Refugee on Nauru disputes claims she didn't want abortion

Transcript

The advocates for a Somali refugee who's been held on Nauru have disputed the Australian government's claims she changed her mind about an abortion.

The woman who says she was raped was sent to Australia for a termination because abortion is illegal on the island.

Leilani Momoisea reports:

The Australian government secretly flew the 23-year-old back to Nauru on Friday, without the abortion having taken place. In a statement released on Saturday, Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the woman was sent on a charter flight from Nauru to Sydney for a pregnancy termination, and that the woman had decided not to proceed with the termination. However, the woman has since sent her lawyer, George Newhouse, a letter which contradicts this.

LETTER: I was raped on Nauru. I have been very sick. I have never said that I did not want a termination. I never saw a doctor. I saw a nurse at a clinic but there was no counselling. I saw a nurse at Villawood but there was no interpreter. I asked but was not allowed to talk with my lawyer. Please help.

Mr Newhouse told the ABC that his client was in no fit state to do anything.

GEORGE NEWHOUSE: She'd lost 10 kilograms, she was unfit to fly to Australia, it took two days in emergency in the Nauruan hospital to get her in a fit state to come to Australia, and what she simply had said to the nurse at Villawood, was that 'I can't have the operation today, I'm not well enough mentally and physically, I'll tell you tomorrow, or the next day'.

But Mr Dutton, refutes this. He says the woman was seen by medical professionals, including a primary healthcare nurse, a mental health nurse, and a doctor on a number of occasions, with an interpreter there for most of those visits.

PETER DUTTON: We've demonstrated that we were to provide support, that we were in a position to provide support, we did. We provided that support, we allowed the lady, facilitated a number of visits to health professionals. After the health professionals consulted with the lady, the lady made a decision and she was sent back to Nauru. That's as clear as I can be in relation to this matter.

The Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul, who spoke to the woman the day after she was flown out, says she had been seeking counselling over the issue first.

IAN RINTOUL: We were in the process of trying to get independent counsellors for her even as that removal process was actually taking place. The government knew that, she's quite insistent that she did not get the counselling.

Last week, Mr Dutton told media that refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru were asking for medical care in Australia in order to try to have their refugee claims processed on the mainland. He described the behaviour as a racket. This week Mr Dutton pointed out the Somali woman had been allowed in for medical attention only.

PETER DUTTON: When it was obvious that medical assistance wasn't required in Australia, the lady was airlifted back to Nauru. Now we're trying to provide third party country outcomes for these people, we're trying to provide a new home for them in Cambodia, we're having bilateral discussions, otherwise we've been very clear that people won't be settled in Australia because we're not going to allow the people smugglers to get back into business and for people to drown at sea.  

But her lawyer, George Newhouse says there was never any instruction, or application made for his client to stay in Australia permanently.

GEORGE NEWHOUSE: When we heard an hour before she was being removed from the country without treatment, that that was going to happen, of course we tried to stop her from going back without treatment. But that was a temporary injunction, it was not an effort to keep her in Australia permanently, which is the so-called scam that the minister is talking about.

The Minister has not ruled out allowing the woman to return to Australia, as long as it's not for migration purposes.