Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young will visit Cambodia to investigate Australia's deal to resettle refugees in the impoverished South-East Asian nation. Photo: Andrew Meares
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has vowed to get to the bottom of Australia's deal to resettle in Cambodia those found to be refugees on Nauru during a visit to the South-East Asian nation next week.
Senator Hanson-Young will spend the week in Cambodia on a "fact-finding mission" that will include visits to a children's prison and meetings with refugees living in the slums of Phnom Penh.
"I'm going to see what's actually happening, on the ground, and find out what conditions the refugees that we dump there will face," Senator Hanson-Young told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.
The trip will coincide with a separate visit by the former chief justice of the Family Court, Alastair Nicholson, who chairs an organisation set up to advance children's rights in Cambodia.
Senator Hanson-Young will meet Cambodia's opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who strongly objects to the refugee transfer deal, as well as non-government organisations including the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced the agreement in September, saying it would "start off small" and build up over time. Under the deal, Australia will pay Cambodia $40 million over four years.
"Australia's cruelty towards refugees is bringing international shame on our country, and now the government is trying to spread that to Cambodia," Senator Hanson-Young said.
"I'll be visiting slums outside of Phnom Penh, a children's prison in regional Cambodia and seeing the reality of life on the streets that awaits the young women and girls we send there.
"Scott Morrison wants the truth of this deal out of sight and out of mind, but the Australian people have a right to know what is being done in their names. He has signed the Australian taxpayer up to an open-ended deal with one of the most corrupt regimes on Earth and that needs to be exposed."
While Mr Nicholson strongly opposes the refugee deal, his visit will focus on promoting the work of Children's Rights International, a organisation committed to improving protections of children in the Cambodian legal system.
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