about this topic.”
Mrs Cavaliaeri said she was concerned the decreasing number of detainees offered a false hope.
“The concern is they’re being brought to Australia for medical reasons but won’t be allowed to stay,” she said.
“We want them all to come on permanent visas. I don’t mean just the children, I mean Manus and Nauru should close too. They’re like concentration camps.
“What more do we need to do to these people to tell them that they’re not welcome?
“When you consider that nobody chooses where they’re born, we’re born where we’re born so those children had no choice in it.”
Mrs Cavalieri said dealing with asylum seekers was a whole-community concern.
“We have a responsibility,” she said. “We want to be part of the global community in so many ways in this country and yet we’re ignoring our global responsibilities.
“They’re asylum seekers they’re not criminals. War has created this. We’re happy to give arms and assist in global conflicts yet we’re not prepared to do the housekeeping.
“These people came to Australia because they believed we were a peaceful nation that would give them asylum but instead we’ve added to their torture.”
Mrs Cavalieri hopes local schools will join her on Tuesday for International Children’s Day.
“It would be nice if we met here at 12 o’clock and all rang our bells together.”
