Chasing Asylum: Australia's Offshore Detention Centres

Life in Australia's detention camps on Nauru and Manus Island through the eyes of asylum seekers and whistleblowers.

No asylum seeker arriving in Australia by boat will ever be settled in the country. With this harsh policy, Australia's government has stemmed the flow of hopeful asylum seekers reaching its shores.

Anyone picked up making the treacherous journey across the Indian Ocean is sent to Australia's offshore detention camps on the remote tropical islands of Manus and Nauru.

Once there, men, women and children are held in indefinite detention, away from media scrutiny.

Nauru: Australia's Guantanamo Bay? (video)

Three former teachers at Australia's 'processing centre' for asylum seekers break their silence about the conditions.

In 2013, Australia's government announced a tough new policy towards refugees travelling by boat to its shores. The campaign that went with it was called, "No way. You will not make Australia home".

Its goal was to discourage asylum seekers from entering the country "illegally" - as the government saw it.

Most were coming from countries such as Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Many refugees - having fled their homes - considered themselves stateless.

Their journeys were arduous and complex. Those from Iran, for instance, would travel first to Malaysia, where they could enter without a visa. Then they'd make their way to southernmost Indonesia, and from there, they took boats towards Australia's closest islands.

'People have self-immolated to get to Australia' – immigration minister's response to Nauru files

Peter Dutton dismisses revelations and accuses asylum seekers of making false claims of sexual assault

Peter Dutton is to put it mildly an ass hole, a racist, xenophobic and believes that people fake sexual assaults and self harm  in an attempt to reach Australia.    Peter Dutton would've been at home in America's Ku Klux Klan, The John Birch Society or various white supremacists groups.  How else does one explain his indifference to the plight of refugees being held in Nauru.   Why isn't he Minister of Truth or Minister Love as they would better fit his inhumanity and lack of awareness.  I'm sure given Australia's history of racism that Peter will continue to be praised for his fine work as racist in chief of Australia.

Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has accused asylum seekers of setting themselves on fire, deliberately self-harming, or making false allegations of sexual assault in order to come to Australia.

On Thursday Dutton dismissed the revelations contained in the Nauru files published by the Guardian, which contain graphic reports of sexual assault, child abuse and self-harm written by detention centre staff and said: “Most of that’s been reported on before.”

He said: “I won’t tolerate any sexual abuse whatsoever. But I have been made aware of some incidents that have been reported, false allegations of sexual assault, because in the end people have paid money to people smugglers and they want to come to our country.