Border Force Banned These Nuns From Taking Asylum Seeker Kids To The Zoo

    Immigration authorities say the excursions for children being held in a Melbourne detention centre were inappropriate.

    A program where a small group of Catholic nuns took children in immigration detention centres out on excursions has been shut down by Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

    The program was run by a group of Brigidine nuns who run the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (BASP).

    For the last four years, they would take small groups of adult or child asylum seekers from the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation immigration detention centre in Broadmeadows for day trips.

    Now, they're only allowed to come along to day trips that are run by the detention centre service provider Serco, accompanied by officers.

    Sister Brigid Arthur told BuzzFeed News the trips meant a lot to the children.

    "If they were kids, we'd take them to playgrounds, the zoo, Collingwood Children's Farm, or indoor entertainment centres depending on the weather. Or we'd take them to KMart and we'd let them choose one toy to buy," she said.

    "If they were adults, sometimes we'd just ask them where they want to go, and we'd go out for a meal, or to Federation Square, or take a trip to Dandenong - because there are a lot of Afghani shops there."

    Sister Brigid says the excursions are particularly valuable during school holidays, when they need extra stimulation, being stuck inside the detention centre with nothing to do.

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    "We asked Border Force if we could take the kids out in July and September and they said no. This is during the school holidays when there's nothing for the kids to do.

    "It's not just that, they're constantly surrounded by highly traumatised adults, who are terribly anxious and depressed. It's an awful situation and the kids need some alleviation from that," she said.

    In June, the new head of Border Force in Victoria met with the group and informed them that there were security issues that meant that the program would be suspended, pending a review.

    Sister Brigid believes the security concerns are unfounded, given that there has never been an issue with security or people trying to run away during their excursions.

    "We did this for four years and we never had someone who didn't turn up," she said. "But when Serco take them out to the dentist or the doctors, people escape.

    "They would never have run away from us because we're their friends."

    The problem with Serco taking over excursions, she said, is that the presence of guards is exactly what the asylum seekers are trying to escape.

    "Many people we've had say, 'we like to go swimming' but when they go to the pool and there's Border Force people standing on either end watching them swim, and everyone else at the pool knows it, it's just awful. So they don't want to go swimming anymore."

    There's some exceptional Border Force-speak in the ABC interview, with Raf Epstein trying to figure out exactly why the program is being cancelled:

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    Epstein: Do you really think the nuns aren't capable of keeping kids safe? Thats a little bizarre to be honest. I can't think of a better person to trust with a kid's welfare.Smith: The nuns can't control all of the circumstances in which an excursion occurs. So the people who we employ for this purpose have been trained in a range of events should certain types of scenarios arise.Epstein: That sounds a little bureaucratic. I can't imagine there's anywhere at the zoo or an adventure playground where a nun can't keep a kid safe. To be honest it sounds like you're looking for an excuse to not let the nuns take them. And later..Epstein: So why can't you let the nuns take kids?Smith: We would welcome the nuns to participate in the excursions that we're running through the service provider, Serco.

    A statement from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said the nuns excursion program had been deemed "not appropriate."