After spending some time with two children before they are sent to Nauru, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has shared a photo on his Facebook page.
It is a heartfelt plea to the Prime Minister to allow refugee children to stay in Australia:
I can’t show you their faces, but I can tell you a bit about these two beautiful kids who I took to the Melbourne Zoo.
They’re ordinary Victorians in almost every way. They go to their local primary school; they laugh, they learn, they play.
But one thing is very different: any day now, these two boys will be deported to Nauru and will stay there indefinitely.
Dozens more children face the same fate.
Please, Prime Minister: it doesn’t have to be like this.
Let’s do the right thing by these children and their families. Let’s prove that we really are a fair and decent society.
It was so special meeting these two boys.
Perhaps they don’t really know what might be happening to them. Perhaps they don’t yet understand.
But they love this place. And they certainly loved their trip to the zoo.
They loved seeing the baby animals in their sanctuary, safe and sound.
I wish I could have shown you their faces at that moment. You wouldn’t believe how much they smiled.
You can find Premier Andrews’ original post HERE.
Top Comments
They're using these children for their own selfish political gain, knowing all too well that the result will be the same. Great job giving out false hope, but so long as you get publicity out of it for your own gain it's all good, right?
He could have quietly taken them to the zoo which would have been such a kind and beautiful gesture for children who've gone through so much, but no.
Nothing so cruel as giving false hope to children. Anyway, now you've done this Dan, when are you taking the 35000 homeless Victorians on a nice excursion?
Well for one, the homeless are not as photogenic as children for an orchestrated media publicity stunt.
So because we have a problem with homelessness Dan Andrews isn't allowed to care about any other issue? He isn't allowed to be a leader and call for change? If you are really so concerned about the homeless, I hope you vote for those parties that put money into housing, mental health care, domestic violence programs and social security. Because they are the same parties that care about refugees. Governments are capable of tackling more than one issue at a time, novel concept I know. I apologise for the tone of this comment, but I am just a tad fed up with hearing this argument.
You think it is a serious question, it's not, it's a mindless distraction on your part.
Despite what you think, this is not about the actions of an anonymous poster on a blog, this is about the actions of a highly elected Government official with a hand on the levers to make an actual change in our society.
You're correct. It was cruel, as they should of approached the Federal Government in private, as not to give false hope to people.
What is also cruel, is how people use our homeless and Indigenous populations as a political tool. It's shameful.