The following letter has be sent to Tanya Plibersek, Kim Carr, Anthony Albanese, Lisa Singh, Jenny Macklin, Maria Vamvikinou and Penny Wong (all of them on the Left of the party).
7th December 2017
Dear
Please find attached a letter that I sent today to Shayne
Neumann, which included 535 signatures collected at our refugee market stall in
recent weeks.
The open letter to Mr Neumann reads:
The open letter to Mr Neumann reads:
Dear Mr Neumann,
The Australian government has clear
obligations under the Refugee Convention and international law to treat people
seeking asylum with respect and humanity, to assess their asylum claims in a
timely manner and to resettle in Australia all those arriving on our shores who
are found to be refugees, regardless of their mode of arrival. We therefore call upon the Labor Opposition
to:
·
make unambiguous its opposition
to mandatory detention.
·
demand the immediate resettlement in Australia of all genuine
refugees on Manus and Nauru who are not cleared for resettlement in the US.
·
commit the Labor Party to
working with other countries in the region and with UNHCR to provide
alternative, safer pathways to eventual resettlement in safe countries,
including Australia.
·
demand that people currently
held in offshore detention who have close family members living in Australia be able to rejoin
them here as a matter of urgency.
On behalf of the
Bellingen and Nambucca District Rural Australians for Refugees, I urge the
Labor party to reconsider its bipartisan support for the government's cruel
asylum policy. That has to include taking the bold step to promise an end to offshore detention. We cannot continue
indefinitely to inflict such cruelty on innocent people in pursuit of a
political objective. That diminishes us all.
Yours
sincerely,
Mike Griffin
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