DONATIONS: Some joy for asylum seekers

Supporters of asylum seekers and refugees in Broadmeadows and Maribyrnong detention centres are collecting Christmas gifts for them.

Jenell Quinsee, pictured with Claire, told the Weekly she has had an “amazing” response to her Christmas shoebox appeal on Facebook, with numerous people donating items.

The appeal asks people to decorate shoeboxes and fill them with small gifts for people detained at the centres, some of whom have been left in limbo by Australia’s flip-flop refugee policies for almost five years.

Supporters also held a vigil outside the Broadmeadows detention centre on Monday night.