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Former Liberal Leader John Hewson has accused Immigration Minister Scott Morrison of arrogance and condemned as inhumane his decision to limit an asylum seeker’s access to her sick baby.
Latifa, a Rohingyan woman from Myanmar, gave birth in Brisbane’s Mater Hospital last week but was returned to a Brisbane detention centre while her baby remained in the neonatal intensive care unit.
For several days the Immigration Department only allowed Latifa to visit her baby at the hospital between 10:00am and 4:00pm.
On Sky News, Dr Hewson accused Mr Morrison of arrogance, saying his treatment of the woman was ridiculous.
“It’s inhumanity in the extreme in my view, I mean a mother in these circumstances is normally given 24-hour access to a child in intensive care,” Dr Hewson said.
“I mean for heaven’s sake, you know Morrison can go make all the short-term points he likes out there but this is something I think that sends absolutely the wrong message.”
The baby was discharged from hospital yesterday.
A spokesman for Mr Morrison yesterday said doctors at the hospital had advised that it is common for mothers not to stay overnight because of bed restrictions.
But in a statement to ABC’s AM program, the Mater Hospital suggested the mother should have been allowed to visit her child whenever she wanted.
The hospital says it encourages new mothers to be involved in the baby’s care wherever possible to help establish a strong bond, and does not place restrictions on visiting hours.
“Once a mum is clinically well enough to go home, she is discharged from hospital, but is encouraged to be involved in her baby’s care wherever possible to help establish and strengthen her bond with her baby,” the statement said.
“Mater places no restrictions on women and they can visit their baby anytime where possible.”
Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce executive officer Misha Coleman says Latifa should have been shown more compassion.
“Of course all of us who’ve had babies know that if they are in intensive care or special care, you can’t necessarily sleep by the cot all night, but you can certainly be down the hallway or on the next floor,” she said.
“So that when the baby needs to have milk [or] be fed, the mother can be called and is very, very close at hand.”
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
Morrison is now planning to buy all the water the Indonesian boats are floating on, as well as all rudders and boat varnish , cleats and glue. He is also giving Pentecostal performances in all villages including speaking in tongues and lolling about in bamboo jungles..
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BERLIOZ1935: And which Dr Goebbels was that; WWII Goebbels or Bodyline Goebbels from Oz?
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The former. He knew all about cheating, lying, maligning people. He is the one who said, if you repeat a lie often enough people will believe it. He was also a Jesuit trained person like our PM.
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BERLIOZ1935: My question was rhetorical, I’m fully aware of Dr Goebbel’s activities during WWII. And it was this dedicated, Jesuit trained Catholic who, when the end of the war was upon the Germans, murdered his wife,his six children and himself. Such a good Christian monster.
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āAustralia will today donate two navy ships to Sri Lanka as part of the deal to promote enhanced cooperation on people smuggling.ā(ABC news)
And our Christian leaders, Abbott and Morrison forget that asylum seekers are the ones in need of our help.
We have no business to buy boats from poor Indonesian fishermen, nor do we need to donate Navy boats to countries where they practice torture on their own peopleā¦.
ā
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Tut tut HELVITYNI, you appear to forget that the ships involved will be re-digitialised Indonesian fishing boats this country will be purchasing from above mentioned source and probably guaranteed to sink on the long trip to Sri Lanka. š š š
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Tony Abbott was saying this in his speech in Sri Lanka: āSometimes in difficult circumstances difficult things happenā. Pretty please do not tell me that he condones torture that has been happening over there. Cameron believes you have to tackle it head on.
Good on you, Cameron. Shame on you Abbott.
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On a scale where 1 Star is the rating for a traditional birth in the conflict area of Burma (http://cpintl.org/blog/kdhw-making-pregnancy-and-childbirth-safer-burma-myanmars-conflict-zones ) and 5 Star Plus is the rating for the birth of James Packerās kids (rumoured to take the WHOLE Mater maternity wing), then a room at the Mater would routinely be 5 Star. Dropping down to 4 Ā½ Star in this case because the mother didnāt get the full benefit of their Special Care nursery service after she was no longer an in-patient.
Anythingās possible and as berlioz 123 suggests, this curtailment could well be due to Australia becoming a fascist, rogue state. (Actually he said ārouge stateā, but since āfacistā and ārougeā arenāt traditionally paired together, Iām guessing it was a typo.) My guess is itās due to there being no procedure at the detention centre to cover the case when a mother has checked out from maternity and the baby is still an in-patient. Someone in management at the detention centre should have pulled their finger out and made sure she had 24hr access to the baby, not just during the day. Procedures need to be updated.
I can only imagine how lucky the mother feels for herself and, in particular, her baby, to have received the level of care they have.
Morrison blew it, didn’t he? He got it right ordering a review by the Immigration Department, but he shouldn’t have implied that daytime-only maternal access to Special Care babies was normal at the Mater.
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Voice;
I only hope you are not suggesting that restricting access to the Myanmar mother only between 10am and 4pm is the norm in Myanmar as well. Sure, the birthing condition might well be very primitive compared with here in Australia. But… we are talking about the primitive, cold hearted, bloody minded attitude of our immigration minster restricting access to her baby, because…as Abbott pointed out.. The real reason for the punishment is…if you come here as an ‘illegal’…that’s what you can expect.
Where is Australia’s level of empathy towards a mother. Is it 5Star with Morrison and Co?
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It’s extremely unlikely you’ll stop inventing non-facts, but I think it’s a step too far when you then hope out loud I haven’t invented the same non-fact as yourself and suggested it was true.
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Pingback: Inhumane treatment of asylum seeker | strivetoengage
In my view, a more apt heading to the article would have been “The Cruelty Of Morrison”…
As our Madam Speaker approved of the use of Electricity Bill for Shorten, people have come up with Typhoon Tony, Kerosine Bronny…. What about Monster Morrison….What’s good for Bronny, and Tony is good for Bonnie and Ronnie….
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When I read of this yesterday I found it upsetting but not surprising. I expect nothing moral from any of this bunch of Liberal/Nats MP who comprise The Government. We treat our own convicted criminals better than this. We can’t turn back time but just what if Rudd had the guts to cut ‘normal migration’ in just, say, half, and instead bring those stuck in Indonesia here.
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..exactly, viv,, cut the normal migration and take much more asylum seekers…that’s what I have been saying for years…we need more women in the government…or blokes like Julian Burnside.
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So many ‘what ifs’ ! But to me the ‘normal migration’ consists mainly of people looking for a better life and having found it they then want their relatives to join them. So in many ways they are all the same except asylum seekers fled because their family was shot in front of them! I do believe that the goading from the then Opposition to reintroduce Howard’s way should have been strongly resisted. I truly hate the term ‘border protection’. Labor lost the plot on the whole issue, every aspect of it. So, now it comes to this with churchy clappy Morrison in charge and licking his lips in glee. Notice he has just announced some changes, Major Major Major will have a different role in order to protect the integrity, blah blah blah, when Morrison should never have brought the ADF into it in the first bloody place.
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Morrison says that going to Church is his recreation. Really I didn’t think going to church is a recreation. It is clear that he doesn’t the teachings then. He has no idea or understanding of the parable of the Good Samaritan. or anything else from what I can see.
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He wouldn’t make a good Samaritan’s arsehole. I have no time for any organised religion but I do believe that the likes of Hillsong are organised rip-off money making businesses. So it would be recreation for him.
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vivenne you bought up churchy clappy Morrison, He has stated that he views church as his recreation, Like most tories they go to get noticed. I’m pointing out that he appears to go to get noticed rather than for anything else. The parable of the Good samaritan would be foreign to him. On Hillsong I couldn’t agree more, in fact most outside Hillsong do.
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Algy – it was hubby who brought to my attention the churchy thing – I had not followed that bit of news. Your comment made it all clear – recreation indeed.
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Exactly Viv, what if?
I suppose he might still have been be PM. The country is just waiting to show the revulsion over the treatment of asylum seekers. The Shorten opposition will have to cut the nexus to the Libs over the asylum-boat people question.
As was pointed out by the Indonesian adviser Dewi Fortuna Anwar… “Australia is such a large country with such a small population.”, not even willing to take those that are leaving Indonesia for Australia. We have over a 100.000 people in camps, she added.
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Wow, what a witty piece. just what was needed to cheer everyone up after all of the sociopathic articles.
What a great story gerard. You’ll have people beating a a pathway to your blog if you keep this up.
It has some great lines, prose and vocabulary. Well done.
Nothing like MJ’s pathetic humorous attempt, recently.
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It is not my story. The previous one ” A game of Chess” is. You are welcome to comment there. I don’t think that this ABC News item is witty. The brutalising of people is not witty, so Carrisbrook…unless you mean to defend this behaviour, where do you stand?
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‘Where do I stand?’
I’m all for babies being suckled – of course.
It helps their immune system and is easier to absorb, than other milk. However I defer to Big M on suckling and nutrition of babies.
Is that what this is about? or, is it a link?
We have a section for links.. .Or we used to.
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The most recent comment on suckling came from your good self, Mr Cariz!
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The question Carisbrook, was ; Where do you stand on Morrison’s behaviour? Do you support his ( Morrison’s) order for the mother not being allowed access to her baby 24 hours a day?
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I was quite disgusted to read that Carisbrooke wanted to suckle young Kate’s breasts.
It was one of your items on your Bucket list, as were ; meeting the Queen and becoming rich…
I’m a foolish woman, against all odds, I thought better of you. Now I have lost all respect.
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What does Mrs Jules think about that I wonder.
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I saw your comment, Alge, but I was too disgusted to reply to Carisbrooke…..
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Helvi, What did you think of gerard’s swear words the other day?
He didn’t mention breasts. However he used a word with u in the middle. Is that normal table conversation in your household.
How come you pretend to have virtues when I make a joke, yet they dissapear when your husband has verbal, abusive diarrhoea.
Would you like me to post his remarks?
They are breast-less. Not even suckling is mentioned. Just The C word.
Breasts, breasts breasts….Glorious breasts.
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I have never been able to understand Carisbrooke how you have time for vigilance regarding the Pigs Arms and what is posted…and I have wondered whether you are consistently the one and the same person writing as Carisbrooke.
Your comments on this page are so all over the place I wonder if you need someone to help you in some way… ?
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“Sociopath” is not a word I ever used until now. I’ve checked out the description of a sociopath and find there are ten types. This comment and some of your previous ones put you in a couple of the categories, one of which includes this “even to the point of logical absurdity”.
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Apologies Vivienne, I got it here:
gerard oosterman says:
November 10, 2013 at 8:05 pm
The person capable of apologizing is still within the realm of hope and might well have been bullied themselves earlier on. The really dangerous bully is the one who thrives on unhinging others for the sheer pleasure of it. They are usually “sociopaths” that have no insight and never will.
Here are their main traits.
ā¢Glibness and Superficial Charm
ā¢Manipulative and Conning.
They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims.
ā¢Grandiose Sense of Self
Feels entitled to certain things as ātheir right.ā
ā¢Pathological Lying
Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and even able to pass lie detector tests.
ā¢Lack of Remorse, Shame or Guilt
A deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at their core. Does not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims. The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way.
ā¢Shallow Emotions
When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises.
ā¢Incapacity for Love
ā¢Need for Stimulation
‘You’ (Vivvienne) made two comments in the comment section, so I had assumed that you were au fait.
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Leaving out the important bit Carisbrook! The sociopath article was from the link that was provided and found at the bottom of it. You should be more careful. Here it is again ;http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html
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I wasn’t au fait because my comments (I’ve just checked) were many hours earlier – I’m rarely at the pub after 6, usually clocking off around 5 pm. Whatever, I think you may have missed something, somewhere. Night night.
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I’m bloody speechless. one would expect a decent PM to reign this dickhead in (yes, Cariz, he’s a bloody dickhead!) This is pure fuckwittery.
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The problem is we don’t have a decent PM, we have someone who doesn’t know what he is doing. They’ve been told what to do, how to do it and not deviate from it. Morrison is tory garbage, born with two bums and no mouth, as heartless as the day is long. He has form remember how he wanted refusal of asylum seekers being able to attend a funeral after a tragedy.
The PM wont rein him in, he doesn’t have the guts as Paul Sheehan stated this week (for you Jules, he’s a conservative commentator to the point of being sycophantic).
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Anywhere else he would be sacked. What is Australia turning into?
Even his own side, the Hon Dr, Hewson is shocked.
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Gerard, Gerard, Gerard, surely you are not surprised by Morrison of Geelong’s actions?!?! The whole Liberal party is stacked with nonentities who are, as is their master Tony Rabbott, staunch Catholics espousing rectitude and high mindedness, whilst ripping the wings off anyone or anything that perceives the Liberals to be less than just, moral, or decent.
The only difference between the Morrison of Geelong and the rest of his party is his genuine disdain for anyone drawing the short straw.
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It is shocking. We are sliding fast into becoming a fascist, rouge state.
Also you could read this
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbotts-new-world-order-20131114-2xji4.html?fb_action_ids=758692250826788&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
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You really wonder what sort of nightmarish background the Scott Morrisons of this world come from. (Scott Morrison calls asylum seekers “illegals” Joseph Goebbels called Jews “sub-human” Both did so to demonise their victims. #QandA)
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Yes, that is the script and Dr Goebbels wrote it.
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