Newsletter for 30 May 2017 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

_{Next Roadside Demo - Thurs 1st June Coffs Base Hospital 2:30pm}

_{Next Market Stall Bellingen Sat 3rd June Valla Beach}

_{Refugee Week fundraising lunch - 18th June}

_{Duttons latest attack on refugees}

_{Next Roadside Demonstration: Thursday 1st June: Coffs Harbour}

_{Our next roadside demonstration is this Thursday in Coffs Harbour at the new time of 2.30 pm until 4.00 pm. You will find us by the side of the Pacific Highway, opposite the Base hospital. Please consider coming to join us if you can. As always, we have lots of placards and banners to share, but we really need a few more people to make a bigger impact.}

_{Next Market Stall: Saturday 3rd June at Valla Beach}

_{Our next market stall is this Saturday 3rd June at the Valla Beach market. We have a new national RAR petition for people to sign and as usual we will be selling our merchandise, handing out leaflets and interacting with the many people who visit our stall at every market. If you are able to lend a hand for an hour or two between 9.00 am and 1.30 pm, then please let Mike know by email at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.}

_{Please note that we will also have a stall at the Coffs Harbourside market on Sunday 25th June from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm. The market is temporarily located near to the Park Beach car park, at the mouth of Coffs Creek.}

_{Refugee Week: fundraising lunch and auction: Sunday 18th June from 12.00 pm}

_{There is still time to sign up for the lunch and auction, which will be held at 39, Rogers Drive, Valla Beach. If you are planning to attend, then it is essential that you let Mike know soon, so that we can plan the event.}

_{We are still seeking items for the auction, so if you have something that you are willing to donate and that you think will sell for at least $20, then please let Mike have the details asap. All the proceeds from the event will go to support refugee and asylum seeker causes.}

_{Please support this event if you can. The need for funds to support refugees is more urgent than ever. You can contact Mike at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com, or by telephone on: 6569 5419.}

_{Minister Dutton’s latest attack on refugees: from the gutter to the sewer}

_{You will be aware that Minister Dutton has suddenly, without warning, imposed an arbitrary and impossible deadline of 31st October for asylum seekers living in the community in Australia to submit their claims for refugee status. In making his announcement, he talked about “fake refugees”, about “people who are refusing to provide detail about their claim for protection”, and how we, as a nation in debt, are not planning to run up more debt by “paying for welfare services for people who are not genuine.”}

_{Yet again, we see the most vulnerable in our society being scapegoated for political ends.}

_{A few facts:}

_{-These asylum seekers have not been permitted to submit their applications until recently. They are desperate to have their claims considered, but have to wait in a long queue for legal assistance.}

_{-almost all these asylum seekers are known to the refugee agencies. The application process is complex, and under new, draconian rules, the application has to be right first time, with virtually no possibility of appeal. It is often a traumatic process. Just imagine women having to relate the details of rape and other abuse to a total stranger, often male, through an interpreter.}

_{-legal assistance for the process has been cut by 90% by the government, meaning that lawyers and paralegals are working flat out, without pay, to assist asylum seekers with their claims. Each application can take up to 15 hours to complete.}

_{- the notion that asylum seekers are refusing to  provide information is manifestly false.}

_{- the claim that asylum seekers are “fake refugees” is a disgraceful slur. The great majority of asylum seekers, once they have been allowed a fair process of examining their claims for protection, are found to be genuine refugees.}

_{- most of the billions of dollars referred to by Dutton have been spent by the government on its cruel, inhumane and unlawful offshore detention policy, and not on asylum seekers living in the community.}

_{You can find further information  (articles and videos) on our Facebook page. Please consider writing to Minister Dutton at: minister@border.gov.au to add your voice to the protests.}

_{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 >500 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}