Bullaburra author, Zac Quinn, can see the parallels between the current protests in the USA and his experience working with asylum seekers on Manus Island.
"I've directly witnessed protests, riots and police brutality, but not in New York, Washington or Minneapolis. Watching the current news from the US, I remember trying to help people who were being denied basic human rights and were being pushed to their limits by a government focused solely on winning elections.
"Unfortunately, that was our government, when I worked in offshore detention on Manus Island."
With Refugee Week this week, Mr Quinn penned a short article comparing the current protests against racial injustice and police brutality with his experience as a support worker within the Offshore Detention Centre on Manus Island in 2013.
"If you think these things don't happen here, you're wrong. They do happen here but our government is careful to hide these events on small islands far from public view.
"So when I see Donald Trump talking about "thugs" and "criminals" inciting violence, I recall our politicians spewing similar nonsense about asylum seekers and refugees."
Mr Quinn's book, Sanlundia, written after his time on Manus Island, was about a woman who disappears while working on a remote tropical island, which has become a dumping ground for asylum seekers, refugees, illegal immigrants and any foreigner deemed undesirable by their host governments.
To mark the virtual Refugee Week, Mr Quinn was part of an online Zoom conversation hosted by Amnesty International last Sunday, titled "Opposite Sides of the Fence".
This conversation also included asylum seeker Zaki Haidari, who fled Afghanistan and found himself being processed through the Australian Government's immigration detention system.
The conversation presented viewers with a chance to hear from both an Australian worker and a foreign detainee about their experiences of this system.
