Forgotten Victims

Amid the inevitable political recriminations resulting from the leaking of the Nauru files, the shocking extent of human suffering should not be forgotten. Reports from Australia's offshore wog disposal facility include incidents of sexual assault, self-harm, self-immolation and child abuse, thereby victimising to a cruel and unusual degree the Australian government. The response to the Guardian's report from Australia's minister for keeping 'em out was a litany of compassion in the best James Brokenshire-Mad Tessie vein, condemning the manipulative foreigners whose fanatical urge to steal the jobs of native non-Aboriginals leads them into such undignified behaviour. In any case, the brutalities committed by asylum seekers against well-fed ministers of state are quite futile, since the wog warehouse is maintained at Australia's behest and at the expense of the Australian taxpayer, and is therefore entirely the responsibility of the government of Nauru.