Distress, violence and resistance have emerged from cen- tres. almost two decades ago the australian human rights commission (ahrc) shed light on the plight of detained children in the last resort report [ 3 ]. the people’s inquiry into immigration detention [ 4 ] re-iterated a number of these issues and gave insight into what it was like to be detained in baxter and woomera immigration detention centres; cen- tres which have been long shuttered. in this report several health workers testified about the impact of the detention environment, which is perhaps best summed by a mental health professional who noted that “[y]ou couldn’t really design an environment more destructive to child develop- ment than immigration detention” (p. 49). the most recent ahrc report, the forgotten children makes for similar reading [ 5 ], this investigation found that immigration deten- tion was having “profound negative impacts on the men- tal and emotional health of children” (p. 29). these reports have been bolstered by a growing body of evidence which has left no doubt about the devastating impact of these poli- cies [ 6 ]. beyond the suffering of children, australian immigra-