Under the Australian Border Force Act, which took effect on 1 July 2015, it’s a crime for people working in our asylum seeker detention centres to discuss operational matters publicly.
This means social workers, guards, health professionals, educators; anyone contracted by the Australian Government to perform services on behalf of the Department face up to two years’ imprisonment for talking about their experiences.
Professor David Isaacs and his son Mark Isaacs have both worked in
, David as a specialist paediatrician and Mark as a Salvation Army employee, and both have defied these laws upon their return to Australia by speaking out against the cruelty they witnessed.
You are invited to the September Sydney PEN letter writing evening to hear David and Mark speak about their experiences and participate in letter writing session to help free imprisoned writers in our region.
