The Australian Greens say that the government’s shadowy process of forcibly returning people to Sri Lanka without processing their claims for protection must stop.

“This is a potential life and death decision for those involved,” the Greens immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said today.

“The government is going down a dangerous road where people are potentially being sent back to very serious danger without having their claims for protection processed.

The latest tragic loss of life at sea, together with the record breaking numbers of boat arrivals, point to a fundamental failure of the government’s offshore detention and ‘no advantage’ policies.

“The policy has failed to stop the boats and has sadly failed to stop boat tragedies,” said the Greens’ immigration spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young today.

The Greens are calling for an immediate moratorium on the deportation of Hazaras back to Afghanistan in light of the Federal Court’s ruling today.

“Now that the Federal Court has intervened the government must instantly commit to not sending any Afghan Hazaras back to Kabul,” Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said today.

“There are 120 Hazaras who have been saved by this ruling after the Minister’s unlawful decision to earmark them for deportation.

The opposition’s attempt to link an alleged indecent assault to refugees living in the community is irresponsible, the Australian Greens said today.

“It‘s clear that indecent assault is unacceptable and I am concerned for the young woman involved,” the Greens’ immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said today.

“An appropriate response to this incident is to let the legal system deal with it, it is a matter to be left to the courts.

It is clear that the media must be granted greater access to Australia’s offshore detention centres, the Australian Greens said today after reports emerged from the Department of Immigration regarding regular suicide attempts in the Nauru facility.

"The government’s policy is all about being cruel and mean and it has nothing to do with saving lives," the Greens’ immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said today.

“The reports we’ve heard about today are truly shocking.

The Australian Greens have launched a ‘Books of Hope’ drive today, calling for people all around the country to donate children’s books for refugee families in Manus Island and other detention centres.

“These children are living in terrible conditions and we need to do anything we can to improve their situation,” the Greens’ immigration spokesperson, senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

Reports of children committing self-harm and attempting suicide in Australia’s immigration network are terribly disappointing, but not surprising, the Australian Greens said today.

“It is tragic that there is such cruelty in our immigration network that children are being driven to self-harm and attempted suicide,” the Greens’ immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said today.

“No child should be held in detention.