We Talked Refugees with Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young in Cambodia

​Back in September, Scott Morrison, the Australian Minister for Immigration, announced a ​​refugee relocation deal with Cambodia. For $40 million in aide money over four years, Cambodia agreed to permanently resettle refugees who had sought asylum in Australia without visas and ended up at the Nauru Detention Centre.

Few details have been provided beyond that, leaving Australian tax-payers and Cambodian citizens guessing at how many asylum seekers will arrive, what assistance will be offered, or how they'll be permanently resettled. To get an idea of what they're in for, the Australian Greens Senator for South Australia, Sarah Hanson-Young, travelled to Cambodia over the weekend. We caught up with her while she toured a Phnom Penh slum.

VICE: Hi Sarah, little detail of this deal has actually been released. How do you know you're looking at anything related to refugees?
​Sarah Hanson-Young: Well, I'm don't. I'm here to better grasp the reality for Cambodian nationals. The Australian government says that children who are sent here will have access to the local schools. Well, I learned today that you have to pay bribe money for your children to attend class, and in order for them to get any tutoring from the teachers. If you get sick and go to the local hospital, you'll only get seen by a doctor or looked after by a nurse if you can pay money under the table. Where is that money going to come from? Is it going to be Australian taxpayer money being used to effectively prop up what is a health and education system run on bribes?

Let's assume Australia will pay the bribes. Is Cambodia still the wrong place for refugees?
​I just met some ​Rohingya refugees from Burma amongst others. And after four years living in Phnom Penh, they still haven't become self-sufficient or found proper jobs. They have no identity documents and they live in limbo. They've got no sense of belonging. This deal that Australia has signed with Cambodia is meant to be about permanent resettlement. There is nothing permanent or settled about living as a refugee in Cambodia. Refugees here are really looking to get out of Phnom Penh and out of the country because this isn't a life for them.

What do you believe is the alternative?
​The deal mustn't go ahead and refugees in Nauru should be resettled in Australia. If our role is about helping the Cambodian people, let's not add to their problems. The appalling aspect of this is that Australia is tying this deal by giving the Cambodian government – who has no respect for the rights of their own people - a cover. The Australian government is effectively giving legitimacy to corruption and human rights abuse in Cambodia.

Are you seeing any nice parts of Cambodia to counter-balance the slums?
​Yes, we are travelling to Battambang and Siem Reap provinces to check out a few educations programs, as well as to see what positive work has been done by NGOs on the ground. But I already can sense from two days here that there are no safety nets or health services for local Cambodians. It is all delivered by NGOs. That's a recurrent theme and the Australian government wants to add to that pressure.

So how do you hope to remedy this situation?
​I'll be going back to Australia to urge my colleagues in Parliament to vote against it. We can stop this if the majority of Parliament doesn't want it to happen. The opposition hasn't formally adopted a position yet so they'll hopefully recognise this deal as a human rights disaster. Actually, a lawyer I met here in Phnom Penh said, around this region, a lot of countries send their rubbish to Cambodia for recycling butAustralia is sending their refugees to be dumped. These are humans we're talking about, not cans of Coke. Australia should be taking responsibility for them. Not paying dirty money to dump them.

What do you think is behind this deal?
​I think the government wants to get rid of refugees without taking responsibility for them. To do this they've convinced Parliament and the Australian public that there are guarantees, and that the refugees here will be treated properly, but they're really kidding themselves. There are no safety nets in Cambodia. Would anyone believe Australia could implement some just for a special group of refugees that we send here? It is ludicrous. This is a country that operates on bribes to get along in everyday life. Australian's money is going to be the biggest bribe of all.

Follow Clothilde on Twitter: ​@CloLeCoz