From: Mike
Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2017 4:16 PM
To: senator.dastyari@aph.gov.au
Cc: senator.singh@aph.gov.au
Subject: Asylum seekers and refugees
Dear Senator Dastyari,
I recently watched Senator Lisa Singh
make an impassioned speech to the Senate about the appalling situation
facing refugees and asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru. It was greatly
heartening to finally listen to someone on the Labor benches speaking out on
behalf of these traumatised and wretched human beings, who we have collectively
driven to despair, and worse, through indifference and political calculation.
I also recently watched the episode of
Australian Story in which you featured, and listened to you the following
morning being interviewed by Fran Kelly. You mentioned, inter alia, that you
felt saddened by the death of fellow Iranian Reza Barati, and that the only
difference between his fate and yours was that you arrived by plane, whereas he
had the misfortune to arrive by boat. You found that somewhat conflicting. Is
that it? Is there nothing more to say?
You will be well aware that under the
Refugee Convention, countries cannot discriminate against asylum seekers on the
basis of their mode of arrival. Surely it is now time for the Labor party to
rediscover its sense of compassion, its commitment to justice and its
willingness to stand up for the disadvantaged in our society. Will you consider
joining Senator Singh, by speaking out on behalf of asylum seekers and refugees
on Manus and Nauru, many of whom have been languishing there for more than four
years? Will you now put principle before political calculation and take some
action? Feeling conflicted does not help these people in any way.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Griffin,
No comments:
Post a Comment