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ABC journalist Natalie Larkin has been given unprecedented access to detention centres after being arrested outside the Woomera refugee processing camp.
If all goes according to plan, Larkin will be given extensive access to Adelaide Women’s Prison for up to seven years.
“Federal crimes are punishable by terms served in state prisons,” Federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams told The Daily Grind, “and so Ms. Larkin, and selected protestors will be granted access to facilities run by the South Australian government.”
The ‘selected protestors’ include a 12 year-old girl.
Keen to solve the growing PR crisis surrounding the refugees, officials are understood to have taken steps to ensure better coverage of the issue.
“Ms. Larkin will certainly get the inside story now,” one Federal official joked.
The government of Prime Minister John Howard has been stung by criticism of its approach to illegal immigration in recent months. The final straw came when the New York Times expressed concerns over Australia’s treatment of refugees. Americans had hitherto been thought unable to talk about such matters.
