It seems a Cleveland protest against the treatment of a pregnant Somali refugee has paid off.
On Wednesday afternoon, hours after a protest outside Bowman MP Andrew Laming’s office, the government granted her permission to fly to Brisbane for medical treatment.
The woman, who goes by the pseudonym Abyan, says she was raped on Nauru.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said medical experts met with the woman and she would return to Brisbane for medical assistance, despite initially saying she did not want to.
Her previous harsh treatment prompted the protest in Cleveland on Wednesday, the same day former prime Minister Tony Abbott told the Margaret Thatcher Lecture in London world leaders should turn boats around and deny asylum seekers entry.
It was a day after the Palaszczuk government offered to accept 3500 Syrian refugees as part of a "compassionate and generous response" to photos of a drowned child on a Turkish beach.
The group of Redland women, called Women Supporting Women in Detention, decided to take action to highlight the plight of all refugee women including the woman, known as Abyan.
Abyan was taken to Brisbane on October 11 after asking for an abortion claiming she was raped on Nauru.
But she was returned to Nauru without having any medical procedure.
Refugee Action Coalition Ian Rintoul said the woman wanted the abortion and said she must be returned to Brisbane for urgent medical attention.
Women Supporting Women in Detention organiser Betty Taylor said the group also wanted Abyan brought back to Brisbane to get an abortion.
They also challenged the government to allow visits to Nazanin, another rape victim, in a mental health facility in Brisbane and for Mojgan, a woman in detention in Darwin, to be re-united with her husband in Brisbane.
"October is Sexual Violence Awareness Month and rape is a crime, whether it is committed in our homes, in our community or in detention," Ms Taylor said.
"We insist that the Nauruan government takes seriously rapes against refugee and asylum seeker women in Australia’s care and stop threatening false complaint charges against the victims.
"We also want to ensure Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs is able to visit Nauru to monitor the human rights situation and investigate human rights abuses amongst refugees and asylum seekers."
The group also asked Mr Laming to take a plea to the federal government calling for Northern Territory MP Nova Peris to have access to Christmas Island, part of her electorate.
