Newsletter for 19 June 2018 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

_{Roadside demonstration report} 

_{Coffs Harbourside market report}

_{A reply from  Danijela Spadina at ASC}

_{The Wendy Sharpe auction}

_{Another death on Nauru}

_{Roadside demonstration report}

_{Last Thursday's demonstration went well, though we were few in number again. Lots of support from passing motorists, and a few dissenters, as usual. Please consider joining us for our next demonstration which will be on Thursday 28th June from 2.30 to 4.00 pm in Bellingen. You will find us at our regular location on Waterfall Way, adjacent to the Yellow Shed. Please come along if you can to help us get the message across about the urgent need to end offshore detention.}

_{Coffs Harbourside market report}

_{A great market in sunny Coffs Harbour on Sunday. We had lots of interesting conversations with market- goers, distributed leaflets,collected many signatures on our open letter and signed up a number of new supporters. A big thank you to our loyal team of helpers. Our next market will be the Bellingen market  on Saturday 21st July from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm. If you can lend a hand for an hour or two, then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.}

_{A reply from  Danijela Spadina at ASC}

_{Last week, following our fundraising concert, we donated $1,500 to the Asylum Seekers Centre in Newtown to support their vital work with asylum seekers in Sydney. ASC's fundraising manager wrote to us to say: "This is a fantastic result - you must be so pleased that you reached your four-figure goal. Of course, we certainly are! We also saw that you guys had a great write-up in the Nambucca Guardian, and we proudly showed it on our Facebook page.}

_{I look forward to hearing how the Wendy Sharpe auction went."}

_{The Wendy Sharpe auction}

_{You will be aware that Archibald and Sulman Prize winner Wendy Sharpe has very generously donated two paintings to us to help with our fundraising. Full details of the paintings, including photos, were emailed to our 570+ supporters some 10 days ago. To date, we have not received any bids, so in order to increase interest in the two works, we have decided to scrap the floor bid price and to take any reasonable bids for one or other of the paintings. There is now no immediate deadline for the submission of bids, but we would like to sell them by early August. If  you would like further information, or would like to make a bid for one of the paintings, then please contact Mike at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com. This is a great opportunity to own a work by a well-known Australian artist, in addition to contributing to our fundraising on behalf of ASC.}

_{Another death on Nauru}

_{Last Friday, 15th June, a 26-year-old Iranian man was found dead in his tent in the Nauru detention centre by family members. It appears the he committed suicide. Yet another death in detention , as a direct result of our government's deliberate policy of driving people to despair.  A fellow refugee stated: "He had been suffering for a long time because of his family's situation. He was sick and tired." The staff at the camp understandably insisted that the young man's death is entirely the responsibility of the Australian government, given that it is our government which established and which funds these appalling places.  And our government's response? " The Department is aware of the death in Nauru today, 15th June 2018. Further enquiries should be referred to the Nauruan authorities ".}

_{How many more deaths will it take for the government to finally evacuate all the refugees and asylum seekers from Nauru and Manus? When will our representatives in parliament finally come together and agree that this suffering cannot go on any longer?} 

_{Telephone numbers that you might find useful:}

_{Malcolm Turnbull: 02 6277 7700 or 02 9327 3980} 

_{Peter Dutton: 02 6277 7860 or 07 3205 9977}

_{Bill Shorten:  02 6277 4022   or  03 9326 1300}

_{Tanya Plibersek:  02 6277 4404  or  02 9379 0700}

_{Check out the index of subjects on our blog  http://bellorar.blogspot.com.au} 

_{It includes articles from many sources and letters to politicians and newspapers.}

_{This newsletter is sent to >580 recipients}

_{Our Face book is at https://www.facebook.com/Rural-Australians-for-Refugees-Bellingen-and-Nambucca-Districts-269696303205083/timeline/}

_{(482 likes)}

_{Twitter Account @RARBellingenNam}

_{Email address bellingen.rar@gmail.com}

_{The National RAR web site is at  www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org.au} 

_{The National RAR facebook site is at  RAR Facebook}