An Australian paediatrician who has been treating asylum seeker children says Australians have no excuse for putting children through the trauma of being in detention.
Hasantha Gunasekera co-authored a recent medical report which revealed more than 80 percent of Australian paediatricians surveyed, strongly disagree with offshore processing.
Dr Gunasekera also adds that the report found more than 80 percent of those surveyed believe the mandatory detention of asylum seeker children is child abuse.
"We see children who are wetting the bed, who are not sleeping, who don't want to play with other children, pulling their hair out, who are having nightmares, who are not eating properly - so we see the physical manifestations of what they've been through. We're perpetuating those traumas and we're exacerbating them and that is the thing that concerns paediatricians."
Dr Hasantha Gunasekera.
