Detention facility conditions slammed

In the late 1970s I resided part-time in employer-provided accommodation in the remote northwest of Western Australia. The quarters were primitive at best: unair-conditioned, tiny, no swimming pool or other amenities and communal toilets and showers. There was no point in complaining because the employer wasn't about to upgrade facilities.

Facilities at the Leonora asylum seeker detention camp are the equal of, or better than, those endured by many outback workers but are apparently not good enough for asylum seekers, many of whom spent days at sea on cramped, often rickety vessels:

A refugee activist group has labelled conditions at the Leonora detention centre in Western Australia's Goldfields as appalling.

The main problem is the treatment of children:

Mothers cannot cook for their children, prison guards are watching their children all the time, intervening in the parental relationships with their children.

The conditions out in this camp are such that we have children living in a prison camp, not prison like conditions, these children are imprisoned.

These poor imprisoned children are also forced to attend a public school specifically upgraded to cater to their needs.

Toughen up, princesses.