**No Christmas on Christmas Island
Christmas may be a time of joy and holiday for some, but for asylum seekers and refugees locked up on Christmas Island and immigration detention centres around Australia, there is no respite from the degradation and uncertainty of not knowing when you will be released, deported back to danger or continue to be locked up indefinitely.
The tragedy on December 15 of a boatload of refugees being smashed up on the rocks at Christmas Island with 28 refugees drowning demonstrates the inhumanity of Australia's refugee policy. If the Australian government had honoured its agreement to take 500 refugees from Indonesia this year, this tragedy might not have happened.
Join Refugee Action Collective (Victoria) outside the Myer Christmas Windows for a vigil for the refugees who lost their lives in this tragedy and and to raise awareness of the plight of asylum seekers and refugees who are locked up as part of the Australian government's inhumane policy of mandatory detention.
There are currently 5,360 people locked in detention and out of that, 856 are children. These children are deprived of education and often left without toys or means of recreation including Villawood Detention Centre denying entry of a soccer ball because it was a 'security risk.'
Instead of living like ordinary children, children in detention, like all detainees are driven to self-harm and mental illness. We think they deserve to live like any other child.
What sort of a country treats innocent people like this?