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Mar 6, 2012
'Minister's kids' denied access to school
Around 200 teenage boys who are without an adult relative have been moved from immigration detention in Darwin to the remote site of Leonora. In Darwin the boys were able to attend local schools, in Leonora - they are not permitted an education.
Apparently the federal Government was advised in late 2011 that the local Leonora schools could not accommodate large numbers of asylum seeker children. Despite this knowledge, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Minister himself (who is the 'guardian' of these children) decided in 2012 to send the teenagers to Leonora anyway.
This move comes at a time when the Federal Government is imposing welfare penalties on families who do not ensure that their children attend school for the majority of the term. What is the Minister doing to ensure the children in his care receive the education to which they are entitled?
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