Letter to Mr Albanese

                                                                                                                                                    

Dear. Albanese,

Please find enclosed an open letter, addressed to you, and signed by 822 people, which calls on the Labor Party to take a clear and principled asylum policy to the next federal election. The letter states:

“Dear Mr. Albanese,

As the Labor Party reviews its policy platform in preparation for the federal election, we, the undersigned, urge the Party to adopt a principled and compassionate asylum policy which is consistent with our international obligations. At a minimum, we urge the Party to commit to:

·      Bringing all remaining refugees from Nauru and PNG to Australia for resettlement here or in other safe countries, including New Zealand.

·      Urgently reviewing and processing all outstanding asylum claims.

·      Releasing all remaining refugees and asylum seekers from APODs and other mainland detention centres, except where in individual cases there are overriding security issues.

·      Issuing all genuine refugees in Australia with Permanent Protection Visas.

A clear and principled asylum policy, articulated boldly, would attract significant community support.”

We urge the Labor Party to commit to taking action to end the demonising of asylum seekers and refugees, and to resist the pressure to use the issue of asylum as a political tool. It is surely time to end the decades-long ill-treatment of asylum seekers, and to focus instead on both our international obligations and on our better instincts of compassion and humanity towards those in need of our protection.

We look forward to a positive response from the Labor Party.

Yours sincerely,

M.

Bellingen and Nambucca District Rural Australians for Refugees

Valla Beach

NSW 2448

10^th September, 2021

 

Reply from Senator Kenneally re the Murugappan family

 

From: Keneally, Kristina (Senator) <Senator.Keneally@aph.gov.au>

Sent: Friday, September 10, 

Subject: Thank you for emailing me about the Biloela family

 

Good morning

 

Thank you for contacting me regarding the ‘Biloela family’ - Priya, Nades and their two Australian-born daughters, Kopika and Tharunicaa Murugappan. 

 

I apologise for the time it has taken me to get back to you.

 

As you would be aware, for a long time I have been advocating that the Murugappan family be allowed to go home to Biloela, a town that loves them and wants them back.  In fact, this has been Labor’s position for some time.

 

Labor Leader Anthony Albanese has asked questions in the House of Representatives about the family’s circumstances and urged the Morrison Government to allow them to return to Biloela. 

 

I was very fortunate to travel to Christmas Island earlier this year to meet this lovely family. But, I was saddened to see effect of detention on Kopika and Tharunicaa.  

 

These two Australian-born children have now spent most of their lives living in detention, all while Mr Morrison has been claiming that he “got all children out of detention here in Australia” – a claim that is simply untrue.  

 

Labor welcomes the recent decision from Minister for Immigration, Alex Hawke, to personally intervene in the family’s case, granting bridging visas for Nades, Priya and Kopika.  

 

Importantly, the Minister’s decision means Nades, Priya and Kopika are no longer in detention and are free to work, access services and support, and travel without significant restriction.   

 

It is disappointing that the Minister declined to use his personal discretionary power to grant a bridging visa to Tharunicaa. This little 4-year-old girl, born in Australia, remains in immigration detention in the community.   

 

While it is essential that Tharni continues to receive the medical treatment she needs following her serious illnesses, including pneumonia and sepsis, we understand the family is hopeful the government will allow her to access this treatment in Queensland.   We urge the Minister to take into account the advice of Tharni’s doctors. 

 

Many Australians will be concerned that the Minister has only granted the three family members a three-month bridging visa, and we share those concerns.  We are hopeful that the Minister has set a three-month period with a view to allow him the time required to consider the materials before him and make a decision to return the family to their home in Biloela.  

 

There is now considerable support from both sides of politics for the release of this family – including former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, broadcaster Alan Jones, and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.  

  

As it has been the case all along, Mr Morrison and Ministers Andrews and Hawke can grant the Biloela family permanent protection and bring them home to Queensland with a stroke of a pen.   Immigration ministers - including Ministers Dutton and Hawke - have made thousands of discretionary decisions each year to grant visas in circumstances like these, including on compassionate grounds. 

 

It is past time for the Morrison Government to bring this sorry saga to an end and allow the family to come home to Biloela.  

 

It is also time to stop the waste of taxpayer dollars:  The Morrison Government has spent at least $50 million of taxpayer funds in detaining and attempting to deport the family. 

 

We encourage you to show your support for the Murugappan family by signing Labor’s petition to bring them home to Biloela. 

 

The integrity of Australia’s immigration system is an important matter, but the system also allows compassion and support for families and children in our community. 

 

It is time for Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharunicaa to return home to the Queensland community that they love, and that loves them in return.  

 

Thank you taking the time to contact me about this issue.  

 

Kristina  

 
Sign Labor’s petition to bring them home to Biloela. 

 

Kristina Keneally
Deputy Labor Leader in the Senate
Shadow Minister for Home Affairs
Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
Senator for New South Wales

RAR National Newsletter: Afghanistan, Workshops, Kristina Kenneally & Sieve-X

 

 

 

 

5 September 2021 Hello to all RAR Members and Supporters – Welcome to this RAR Update   Afghanistan “Afghanistan has become a giant prison with dinosaurs ruling it” – Muzafar Ali. The project of “regime change” in Afghanistan has collapsed like a house of cards. In a few days in August, the Taliban advanced from mountainous strongholds to the seats of government. We shouldn’t forget the powers of the Afghan people. Already demonstrations by women have been demanding the continuation of girls’ education. Nonetheless, the Taliban will target women, the 6-million strong Hazara ethnic community, Afghan people who have worked with Coalition forces and with the Afghan Government, journalists, musicians and others. We want to get as many as we can visas for those who need to leave as refugees, although their leaving is going to be much more difficult now. Also, there are thousands of Afghan refugees living in Australia on temporary visas. Clearly they cannot return to Afghanistan. RAR has joined the calls – in multiple petitions and open letters, including those initiated by the Refugee Council (signed by 300-plus organisations) and by Action For Afghanistan (see www.actionforafghanistan.com.au and use the hashtag #ActionForAfghanistan) – for permanent visas for Afghan refugees in Australia or detained offshore, a one-off humanitarian intake of people from Afghanistan of 20,000 in addition to the current intake, and other measures to support Afghan refugees. Canada and the UK have offered a further 20,000 refugee visas. Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has only announced 3,000 places within the government’s current intake of 13,750. We need to act now. Among the resources available is the RAR website’s letter writing kit. Here is national committee member Paul Dalzell talking about phoning MPs: My commitment to the cause of refugees has grown over the years. Each step along the way has meant for me overcoming my own fear and sense of not being worthy. All along the way I have been challenged to ‘feel the fear and do it any way’ by remembering that the fear of those in detention or in danger of losing their lives is nowhere near mine. … I have said ‘yes’ to sponsoring refugee families from Afghanistan. It was the challenge of my own anger at the obfuscation of the politicians on the radio that got me over my fear of telephoning. Now I know the ropes. Phone the office, say my piece politely but  firmly, with a request for action. This kind of action makes me feel that what I can do, I am doing.

We also called for member groups to step up to sponsor Afghan citizens who are under immediate threat in the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban.  We have had an amazing response. Led by the (unstoppable!) Marie Sellstrom, RAR groups and individuals have submitted over 40 visa applications in the past week. All but 2 are for families. Thanks indeed to the people who have worked so hard to get these visas completed and loaded on the Government website (a challenge in itself). The first eleven of the people we sponsored arrived in Adelaide recently and are in quarantine there. They are exhausted but relieved to be in Australia. Marie has been in touch with Muzafar Ali (many of you will know him from Cisarua Learning and The Staging Post) and our friends at Circle of Friends in Adelaide.  They are looking after their immediate needs. We have worked closely with Greens Senators, Janet Rice and Nick McKim in particular, and staff from their offices.  Jesse Northfield, Senator Kenneally’s deputy Chief of Staff, has been involved as well, liaising with the Department of Home Affairs / Immigration.  We don’t have much information about the visa status of those who have arrived, but the politicians are trying to find this out.  We may need to resubmit visa applications before long. RAR groups are working with Afghan refugees in their communities to identify family members under threat.  We are passing that information onto the politicians for them to advocate for visas.  Many groups have asked how they can give financial support to those who do make it here.  We don’t have much information yet.  People have agreed to sponsor families without any indication of what this will cost them, but have done so confident that RAR groups and supporters will step up and help out when we know what costs are involved. RAR will take donations that people may want to give, to cover costs associated with sponsorship and settling Afghan refugees over the coming months. Our bank account details are:  Rural Australians for Refugees Inc.;  BSB 633 000;  account number: 160 958 096; reference: Afghan sponsorship.  Note: donations through RAR are not tax-deductible. You should also send us an email at rar.australia@gmail.com - that will save us wondering about some deposits! We work closely with Circle of Friends in Adelaide.  They are also sponsoring many people from Afghanistan and donations to them are tax-deductible. Bank details are: BSB 633 000; account number: 150 721 298; reference:  Circle 127 + your surname. They also have a form on their website https://cofa.org.au/donate/ (they will need your email address for a receipt). Individual RAR groups are also supporting community efforts: for example Swan Hill RAR is involved in efforts to host up to 30 Afghan refugees. $3500 is needed for expenses incurred in the application process for each emergency visa for family members of some of the hundreds of male Hazara refugees who, despite having lived and worked in the district from as early as 2001, hold temporary visas. These families – wives and children - are in extreme danger and in desperate need of our compassion and our support. As partners and fathers, the men involved are stressed. The Swan Hill Community Issues (SHUCCI, involving the Uniting Church) Group have been supporting over the year with information, services and volunteer assistance, which has built trust. Now funds are being raised to subsidise or fully pay the visa application expenses, including consultation with lawyers and migration agents, gathering and accurately translating information. There would also be costs for travel, quarantine and support once they are here. The situation in Afghanistan is uncertain.  If these family members have a visa to enter Australia they are ready to travel as soon as the opportunity arises, which is important. Please help us get these visas – visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-afghanis-swan-hill-with-family-reunion?member=13473043&utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_email%2Binvitesupporters%2Bspider1v.   RAR National Matters: Annual General Meeting  and Take Stock Survey and Workshops The 2021 RAR Annual General Meeting will be on Saturday, 18 September, at 2pm, on Zoom. It will feature the annual report and financial statements, and we are also pursuing a guest speaker on the Afghanistan refugee situation – we hope to have an agenda out within a week. Member groups should be organising to choose their delegate (one per member), although other people in each group can also attend. If necessary a group can choose a proxy instead. Groups can also put motions to the meeting. Associates of RAR (supporters who can’t join a RAR group) are also welcome to attend. Members got a separate email providing the Zoom details and the delegate and proxy nomination forms and motion form. Any queries about that, and any of our associates interested in coming, should email this address (secretary.rar.australia@gmail.com) or call Jonathan (national secretary) on 0437 790 306 for the information you need (Zoom details, etc). Meanwhile we are running our Take Stock project to try to understand how we can get the best value from our actions. The RAR National Committee has organised activities over the next three months for our members, and others we work with, to say what your ideas and views are about how we can work most effectively in the years ahead. We will start with an online survey.  We would like as many people as possible to complete this short survey.  Our member groups, members of your groups, our supporters, other refugee support and advocacy groups, refugees and people seeking asylum who we have connected with in some way.  The survey is anonymous.  We would like you to circulate it as widely as you can and encourage your members and supporters to complete it. Here is the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RARNational. It is open until 30 September. We will also have intensive discussions through workshops supported by a skilled facilitator, with our newly-elected National Committee (the other job of the AGM), with key stakeholders, such as refugees (please see the recent email your group might have received about this) and our members. For the last, we are having two Zoom sessions, for which people can register to take part in more in-depth discussion, with the facilitator, about RAR and its future directions.  The dates for these are: Tuesday 7 September, from 6pm – 7.30pm and Wednesday 8 September from 9am – 10.30am.  There are eight places for each session so if you would like to attend, please email rar.australia@gmail.com to register.   SIEV-X: 20th Anniversary Commemoration On 19 October 2001, 353 asylum seekers drowned when the Indonesia fishing boat, which had been dubbed by Australian authorities the SIEV-X (Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel-X), sank en route to Australia. We will honour them, to remember them even though we never got to meet. Not long after the tragedy, artist Kate Durham painted portraits of those who drowned. This commemoration will dwell on these portraits. Please join us for this solemn event on: Tuesday Oct 19, 2021, 7pm (EST - Sydney) Speakers: Kate Durham, artist; Julian Burnside, QC; Vivenne Glance and Ismail Afeif (poets in WA); People from Canberra SIEV-X memorial Please register to attend at https://bit.ly/3jyiK9T and then you will receive a confirmation email with a zoom link.   Kristina Kenneally Senator Kristina Kenneally, Labor’s shadow minister for home affairs, has asked to meet with RAR members through a national Zoom forum. She explained she is still trying to meet with as many people as possible during the lockdowns We’ve agreed, with the date and time being Monday 27 September, 6.30pm-7.30pm. Kristina will present for up to 20 mins, leaving most of the time for Q&A. Register for this by emailing Louise at rar.australia@gmail.com. She will send you a Zoom link. If possible, submit questions in advance to the same email, with further questions to come during the session.   Jonathan Strauss National Secretary Rural Australians for Refugees Australia E: secretary.rar.australia@gmail.com Rural Australians for Refugees on Twitter and Facebook. RAR is a member of the Australian Refugee Action Network

Our mailing address is:

Dear Senator Keneally, I have watched the TV footage of the chaos in Kabul

Please see my letter below of some days ago to Senator Keneally. I thought that I would point out to her, a committed Catholic, that various Catholic bodies are calling for a significant increase in our humanitarian visas to support the people fleeing the Taliban. I have not heard the Labor opposition calling for a big increase, but I might have missed it.

What a tragedy. Sadly, we never seem to learn from our serious imperial mistakes, and keep on repeating them. But the  weapons manufacturers need these constant wars to support their bottom line.

Cheers

M.

 
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2021 3:13 PM
To: 'senator.keneally@aph.gov.au' <senator.keneally@aph.gov.au>
Subject: Afghanistan

Dear Senator Keneally,

Like everyone else, I have watched the TV footage of the chaos in Kabul with deep dismay. The spectacle of seeing thousands of people fleeing for their lives is truly shocking.

As one of the countries which has had a military presence in the country for the past twenty years, we  surely have a moral responsibility to help those who now are begging for our assistance. In previous crises, the Australian government has shown compassion and generosity in making additional humanitarian places available to refugees from Vietnam and Syria. It was, therefore, deeply disappointing to hear the Prime Minister tell the nation that we would accept just 3,000 refugees from Afghanistan, and that these places would come out of our already much-reduced humanitarian intake. This is an utterly inadequate response.

Afghanistan is now in turmoil, and Kabul is not a safe place, particularly for girls and women nor for the thousands of Afghans who, for the past two decades, have assisted the coalition forces in a range of activities. There should be no question of ever sending any of the several thousand Afghans currently living in Australia on TPVs back to Afghanistan against their will.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge, on behalf of the Australian Catholic Bishop Conference, is urging the government to provide at least 20,000 humanitarian places for Afghan refugees. The Jesuit Refugee Service is urging the government to grant permanent protection to the 5,100 Afghan refugees living in Australia on TPVs. In the current emergency, these seem to me to be utterly reasonable proposals, which I do hope that the Labor opposition will support.

I therefore urge you and the Labor party to urgently to press the government to:

• ensure the safety of refugees from Afghanistan in Australia by providing them with permanent protection visas so that they can remain here safely.
• increase the humanitarian visa quota with a generous one-off intake for the people in Afghanistan in the most danger.
• provide a pathway for refugees from Afghanistan to apply to reunite with their families in Australia.

This is NOT the time to be warning darkly about people smugglers or people drowning at sea. The government solved that problem seven years ago, and it’s time to move on.

I  would very much like your assurance that the Labor party will press the government to do much more than it is currently undertaking to do.

Yours sincerely,

M.

Valla Beach

NSW

Reply to letter re Afghan refugees by Pat Conaghan M.P.

 

From: Conaghan, Pat (MP) <Pat.Conaghan.MP@aph.gov.au>

Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2021 2:01 PM
To: M. G.
Subject: RE: Afghanistan

 

Dear Mr G,

 

Thanks for your email.

 

The situation in Afghanistan continues to be volatile and dangerous.

 

Our top priority is the safe departure of Australian citizens and visa holders, including Afghan former locally engaged employees. We continue to work with our friends and partners to support one another’s evacuation operations.

 

Since 18 August, we have supported the evacuation of about 2,450 people from Kabul, including Australian and New Zealand nationals, visa holders and foreign nationals including British, US and a Fijian. Four more flights airlifted evacuees on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning (AEST) with more than 750 people. We have had three charter planes from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide that have returned 419 people to Australia.

 

Our consular officials are using every means possible to assist Australian citizens and visa holders – phoning and emailing directly as well as providing regular updates on the Government’s Smartraveller website.

 

Access to Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) continues to be very challenging, but we do have a significant presence on the ground at the airport. We are encouraging Australian citizens, Permanent Residents and Australian visa-holders to go to HKIA, if it’s safe to do so. We will do everything we can in the time we have to get as many people out as safely as possible.

 

There is a discussion going on about the prospect of US extending its withdrawal deadline and we are part of those discussions and we are absolutely ready to support a continuing operation at HKIA.

 

Every visa applicant who does not meet the criteria of the category of at-risk employees now has their application forwarded automatically to the Department of Home Affairs to be automatically considered under another humanitarian stream. This process has already resulted in hundreds of other visas being granted to those who are ineligible for the special category.

 

The Australian Government has announced that an initial 3,000 humanitarian places will be allocated to Afghan nationals within Australia’s overall annual humanitarian program. The Government anticipates this initial allocation will increase over the course of this year, giving first priority to Afghan nationals within the offshore humanitarian program and affording them visa processing priority in the year ahead.

 

While I fully support this, I believe we can and should resettle more Afghan nationals as part of our humanitarian program. I will be urging my Parliamentary colleagues to join me in advocating for a minimum of 10,000 additional places in response to this crisis. Australia is consistently one of the world’s most generous humanitarian resettlement countries and I believe this is an opportunity to provide greater levels of support for Afghani people at risk from the Taliban.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

PAT CONAGHAN MP

Federal Member for Cowper

Letter to Minister Andrews re: Afghanistan

Subject: Afghanistan

Dear Minister Andrews,

Like everyone else, I have watched the TV footage of the chaos in Kabul with deep dismay. The spectacle of seeing thousands of people fleeing for their lives is truly shocking.

As one of the countries which has had a military presence in the country for the past twenty years, we  surely have a moral responsibility to help those who now are begging for our assistance. In previous crises, the Australian government has shown compassion and generosity in making additional humanitarian places available to refugees from Vietnam and Syria. It was, therefore, deeply disappointing to hear the Prime Minister tell the nation that we would accept just 3,000 refugees from Afghanistan, and, disgracefully, that these places would come out of our already much-reduced humanitarian intake. This is an utterly inadequate response.

Afghanistan is now in turmoil, and Kabul is not a safe place, particularly for girls and women nor for the thousands of Afghans who, for the past two decades, have assisted the coalition forces in a range of activities. There should be no question of ever sending any of the several thousand Afghans currently living in Australia on TPVs back to Afghanistan against their will.

I therefore urge you and your government to urgently:

• ensure the safety of refugees from Afghanistan in Australia by providing them with permanent protection visas so that they can remain here safely.
• increase the humanitarian visa quota with a generous one-off intake for the people in Afghanistan in the most danger.
• provide a pathway for refugees from Afghanistan to apply to reunite with their families in Australia.

This is NOT the time to be warning darkly about people smugglers or people drowning at sea. The government solved that problem seven years ago, and it’s time to move on.

I look forward to your early response to this most urgent crisis.

Yours sincerely,

M... G.

Valla Beach

NSW

National RAR news, 15 August 2021: A survey & a zoom meeting with Kristina Kenneally

Hello to all RAR Members and Supporters – Welcome to this RAR Update (some members have asked to be sent a Word version of this newsletter: if you want this, please email me again so I can maintain a list for the future).
 

RAR National Matters: Take Stock Survey and Workshops, and Annual General Meeting

RAR started 20 years ago, in September 2001.  Twenty years of supporting refugees and people seeking asylum, and advocating for fairness, decency and humane treatment of people seeking safety.

We did not anticipate we’d still be here in 2021!  Yet we are.  We are bringing a particular rural and regional perspective to refugee advocacy.

We want to understand how we can get the best value from our actions. The RAR National Committee has organised activities so that we can take stock and look at how we will work through the next three years.

Over a three-month period, you, our members and others we work with, can say what your ideas and views are about how we can work most effectively in the years ahead. This will include intensive discussions through two workshops, which will be supported by a skilled facilitator, and with key stakeholders.

We will start with an online survey.  We would like as many people as possible to complete this short survey.  Our member groups, members of your groups, our supporters, other refugee support and advocacy groups, refugees and people seeking asylum who we have connected with in some way.  The survey is anonymous.  We would like you to circulate it as widely as you can and encourage your members and supporters to complete it.

 
Here is the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RARNational. It is open until 30 September.
 

We will also hold two Zoom sessions, for which people can register to take part in more in-depth discussion, with the facilitator, about RAR and its future directions.  The dates for these are: Tuesday 7 September, from 6pm – 7.30pm and Wednesday 8 September from 9am – 10.30am.  There are eight places for each session so if you would like to attend, please email rar.australia@gmail.com to register.

Meanwhile, the 2021 RAR Annual General Meeting will be on Saturday, 18 September, at 2pm, on Zoom. It will feature the annual report and financial statements.

The formal call for groups to nominate people for the National Committee will come soon (and this will give all the other meeting details as well). You should consider what you might want to raise, who you want to send, and who you might want to nominate.

Associates of RAR are also welcome to attend.

 

Tampa Anniversary
 

Also 20 years ago, on August 26, the MV Tampa rescued 433 people from a stranded boat. Its passengers were attempting to reach Christmas Island, where they would intending to lodge claims for asylum. Australian authorities had sent out the call for the boat to be rescued.

At the request of a number of the asylum seekers and with concerns for the safety of those onboard, the Tampa captain, Arne Rinnan – who subsequently, with the crew and the ship’s owner, received the UNHCR’s  Nansen Refugee Award, sailed for Christmas Island. 
The Howard Coalition government refused to allow the Tampa to disembark the asylum seekers on Christmas Island. SAS forces boarded the vessel by Australian SAS forces and seized the asylum seekers. Most were ultimately removed to a hurriedly established offshore detention centre on Nauru.

 

This was a significant moment in the history of Australian asylum policy, political debate and migration law. The ‘Tampa affair’ and the newly introduced offshore detention of asylum seekers to purportedly deter them from coming to Australia became a leading issue in the 2001 election. In broader perspective, it was a product of an already restrictive and politicised asylum policy and contributed to the rationale for the system of offshore processing and the policy of turning back boats that developed. This has impacted on the asylum-seekers Australia is responsible for, as well as within Australian politics.

This anniversary offers important opportunities for action, including in support of the 108 refugees still held on Nauru and the 125 held in PNG at the Australian government’s behest. You can find resources – sample letters to be sent to local MPs and media, memes for social media, and relevant cartoons and photographs – at https://aran.net.au/actions/20-years-since-tampa (ignore the coming soon message at the top and scroll down to find these).

 

 

Freedom Street

 
Freedom Street is a documentary which uncovers the history on how Australia became the world's leader in punitive policies to deter vulnerable people from seeking policy. The Freedom Street Documentary Info Night and Fundraising event is on Saturday August 21 at 7pm via Zoom.

Learn more about the Indonesia's side in Australia's Turn Back the Boats policy and the colossal impact on the lives of the 14000 refugees who are there. The film also explores Australia's history to find out how we got to this point and pragmatic long term solutions.

The night will be facilitated by the filmmaker Alfred Pek, who will screen an exclusive small preview of the film. Joniad, Azizah and Ashfaq - the refugee stars currently in limbo in Indonesia - will join live.

There will be a Q&A discussion regarding the refugee experience and the impact of Australian policies on asylum seekers. As well as reading performances by Joniad and Azizah.

For your ticket, go to: https://events.humanitix.com/freedom-street-documentary-info-night-and-fundraising
 
Kristina Kenneally

 
Senator Kristina Kenneally, Labor’s shadow minister for home affairs, has asked to meet with RAR members through a national Zoom forum. She explained she is still trying to meet with as many people as possible during the lockdowns.

We’ve agreed, with the date and time being Monday 27 September, 6.30pm-7.30pm – you can put that in the diary, with the Zoom link to be advised. Kristina will present for up to 20 mins, leaving most of the time for Q&A.

If possible, submit questions in advance to rar.australia@gmail.com, with further questions to come during the session.

Letter 2 to A. Albanese M.P.

 

Dear Mr Albanese,

 

I have supported and worked for the Labour Party for over 50 years but in recent times have been unable to give Labor my support due to the party’s policies on the issue of the treatment of refugees. “Offshore Processing” has been a harsh and cruel policy over the years and one which sadly, Labor has supported.  Many of us  would like Labor to press for an end to this.

 

A further pressing issue at the moment revolves around the continued use of Temporary Protection Visas for refugees . As you will know, there are over 30, 000 genuine refugees on TPV’s in Australia. These people have often spent years in detention and many have been through a life of terror and stress . Even though they have been designated refugees they are still living in insecurity and hardship on TPV’s with no certainty around their futures. At the recent ALP National Conference, Labour committed to the conversion of Temporary Protection Visas to Permanent Protection Visas. We urge you to keep to this commitment and press for Temporary Protection Visas to be abolished.

 

The Labor Party through the years has always  been a party of compassion and humanity and it is this central tenet that has seen Labor successful at election time. It would be to Labor’s advantage in the polls to demonstrate by its policy platform that these principles are still embedded in the Labor manifesto. Temporary Protection Visas serve no purpose in relation to border security and prevent hardworking  migrants and their families from fully settling in Australia and  contributing to Australian society.

 

Many asylum seekers are professional people  and are highly skilled. They deserve an opportunity to re-build their lives. As for the overall policy of “Offshore Processing” and “ Indefinite Detention”  – Labor needs to be clear and decisive on these issues . These policies must end – they bring shame on Australia in the eyes of the rest of the world.   

 

Yours sincerely,

 

M........m G........

Letter to A. Albanese M.P. re Temporary Protection Visas

To: 'A.Albanese.MP@aph.gov.au' <A.Albanese.MP@aph.gov.au>
Subject: Labor policy on TPVs

 

Dear Mr. Albanese,

The Labor Party commendably went to the last Federal election promising to abolish temporary protection visas. The party recognized that offering just temporary protection to genuine refugees has consigned this cohort of some 30,000 people to living with permanent anxiety and uncertainty. The Coalition policy has inflicted immense suffering on a group of people who have met the criteria for our protection under international conventions. They pose no threat to our security, they work hard to contribute to Australian society, they pay their taxes, and yet we send them the clear message that they are not quite welcome here. To require them, every three or five years, to relive their trauma and to prove once again that they deserve our protection is both cruel and completely unnecessary. To deprive them of the possibility of family reunion consigns them to a life of unhappiness and stress.

I urge you, and the Labor Party which you lead, to resist the pressure to abandon the commitment to ending TPVs. Please  promise that at the next election you will retain your policy to grant permanent protection to all the refugees who are currently forced to spend their lives in a permanent limbo of stress and uncertainty.

Please stick to your principles, show compassion and humanity, and resist the calls from the usual quarters to demonstrate that you are as tough as the Coalition on refugees. The Australian people will reward you for it.

Yours sincerely,

M.... G......

Valla Beach NSW 2448

Two letters to Minister Hawke & P.M. Morrison by one of our RAR members