MoAD is open. There may be building works during your visit. The Cabinet Room is temporarily closed. Learn more

The Heart of the Matter

Scott Morrison sits on a beach chair talking on a phone in front of the Christmas Island Detention Centre. He says, 'Look, I'd love to be able to help those little girls but my empathy training doesn't go that far...'

Any sunny optimism in Fiona Katauskas’s landscape is dimmed by the two issues she brings together — the Prime Minister ordering a backbencher accused of concerning behaviour into empathy training, and the perception of a lack of empathy for the ‘Biloela family’ of asylum seekers, who had spent almost two years in detention on Christmas Island. Subsequently, three of the four family members were granted bridging visas.