Project Site

Over 100 people who came to this nation to seek asylum are currently detained inside the Kangaroo Point Central Hotel & Apartments in inner city Brisbane (Meanjin). They cannot hug their families or loved ones in the surrounding community. They cannot leave the hotel to walk around or exercise and most are not even able to use the balcony. They have been detained inside the hotel for between 6-18 months since being transferred from offshore detention centres under the Medivac bill.

During the last COVID-19 lockdown, security guards continued to come in and out of the compound daily, putting all detainees at risk of transmission, with at least one guard testing positive for the virus. In response to the COVID risk and the cruelty of indefinite detention, some detainees started peacefully protesting by displaying signs constructed from plastic bags to inform the local community of what was happening inside the hotel/detention centre. As their protests gained traction and members of the surrounding community started protesting in solidarity, the immigration department began transferring detainees (specifically targeting those who had been involved in organising and speaking to media) to a higher security detention centre (BITA) in Pinkenba where their protest wouldn’t be visible.

This website is a collection of ongoing projects focused on outreach to raise support and awareness of those detained, documenting the continuing protests and researching the broader detention-industrial complex that uses cruelty and torture of innocent people as a strategic tactic.

—Refugee Solidarity Meanjin, August 2020