88-Year-Old Asks Peter Dutton if He Can Swap Places With a Refugee on Nauru or Manus

88-year-old retired judge and prominent unionist Dr Jim Macken has written to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, offering to swap places with a refugee detained on Manus Island or Nauru. While he's yet to hear a response back, Macken says he's offering the unusual request in "complete sincerity."

In the letter, sent to Dutton last month and subsequently obtained by the Guardian, Macken—who served for 15 years as a justice in the industrial court of New South Wales, and is a member of the Order of Australia—says that he is willing to give up his Australian citizenship if necessary, in order to save one refugee and allow them permanent residency in Australia.

"My reason for making this proposal is simple," Macken writes. "I can no longer remain silent as innocent men, women, and children are being held in appalling circumstances on Manus Island and Nauru."

"It is even worse that they are being held in these dangerous and inhospitable conditions in order to ensure no other asylum seekers and refugees attempt to come to Australia for protection," he continues. "The Australian Government is essentially treating refugees in these camps as human shields and this is utterly immoral. As this is being done in my name I cannot remain silent."

Macken acknowledged that if Dutton were to accept the proposal, it was unlikely he'd ever see Australian soil again, saying that he would nonetheless "consider it a privilege to live out my final years in either Nauru or Manus Island."

The former judge is no doubt aware of the allegations surrounding human rights abuses on both offshore detention centres, as brought to light with the release of the Nauru files and the ruling of Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court that Manus Island violated human rights provisions in the nation's constitution.

Macken has publicly criticised Australia's offshore detention policies before, writing in a New Matilda article in May this year that "I would trade in my doctorate, my Order of Australia, my life membership of the ALP, and anything else I have of value tomorrow to free these poor buggers incarcerated on these prison islands… These are innocent men, women and kids who know that burning themselves to death is preferable to living under Australian detention conditions."

Athough he's a lifelong member of the Labor Party, Macken says he cannot support the party's current stance on immigration. He says he now "stays quiet" about his connection to Labor.

VICE was unable to reach the Department of Immigration and Border Protection for comment.

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