Newsletter for 28 February 2017 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

Roadside Demo Report

Harbourside Market Report

Refugee Council of Australia Report

Another Cruel Blow for Asylum Seekers

Is Australia Racist

Roadside demonstration report : Bellingen,  23rd February

Another successful roadside demonstration last week in Bellingen, with  about ten supporters turning up. There was lots of positive feedback from both motorists and pedestrians. There can be no doubt, from our three years’ experience of these events, that these demonstrations are both morale-boosting and effective. They promote the cause of asylum seekers, and they encourage people to reflect on the serious mistreatment of refugees languishing in offshore detention centres. With your support, we will keep them going until government policy changes and until the last refugee on Nauru and Manus Island finds safe refuge in another country.

Our next roadside demonstration will be in Nambucca Heads by the Pacific Highway adjacent to the Plaza shopping centre on Thursday 9th March from 3.00 pm until 4.30 pm. Two weeks later, on Thursday 23rd March, we will be demonstrating in Coffs Harbour, by the Pacific Highway opposite the Base Hospital, at the usual time.

Why not make a resolution to join us?

Market report from the Harbourside market on 26th February

What can we say, other than that it was somewhat wet? We did collect some signatures for our petition and had a number of very positive conversations with market goers before the heavens opened. We stuck it out until about 11.00 am, by which time everyone was beating a hasty retreat. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen very often, so we won’t be deterred!

Our next market stall will be at the Bellingen Market on Saturday 18th  March. If you can help out for an hour or so between 9.00 am and 1.30 pm, then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.

Thereafter, we have  market stalls planned for Valla Beach market on Saturday 1st April and Coffs Harbourside market on Sunday 23rd April.

Refugee Council of Australia Report: State of the Nation

Last week  the Refugee Council of Australia published an important report “State of the Nation 2017”, which sets out in great detail the situation facing refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia.  The final section, “What should be done? The challenges ahead,” is particularly informative, and well worth reading. It states: “Australia’s policies towards people seeking asylum, especially those who come by boat, are among the world’s worst. Australia, alone in the world, sends people seeking asylum by boat to tiny islands with threats that they will never be able to seek safety in Australia. Australia is one of the few countries in the world that locks up people indefinitely. Australia forces people into destitution. Australia leaves people in limbo.....” You can read the full report by Googling : Refugee Council of Australia: State of the Nation 2017.

Yet another cruel blow for Australian asylum seekers

In yet another cruel twist aimed at making life more difficult for asylum seekers living in Australia waiting to have their refugee status finalised, the government is now making that process even more difficult and precarious for them. Under the so-called fast-track process –which is nothing of the kind- asylum seekers have recently been told that their applications have to be completed within 60 days or less.  The application process is long and complex, involving the completion of a 60-page document in English. It is impossible for asylum seekers to complete the document without legal assistance, and yet the government has cruelly and deliberately cut the funding for legal assistance by an incredible 90%. Many asylum seekers have been on a waiting list for assistance for up to a year. What are they supposed to do? They are now being threatened with the loss of any support payments, having their bridging visas cancelled, losing access to Medicare or even having their right to claim asylum withdrawn.

You can read the article here: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/27/thousands-of-asylum-seekers-given-days-to-lodge-complex-applications-or-face-loss-of-rights

Once you have read the article, please consider writing to your MP (which for most of us is Luke Hartsuyker), to Minister Dutton and to the Prime Minister.

Email addresses:

luke.hartsuyker.mp@aph.gov.au

minister@border.gov.au.

https://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm

Is Australia Racist?

On Sunday night SBS showed a documentary, hosted by Ray Martin, called "Is Australia Racist?". It was very interesting, especially in the way it noted how racism has changed over the last few decades. In particular was a short piece with an advertising executive about "framing". A group of people were shown two different versions of reporting of a boat load of asylum seekers arriving in Darwin. Depending on how the clip was framed the peoples responses were poles apart. There were several other experiments to gauge peoples reactions that are worth watching.

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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 >480 recipients

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

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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

Newsletter for 21 February 2017 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

Next roadside demo - Bellingen Thurs 23rd Feb

Next Market Stall - Coffs Harbour Sun 27th Feb

Waiting for Citizenship

Roadside demonstration: Thursday 23rd February at 3.00 pm in Bellingen

Our next roadside demonstration is this Thursday, 23rd February, from 3.00 pm to 4.30 pm in Bellingen. We will be in our usual spot adjacent to the library on Waterfall Way.  Please come and join us if you can, even for part of the time. We have lots of banners and placards to share, and we urgently need more pairs of hands to hold them!  It’s now more important than ever that the voices of compassion and humanity are heard. Tragically, racism and bigotry are  rapidly becoming normalised in the rush to the bottom for electoral advantage. We need to constantly remind people that there are a better, more principled ways to deal with the complex issues of managing the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees.

Our next market stall: Sunday 27th February in Coffs Harbour 

Our next market stall will be at the Coffs Harbourside market, which will be held on Sunday 27th February. The market is located by the jetty and we are looking for helpers from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm. If you can spare an hour or two, then please consider coming to join us at the stall. You don’t need any previous experience –just a sense of compassion and empathy for the needs of asylum seekers and a commitment to the rule of law. We will be giving out leaflets, asking people to sign the national RAR petition, seeking donations for the Asylum Seekers Centre and, of course, selling our merchandise. All profits from sales are donated to the ASC, to whom we sent a cheque for $100 following the recent Valla Beach market. We have now donated $750 to the ASC since last August, so we are well on track to meet our target of $1000 in year one.

If you are able to lend a hand, please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.

Waiting for citizenship

For those of you who have been through the process, you will be aware that, as an immigrant with a permanent residency visa, you can apply for Australian citizenship  after four years. At that point, you will receive a letter informing you that your application has been successful and that all that remains is for you to attend a citizenship ceremony to make the Pledge of Allegiance.....unless, of course, you happen to be an asylum seeker who arrived in Australia irregularly, which usually means by boat. There are now 10,231 such people living in Australia who have qualified for citizenship but who have been denied it because they came to Australia as “undocumented arrivals.” Often they have learned at the very last minute, without proper explanation, that their citizenship ceremonies have been cancelled. This is a purely punitive measure, initiated by our government to perpetuate the life of uncertainty for refugees, who so desperately need some certainty about their lives and their futures. The federal court has ruled that the immigration department’s policy of putting citizenship applications from boat-borne arrivals “in a drawer” where they were deliberately ignored, was not lawful, and has ordered that the applications be properly assessed. Minister Dutton’s department has until 28th February to respond to the federal court’s ruling.  The Refugee Convention, to which Australia is a party and legally bound, prohibits discrimination against a person based on their method of arrival in a country.

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 >480 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

Newsletter for 14 February 2017 Rural Australians for Refugees Belllingen and Nambucca Disticts

Roadside Demo Report

Reza Barati

Medical care in offshore detention

Roadside demonstration report

We held our first roadside demonstration of 2017  by the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour last week. As always, we received lots of positive support from passing motorists at this busy spot. What was disturbing, though, was the significant increase in the number of negative responses, which took a variety of forms. It seems clear that over recent months, with the rise of populist demagogues , and the election of racists to our parliament, it has become legitimate to exercise one’s “right to be a bigot”, as Senator Brandis put it.  The Coalition government remains silent on the issues,  and the Opposition acquiesces in this race to the bottom. All the more reason for groups like ours to continue to carry the torch for a more compassionate and principled policy in relation to refugees. A big thank you to the seven supporters who turned up to the demo.

Our next roadside demonstration will be in Bellingen, adjacent to the Library on Waterfall Way on Thursday  23rd February at 3.00 pm. It would be great to have a few more people joining us.

Reza Barati

Three years ago, on 17th February 2014, Reza Barati, a  23 year old Iranian asylum seeker, was brutally murdered by a group of G4S guards, whose job it was to protect him.  Eventually, in 2016, two local guards were convicted of his murder and sentenced to  five years in jail. The judge gave them a lenient sentence on the basis that two other guards involved in Reza’s murder – an Australian and a New Zealander  - had left the Island and had not been arrested or charged. Their identities are apparently known to the authorities, but they remain at large. Our group was established soon after Reza’s death. We were deeply shocked by the incident, and by the Minister’s attempt to blame the refugees for the death and the many injuries inflicted on asylum seekers on that fateful night.  We initially had about 40 supporters. That number has grown over the past three years to more than 500, reflecting as it does the very significant community anger about our government’s cruel and inhumane asylum policies. We need to keep up the fight for the closure of the offshore centres and for the permanent resettlement of all the genuine refugees who currently languish in these two hellholes.

Medical care in offshore detention centres

The level of care for asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island is yet again under scrutiny in parliament.  The latest of many enquiries relates to the death of Faysal Ishak Ahmed, who suffered a seizure inside the Manus Island detention centre on 22nd December 2016, after months of complaining to doctors about his deteriorating health. He died in a Brisbane hospital two days later.  Faysal had sought medical help at least 13 times in the two months prior to his death. So concerned were other detainees about his poor health that they wrote a letter to the medical staff in which they pleaded for effective intervention to help him. They were ignored.  The sad truth is that the clinical opinions of doctors at the offshore detention centres are often overruled by bureaucrats in Canberra , who actively discourage the transfer of sick patients to the mainland. The president of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine,  Prof. Anthony Lawler writes: “ACEM considers there is no evidence that the healthcare provided in regional processing centres is at a standard which would be acceptable or expected for any patient in Australia.”

The healthcare services in offshore detention centre are provided by International Health and Medical Services, a for-profit organisation.

Roadside demo at the Big Banana last week

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 >480 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

Newsletter for 7 February 2017 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

Valla Beach Market Report

The Trump Visa Bans

The Refugee Swap Deal - What is happening?

Next roadside demo - Big Banana Thurs 9th Feb

Valla Beach market report

The Valla Beach Market last Saturday was hot and relatively quiet but our stall was well stocked with volunteers, merchandise, and visitors. It is always gratifying to see people wander past, see the banners, and make a beeline for the petition. Most people need no convincing that our current policies on asylum seekers need changing. It is encouraging to know that so many people share our views and want change. 

Our next market will be on Sunday 26th February at Coffs Harbourside market, from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm

Trump bans entry to the USA from seven Muslim-majority countries

The recent ban announced by the US president is deeply troubling for the world, feeding in, as it inevitably does and as it is intended, to the deep-seated xenophobia which is rapidly becoming mainstream in the USA, in much of Europe and in Australia. The ban seeks to paint all people of the Muslim faith as potential terrorists, to be feared and mistrusted. The ban includes a temporary halt to all refugees and a permanent ban on people fleeing the conflict in Syria. Many world leaders have criticised the actions of the president, but our own prime minister has been silent on the issue.  Not so minister Scott Morrison, a strong Trump supporter, who boasted that the strong action taken by the US president is a sign that the rest of the world is finally catching up with Australia’s successful border protection policy. Getting tough with the most vulnerable people in our world is as easy as it is deplorable and we should continue to speak out against it as best as we can.

The Australia-USA refugee swap. Deal or no deal?

We have had a week of complete confusion in relation to the “deal” to exchange our refugees and asylum seekers for an unknown number of people from South America who have fled violence in their home countries. We know little about the proposals, other than from the US president and his spokesperson, who have stated at various times that the president is willing to “consider” taking 1250 people from Manus Island and Nauru, and that they will be subjected to “extreme vetting”. There are more than 1800 refugees and asylum seekers in these two locations. In addition there are another 300+ who have at various times been brought to the mainland for medical treatment and who remain here as a result of successful intervention by various refugee organisations, but who face being forcibly returned to offshore detention at the whim of the minister. In the meantime, these desperate people have their hopes raised, then shattered on an almost daily basis. We are causing them immense harm, and they have done no wrong. It is time for our Prime Minister to close the offshore detention centres and to bring the people here for processing and resettlement. In the last few days, in an unprecedented move, more than 70 organisations from across the country, led by the Refugee Council of Australia, have come together to call for an immediate evacuation of the offshore detention centres. You can read the joint statement by clicking here:............ This is an important initiative which we want to support in every way we can.

Roadside Demonstration at The Big Banana: Thursday 9th February. 3.00 – 4.30 pm

Our first roadside demonstration of 2017 will take place by the Pacific Highway, beneath the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour on Thursday 9th February. Wouldn’t it be great to send a strong message to our local member of parliament that we are determined to keep up the fight for the closure of offshore detention centres! Please try to join us if you can. We have lots of banners and placards to share . We passionately believe that the roadside demos, and the markets, are a great way to keep up the pressure and ensure that the terrible plight of our asylum seekers is not hidden away, as the government would wish. If you can help, please email Mike at :mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.  

BREAKING: Refugee movement comes together to call for immediate evacuation of offshore camps

In an unprecedented move, over 70 organisations from across the country, led by the Refugee Council of Australia, have come together to call for an immediate evacuation of the offshore detention camps. 

The joint statement comes after a week of chaos regarding the possibility of a US resettlement deal, with Donald Trump's administration (and Twitter account) releasing multiple conflicting statements regarding the fate of the hundreds of men, women and children trapped in limbo. Many of the people imprisoned on Manus Island and Nauru are from countries currently excluded from entering the US under Trump's travel ban. 

Although Malcolm Turnbull maintains that the deal is still on, it was revealed this week that there is no minimum requirement of people to be accepted. As such, the deal could technically go ahead without a single person being resettled. 

This uncertainty has caused unthinkable mental anguish to those trapped on Nauru and Manus. These people have already endured physical and sexual abuse, torture and trauma and many have taken, or attempted to take, their own lives.  Directly after the announcement of the travel ban, one teenager tragically attempted suicide. 

It's high time that this race to the bottom ended.  People's lives are at stake. 

http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/media/open-statement-calling-immediate-action-offshore-detention/

And remember - in a race to the bottom there are no winners.

Valla Beach Market Stall

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 >480 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