These men are among 45 checked into a Melbourne hotel. They're not allowed out
More than 45 men, formerly held in the Manus Island centre, are now confined to one floor of the $180-a-night Mantra on Bell in Preston, which is off limits to other guests and patrolled by private security guards.
Those laws were repealed this month by the government, which argued the system weakened Australia's offshore detention system and set a "very low bar" for asylum seekers to get to Australia from PNG or Nauru. "Accommodation decisions are made on a case-by-case basis but, where appropriate, detainees may be placed in accommodation that is not within an immigration detention facility," the spokesperson said.under medevac provisions have been sent to hotels, apartments and detention facilities across the country.
Mantra guests are forbidden to use the gym for two hours a day, while Medevac refugees are using the facilities. Moz was detained for 6½ years in Manus and Port Moresby. At Mantra, he says he spends 19 hours a day in his room. Refugees flown to Australia under the now-repealed Medevac laws are being held in a Preston hotel room.Advocates say the isolation of the men in the motel is further endangering their mental and physical health, after years of detention on Manus Island and Port Moresby.Refugee advocate Jane Salmon, who visited a detainee at Mantra on Monday, said while the men were classed as medevac outpatients, they were receiving only minimal medical care.
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