Dear Editor ,
Shining a Light in Bellingen
Last Wednesday 19th July marked 4 years since the Rudd Government declared that asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia by boat would be held in offshore detention and would never be settled in Australia. To protest against the cruelty and inhumanity of this policy more than 50 candle lit vigils were held all around Australia . The aim was to highlight present government policy where innocent families are kept in desperate conditions on remote islands with no prospect of rebuilding their shattered lives.
We need to remember that Australia’s intervention in conflicts overseas has played a major part in creating the present refugee crisis and so the least we can do is to show humanity to those families affected , many of whom have fled their homelands in fear of their lives . The present policy costs two million dollars to keep one asylum seeker for 4 years on Nauru or Manus . The Australian taxpayer has footed a bill of over $5 billion to keep a small group of asylum seekers in offshore detention for the past 4 years. Just imagine how much more productive it would have been to bring these people to Australia . It would cost a small fraction of this to give them due care and assistance. Let’s also remember that many of them are professional people who would have much to offer our communities here in Australia. We have obligations under the International Treaty of Human Rights to assist these refugees as many other countries around the world are currently doing.
Our local refugee support group, RAR , held its own well-attended candle lit vigil to join with many hundreds of others shining a light on this dark chapter of Australian history . These unsustainable and cruel policies need to change.
Marlene Griffin.
Valla Beach .
The photo shows our local vigil held on Wed 19th July by the river in Bellingen.
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