Former state premier asks for access to Nauru

Transcript

A former premier of Western Australia wants the Nauru government to allow her into the country to examine conditions at the asylum seeker detention centre.

A women's rights group in Australia has launched a fundraising campaign to help fund a trip for Carmen Lawrence and journalist Wendy Bacon.

Media visas to Nauru involve a non-refundable application fee of more than five thousand US dollars.

Dr Lawrence told Koro Vaka'uta independent assessors are needed on Nauru.

CARMEN LAWRENCE:  Nobody is in a position to examine what's going on there.  There have been various reports but they often have to rely on third party and indirect material and now that the people who actually work there are silenced because of the changes to legislation in Australia which would make it an offence for them, in many cases, for them to report on the treatment and condition in Nauru, we thought it was absolutely not before time that we tried to get independent assessment via a journalist.  In this case, Wendy Bacon and myself and perhaps others who might be interested on going on a fact-finding mission, talking to the Nauruans as much as anything, as well as the people who are being detained.

KORO VAKA'UTA:  Have you been in contact with Nauru authorities in terms of the potential visit?

CL:  I have made a request for the necessary forms to obtain a visa.  So far I haven't heard anything from them.  I know from various other people who've attempted to get visas that it is extremely opaque, you get handed from one to another unless you are an employee of some of the organisations on the island and of course if you are a journalist there's a very big impost in terms of cost and we have heard, although it's not been confirmed officially, that international journalists are effectively banned.  In any case, none of them has been given a visa recently to visit.

KV:  But you are still hopeful that you will still get a chance to get there?

CL:  Yes, I'm hopeful.  I mean I hope that the Nauru government will see that there is nothing in it for them to be hiding the conditions in the detention centre and on the island.  The Australian government is responsible here for both the contracts that are let, for the people who run the detention centre, and for the treatment ultimately of the asylum seekers.  The Nauruan government and the Nauruan people are caught up in an appalling set of circumstances that don't do them any favours at all.  They would be better off allowing proper scrutiny.

KV:  Al Jazeera has been denied access and they said that they've gone through the proper channels and everything like that, does that affect at all your hopefulness, if you like?

CL:  We'd have to be naive to think that we would get an immediate 'yes' to a journalist visiting but we hope that the process of application and our good faith in wanting to establish what's going on might persuade the government otherwise but certainly in my case, I'm not a journalist.  I'm a former politician.  I have good standing in the community, whose insights I think would be useful.  All we get are allegations of extremely bad treatment of the asylum seekers, including rape and then the disclosure of the details including the name of the person who made the allegation.  I think the secrecy and the silence actually serves nobody here.

KV:  As a former Australian politician, what are your thoughts on the Australian connection to Nauru?

CL:  It's not just the connection, it's entirely the doing of the Australian government.  The money, the legislation, the practices are entirely controlled by the Australian government and I think the Nauruan government has been put in a very awkward position.