The Claim
“Chose not to give 300 children almost any schooling during 9 months of detention.”
Original Sources Provided
✅ FACTUAL VERIFICATION
The core facts are substantiated. The Australian Human Rights Commission, led by President Professor Gillian Triggs, conducted a public inquiry in 2014 into children in immigration detention [1]. Following a visit to Christmas Island with child health experts, Professor Triggs reported that approximately 300 children were missing out on education [1].
The inquiry heard evidence that some children detained for up to nine months on Christmas Island had received only two weeks of schooling during that entire period [1]. At the time of the April 2014 hearing, there were more than 900 children in Australian immigration detention facilities (excluding the offshore processing facility on Nauru) [1].
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection acknowledged at the hearing that they were having "difficulties getting teachers there" [1]. However, the Department's stated priority was "to break the people smugglers' business model and dissuade people from coming to Australia" [1].
Missing Context
The claim omits several critical pieces of context:
Policy Rationale: The Department explicitly stated their primary goal was deterring people smuggling [1]. While this does not excuse the lack of education, it provides context that the decision was part of a broader deterrence strategy rather than simple neglect.
Location Challenges: Christmas Island is an extremely remote Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, approximately 2,600 kilometers from Perth. The Department cited practical difficulties in recruiting and deploying teachers to this remote location [1].
Historical Precedent: The ABC article notes that a previous inquiry in 2002 found similar human rights breaches, leading the Howard (Coalition) government to release children into the community [1]. This indicates the issue predated the Abbott Coalition government.
Bipartisan Policy Foundation: The policy of mandatory immigration detention itself was introduced by the Keating (Labor) Government in the early 1990s, and both major parties have continued to support it [2]. The detention of children was not a Coalition invention but a continuation of a bipartisan policy framework.
Administrative vs. Policy Choice: The claim frames this as a deliberate "choice not to give" education, but the Department's testimony suggests a combination of policy prioritization (deterrence) and logistical challenges (remote location teacher recruitment) rather than a specific anti-education stance [1].
Source Credibility Assessment
Original sources are generally credible:
ABC News (Source 1): The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is Australia's public broadcaster, generally regarded as mainstream and reputable. The April 4, 2014 article reports on official Human Rights Commission inquiry hearings. ABC News is broadly centrist but has faced criticism from both sides of politics regarding coverage of asylum seeker issues.
SMH (Source 2): The Sydney Morning Herald is a mainstream Fairfax newspaper (now Nine) with center-left editorial leanings. The linked article focuses on UNHCR perspectives on resettlement rather than directly on the education claim.
Additional authoritative sources consulted:
Australian Human Rights Commission: The "Forgotten Children" inquiry (2014) was an official statutory investigation led by President Gillian Triggs, providing authoritative findings on this issue.
Parliamentary Research: A Parliamentary Library research paper confirms that mandatory detention was introduced by Labor and has bipartisan support [2].
Labor Comparison
Did Labor do something similar?
Yes - Labor governments had comparable and in some ways more severe records on children in detention.
Policy Origin: The Keating (Labor) Government introduced mandatory immigration detention in the early 1990s, establishing the legislative framework that enabled detention of children [2].
Rudd/Gillard Years (2007-2013): During the last years of Labor government, significant numbers of children were held in detention. The numbers peaked dramatically in 2010-2013 as boat arrivals increased. By mid-2013, there were approximately 2,000 children in detention facilities under Labor [3].
Offshore Processing: The Rudd Government reinstated offshore processing to Nauru and Papua New Guinea in 2013, which included children being sent to these facilities [4]. Conditions on Nauru have been widely criticized by human rights organizations.
No Direct Education Comparison: While Labor also held children in detention for extended periods, specific comparisons regarding schooling access during Labor's tenure are less documented in public inquiry records. However, the structural issues (remote detention, mandatory detention policy) were the same or worse under Labor in terms of raw numbers of children detained.
Howard Government Comparison: The previous Coalition (Howard) government actually released children into community detention following a 2002 Human Rights Commission inquiry [1], demonstrating that Coalition governments have also responded to similar findings by reducing child detention.
Scale Comparison: The 300 children on Christmas Island without adequate schooling in 2014 came after the Coalition had already significantly reduced child detention numbers from Labor-era peaks. The Coalition subsequently moved toward releasing children into community detention, though progress was slow.
Balanced Perspective
The full story is more nuanced than the claim suggests:
Legitimate Criticisms (supported by evidence):
- 300 children on Christmas Island were indeed receiving minimal education (as little as 2 weeks over 9 months) [1]
- This represented a failure to meet Australia's obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding education access
- The Department's prioritization of deterrence over children's welfare raises serious ethical concerns
- Remote detention on Christmas Island created structural barriers to education that the government failed to adequately address
Context and Nuances:
- The issue was not unique to the Coalition government. The policy framework was established by Labor, and Labor governments also detained thousands of children (including reopening offshore processing) [2][4]
- The Department cited practical challenges (teacher recruitment to remote locations) alongside policy priorities [1]
- The Human Rights Commission inquiry that exposed this issue led to subsequent policy changes, including moves toward community detention
- By 2014, the total number of children in detention was declining from Labor-era peaks
Comparative Context:
This was not a "Coalition-specific" failure but rather a systemic failure across Australian governments of both major parties. The policy of mandatory detention - supported by both Labor and Coalition - creates structural conditions that make adequate education provision difficult. Both parties have prioritized border protection policies that result in children being held in detention facilities, whether onshore or offshore.
Key Context: The claim presents this as a specific failure of the Coalition government, but the mandatory detention policy that enables such situations has been bipartisan for over 30 years. Labor's record on child detention was, if anything, more extensive in terms of absolute numbers detained.
PARTIALLY TRUE
5.0
out of 10
The factual elements of the claim are accurate: approximately 300 children on Christmas Island were receiving grossly inadequate schooling (as little as 2 weeks over 9 months) during the Coalition government in 2014, as documented by the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry [1]. However, the framing as a deliberate "choice not to give" education oversimplifies a situation involving both policy prioritization (deterrence) and logistical challenges (remote location teacher recruitment).
More significantly, the claim omits the critical context that mandatory detention of children has been bipartisan policy since Labor introduced it in the 1990s [2]. Labor governments detained thousands more children during 2007-2013, including sending children to offshore facilities [3][4]. Presenting this as a Coalition-specific failing ignores that both major parties have supported the policy framework that creates these conditions, and both have detained children in inadequate conditions.
Final Score
5.0
OUT OF 10
PARTIALLY TRUE
The factual elements of the claim are accurate: approximately 300 children on Christmas Island were receiving grossly inadequate schooling (as little as 2 weeks over 9 months) during the Coalition government in 2014, as documented by the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry [1]. However, the framing as a deliberate "choice not to give" education oversimplifies a situation involving both policy prioritization (deterrence) and logistical challenges (remote location teacher recruitment).
More significantly, the claim omits the critical context that mandatory detention of children has been bipartisan policy since Labor introduced it in the 1990s [2]. Labor governments detained thousands more children during 2007-2013, including sending children to offshore facilities [3][4]. Presenting this as a Coalition-specific failing ignores that both major parties have supported the policy framework that creates these conditions, and both have detained children in inadequate conditions.
📚 SOURCES & CITATIONS (5)
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1
Inquiry hears child detainees missing out on months of school
Some children detained on Christmas Island for up to nine months have had only two weeks of schooling during that time, a public hearing in Sydney has been told.
Abc Net -
2
A comparison of Coalition and Labor government asylum policies
Parlinfo Aph Gov
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3PDF
The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention 2014
Unhcr • PDF Document -
4
Asylum Insight: The Forgotten Children
Asylum Insight
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5
Liberal v Labor: Where the major parties stand on migration
Ahead of the 2022 federal election, SBS takes a look at the differences between the major parties' stances on migration.
SBS News
Rating Scale Methodology
1-3: FALSE
Factually incorrect or malicious fabrication.
4-6: PARTIAL
Some truth but context is missing or skewed.
7-9: MOSTLY TRUE
Minor technicalities or phrasing issues.
10: ACCURATE
Perfectly verified and contextually fair.
Methodology: Ratings are determined through cross-referencing official government records, independent fact-checking organizations, and primary source documents.