Opinion: Asylum Seekers - Hussain Ali, caught in the system

On Friday, I posted an article, Asylum Seekers: Australia - Hussain Ali, "We need protection not detention". The next day I received an email from someone who had read the article and was horrified to discover the young man in question, was his former room mate in Curtin Detention Centre - eleven years ago.

I was touched by the article and the email, so I decided to spread the message across Twitter. I sent tweets to Green MPs such as Bob Brown and the publicity stunt pulling, Sarah Hanson Young - two people who like to get in front of the cameras to portray themselves ad "friends of detainees".

None of the so called advocates responded or retreated. However, the 'National Communications Manager at Dept Immigration and Citizenship, Canberra' did take the time to read and respond very quickly.

"We're aware of all our clients' cases and seek to process people as efficiently as possible. Some are more complex than others"

I quite understand the need to protect the privacy of detainees, and I also appreciate it is difficult for spokespersons to comment on specific cases.

Therein however, lies the problem. It is very hard to judge both sides of any story when only one side is able to be told.

Perhaps a great deal of misunderstanding and resentment can be removed if we are able to get a better understanding of why Hussain Ali, and others like him, have spent more time in detention than many who have committed serious crimes. Until we know the "official" side of the story, we can only base our feelings and opinions on what we know - one side of the story. And based on the side we have heard, we are quite entitled to come to the conclusion, that Australia's mandatory detention policy, is an inhumane betrayal of human rights, largely based on every Australian politicians desire to please the mass media on which they are so reliant.

Meanwhile, another day in Paradise is just another day behind razor wire for those who risked their lives to flee to a land that proudly boasts of how it fought for freedom and democracy. Terms and conditions apply, please contact your nearest talk-back radio station to check if you qualify.

As for the sticky-back plastic Greens, ask not what your country can do for you - ask what the hell have you ever done for it. If you ever come up with an answer, let us know.