Valla Beach
NSW 2448
30th April 2021
Dear Prime Minister,
Please find enclosed an open letter, addressed to you, and signed by 802 people who have visited our Rural Australian for Refugees market stalls in recent months. The letter reads:
“We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the plight of the many hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers who, years after seeking asylum in Australia, still remain in limbo on Nauru and in PNG, and in detention centres or Alternative Places of Detention in Australia. Most of them have severe mental health and other problems as a direct result of their ongoing and indefinite detention. Medical experts report that many of these people are getting increasingly sick as time goes on. The cost in human suffering is enormous and unconscionable. It’s time to show humanity and to end their torment.
We call on the government to immediately release refugees and people seeking asylum and commit to their resettlement in a safe, permanent home by World Refugee Day on 20th July 2021.”
We have long since lost count of the number of visitors to our market stalls who tell us of their despair and their shame about the government’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. They constantly ask: “How did we get to this? How did we sink so low as a society?” The answer would appear to be that politics and the pursuit of power have taken precedence over humanity, compassion and respect for human rights.
It is surely time for the government to seek bipartisan support to put an end to this unnecessary and cruel suffering. Innocent people, who have committed no crime, should never be used as a political weapon in the pursuit of power.
Set them free!
Yours sincerely,
M L G
Bellingen and Nambucca District RAR
No comments:
Post a Comment