Greens say asylum policies in tatters 'Manus Island is a dangerous place for children' says Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young. WITH a member of the government's own asylum review panel calling for children and their families to be taken off Manus Island, it's time to close down the facility, Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says. "Manus Island is a dangerous place for children, a dangerous place for vulnerable refugees," she said. It is time it was shut down. Australian authorities on Thursday transferred the first group of asylum seekers to the Papua New Guinea processing facility in two months. But Paris Aristotle, part of former defence chief Angus Houston's refugee review panel, says the safeguards needed to mitigate the risk of mental harm have not been put in place. He raised particular concerns about the arbitrary detention of asylum seekers, especially children, on Manus Island. "Six months in I don't think it's appropriate that children are still held in detention anywhere," he told ABC television on Thursday night. Senator Hanson-Young said Australia needed to return to a more humane and inexpensive way of managing the needs of refugees and asylum seekers. She said the government needed to recognise its policies were hurting people. "This is a policy that's not just in tatters but is going to be a disaster for decades to come," she said.