The breathtaking simplicity and callousness of the recently resuscitated Deputy Prime Minister lays bare the attempt to use human lives for votes, Liberty Victoria said today.

“Barnaby Joyce bounces back into Parliament saying control borders or lose votes," said Jessie Taylor, President of the human rights group. “Forget compassion, disregard any duty to one’s fellow human beings, focus on the votes, that is the message.

Australia’s name for decency and a fair go has been permanently stained by the latest sickening violence on Manus Island, Liberty Victoria said today.

Reports of attacks on refugees with metal poles and other weapons to force them to a new unfinished prison after three weeks of resistance shames the nation, said Liberty president Jessie Taylor.

“Our leaders seem deaf to the appeals by Australians of the Year, religious leaders and people going into the street,” she said.

The studied indifference of Australia’s leaders to the abandonment of refugees on Manus Island is becoming a permanent stain on this country’s name, the human rights body Liberty Victoria said today.

As troops prepare to occupy the refugees’ former prison the world will be watching Australia to see if we lift a finger to help, said Liberty President Jessie Taylor.

Months ago the New York Times wrote after touring Nauru and Manus: ”The world’s refugee crisis knows no more sinister exercise in cruelty than Australia’s island prisons.”

Liberty Victoria is one of 83 organisations and experts from 5 nations demanding “Five Eyes” respect strong encryption.

On Friday 30 June 2017, 83 organisations and individuals from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States sent letters to their respective governments insisting that government officials defend strong encryption. The letter comes on the heels of a meeting of the “Five Eyes” ministerial meeting in Ottawa, Canada last week.