The message was stark.
The reports came through that an unaccompanied minor had been dispatched to Nauru.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre reported the girl arrived on the island yesterday and is between 15 and 16 years old.
It is believed she is the first unaccompanied minor to be actually sent directly to Nauru under the new Federal Government’s offshore processing regime.
Late last night a photograph of her was published arriving on the island by plane.
The Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison’s department told the ABC it is Government policy that families who arrive illegally by boat are sent to Nauru.
There are no exemptions.
It also said the publication of images of asylum seekers can place relatives of those persons at risk in their home countries.
It is for this reason that Mamamia has decided NOT to publish the picture of this young girl.
She is though, not the first unaccompanied minor on Nauru.
Last Friday Immigration Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that there were three other unaccompanied minors already on the island.
How they arrived and their family circumstances were (as usual) not officially disclosed.
Newspaper reports said that the teenagers already on Nauru were two girls and a boy and were transferred by the current government in recent weeks.
One of the girls is a Somalian and was transferred to Nauru as an adult after giving a false age to immigration officials on Christmas Island. The other girl is believed to be an Iranian who also gave a false age.