The Wire

A new federal government kit designed to “educate” school children on Australia’s refugee policies has been denounced by parents, teachers and the New South Wales State government, who have slammed it as “political proganda”. The kits – called “Australia says YES to refugees” – were produced by the Minister for Immigration, Amanda Vanstone, and distributed to around 11,000 schools at a cost of $100,000. The kits say that when refugees arrive in Australia, citizens are assigned to help “settle them in” … BUT makes no mention of the conditions faced by people in mandatory detention. Christine Baker spoke to Angelo Gavriolatis, Senior Vice President of the New South Wales Teachers Federation, who believes the information is biased; Sharryn Brownlee, President of the New South Wales Parents and Citizens Federation. The New South Wales State Minister for Education, Dr Andrew Refshauge, was unavailable for a comment this afternoon … but last week he was so incensed by the way in which the kit had been developed that he wrote to his Federal counterpart, Brendan Nelson, demanding to know why state ministers had not been consulted.

See the kit for yourself – Senator Amanda Vanstone’s website
For some comparitive reading, HREOC’s site shows their inquiry into children in detention