Photo: Linda RobertsonAward-winning Australian journalist Wendy Bacon spoke out yesterday over the plight of hundreds of refugees at the Manus Island detention centre, and urged public support for a New Zealand offer to accept 150 of the refugees. Wendy Bacon''We have a responsibility to all raise our voices,'' Ms Bacon said. She urged New Zealanders to speak up over a ''denial'' of human rights and ''continuing abuses'' of human rights among the refugees and asylum seekers. Australian officials want many of the Manus Island refugees to go to the United States under a previously negotiated agreement but said the New Zealand offer remained ''on the table''. •Ms Bacon is the co-author of a report on the detention of women asylum seekers on Nauru.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 02, 2017 18:11 UTC