Amnesty International Australia is calling on the Mantra Bell City Hotel in Melbourne and Kangaroo Point Central Hotel in Brisbane to end their contracts with the Federal Government to detain refugees held in crowded, unsafe conditions.
Management of the Mantra Group and Central Apartment Group that runs Kangaroo Point have not responded to Amnesty’s letters requesting the end of the arrangement which puts the detainees, as well as other guests, staff and the greater community at risk of infection due to COVID-19.
Amnesty, which has already mobilised almost 10,000 supporters to demand refugees are moved into community detention, is now calling on these supporters to leave an online review on the hotels’ sites raising awareness of the deal the hotels have done with the Federal Government.
One of those detained in the Mantra Hotel, asthma sufferer Mostafa (Moz) Azimitabar, who came to Australia under Medevac laws last year, said: “I know the government could provide us with safe community housing, because this is where most others medically transferred are right now. The only difference is that we were brought here under the Medevac law, so the government is still punishing us.”
Amnesty International Australia Refugee Campaigner, Dr Graham Thom, said: “To date the spotlight has been on the Federal Government to move these refugees to safer, community-based detention, but these hotels have a responsibility to do the right thing too. These men are living in terribly crowded conditions, with security staff and other staff coming and going, with reports they do not have the right protective equipment.
“More than 1100 healthcare professionals have warned about the dire consequences of keeping these men in such conditions when they could be safely moved into community detention. The hotels should do the right thing and end their contracts with the Federal Government immediately.”
REVIEW MANTRA BELL CITY PRESTON HOTEL
- Click above to go to their hotels’ google results.
- On your phone, scroll down and click ‘More reviews’.
- On your computer, scroll down, and on the right side, go to the button that says ‘Write Review’.
- Click ‘Write Review’! Add a comment that you don’t think hotels should be used as prisons and you want refugees sent to community-supported accommodation.
- Give them the star rating you think they deserve.
