Today I finished reading “No Friend but the Mountain –  Writing from Manus Prison” by  Behrouz Boochani, translated by Omid Tofighian.  This is a spectacular book, on so many levels. Behrouz is a prisoner on Manus Island. He refers to the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre as a prison and he is correct.

He has been on Manus, locked up for several years. His supposed crime is to seek refuge in Australia, and to arrive by boat. Seeking refuge is not a crime, but what has happened to him, and many others, under the direction of the Australian Federal Government is.

Reading this book has been devastating, engaging, informative and horrifying. That the government seeks to destroy these humans through imprisoning them is something I find hard to comprehend.

The last few weeks have seen so many details come to light about the cost of  running our off-shore detention centres, and the tender process or lack thereof. It is time that every man living on Manus is transferred to Australia for effective medical treatment, as there would not be one who is not in need of psychiatric care.

Behrouz has won both the won both the $25,000 non-fiction prize at the Victorian premier’s literary awards and the $100,000 Victorian prize for literature. He deserves these accolades.

If you only read one book this year, make it this one. If you only buy one book, purchase this. It should be mandatory reading for every single person who thinks they have a future as a politician in this country, on whatever level of government they aspire to.