Activists protesting Australia’s refugee policies glued their hands to the railing in the House of Representatives public gallery on Wednesday, causing Question Time to be adjourned. Protests continued on Thursday. The Whistleblowers, Activists and Citizens Alliance took responsibility for the protests.
President-elect Donald Trump stated that he would stop refugees from the Middle East from entering the US ‘dead cold flat’, throwing into doubt the resettlement deal with Australia. Prime Minister Turnbull played down these doubts, claiming that the Australian government was ‘confident that [the deal would] continue through the change of administration’.
The inquest into the 2013 death of asylum seeker Hamid Kehazaei began this week. Kehazaei died of sepsis from a leg infection 13 days after presenting for treatment at the Manus Island clinic. The inquest heard that Australia’s immigration department frequently dismisses doctors’ advice to transport critically ill detainees to hospital.