A school principal honoured with the 2014 Australian Human Rights Medal has accused the Federal Government of placing cruel limitations on child asylum seekers and of a "monumental passing of the buck" by offloading would-be refugees to other countries.
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For the past 19 years, Dorothy Hoddinott has been the principal of Holroyd High in western Sydney, where she has guided hundreds of refugee and asylum-seeking children to become model citizens, many of them having arrived on boats people before Labor and Coalition governments closed that door.
On Wednesday night, the Human Rights Commission honoured Ms Hoddinott by awarding her the medal at a ceremony at the Museum of Contemporary Art, where federal Attorney-General George Brandis was a guest speaker.
But in an opinion article for Thursday's Herald, Ms Hoddinott writes that "our continuing denial of basic human rights to asylum seekers diminishes us as Australians and casts doubt on our democratic institutions".
She also told Fairfax Media that the treatment of children in immigration detention and their lack of schooling breached not only international law but the state's child protection legislation, as did the denial of some rights to asylum-seeking children in the community.
"As a mandatory reporter of child abuse and neglect, I would have to report on these children," Ms Hoddinott said.
When Fairfax Media interviewed Ms Hoddinott at Holroyd High two years ago, she said: "'If you look around, six out of every 10 students here are refugees. A third have been in Australia for less than three years. Most arrive with no English at all; many are illiterate."
But she hails the triumph of the school's students, about 40 per cent of whom enrol for university compared with just over 30 per cent of HSC leavers nationally.
In her opinion article, Ms Hoddinott writes: "We have children in the school who have seen their parents murdered … who have been raped … who have fled for their lives and have come by boat to Australia, seeking safety, and have instead been locked up in detention centres, watching the adult world around them disintegrate into despair and madness."
The principal has seen the school's population reflecting the waves of refugee and asylum seeker children who have fled conflicts and humanitarian disasters since 1995 – from Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Burma.
The other finalists for the Human Rights Medal were social equality advocates John Falzon and Michael Traill, and Noel Tovey, who has long campaigned for the rights of indigenous Australians and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.
Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs said all had made "life-changing contributions to the well-being of a great many Australians".
The Young People's Human Rights Medal went to Daniel Haile-Michael and Maki Issa, who were the lead applicants in a Federal Court case that successfully challenged racism and racial profiling within the Victorian police force.
Other winners:
The Human Rights Law Award went to Darren Filter from Gilbert + Tobin, in recognition of his commitment to and support for the charity, philanthropic and not-for-profit sectors.
The Business Award was won jointly by KPMG, in recognition of its Reconciliation Action Plan, and Grace Papers for its work empowering women to address pregnancy discrimination.
Transgender Victoria won the Community Organisation Award for its dedication to achieving justice, equity and quality health and community services for transgender people, their partners, families and friends.
The Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Community Individual Award went tom Damian Griffis, chief executive of the First Peoples Disability Network in Australia and a leading advocate for the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability.
The Television Award was won by the ABC's Four Corners for its program, The Manus Solution, produced by Geoff Thompson, Karen Michelmore, Anne Worthington, Patricia Drum and Connie Agius.
The Print and Online Media Award went to Nick Olle, Sam Wallman, Pat Grant, Pat Armstrong, Sam Bungey, Mark Finger, and Lauren Martin for At Work Inside our Detention Centres: A Guard's Story, published in The Global Mail.
Carol Dowling, from Noongar Radio in Perth, won the Radio Award for Another Stolen Generation.
Jayne Newling won the Literature Award for Missing Christopher: A Mothers story of Tragedy, Grief and Love.
