newsletter for 29 May 2018 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

_{Roadside Demonstration: Thursday 31st May, Toormina  2.30 to 4.00 pm}

_{Valla Beach market: Saturday 2nd June from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm}

_{Fundraising Concert: Reaching Out. Sunday 10th June}

_{Another death on Manus Island}

_{Response to last week’s newsletter}

_{Labor Party Victoria Conference}

_{Roadside Demonstration: Thursday 31st May, Toormina  2.30 to 4.00 pm}

_{A reminder that our next roadside demonstration will take place on Thursday on Hogbin Drive, Toormina. You will find us with our banners and placards at our usual spot near to what used to be the Sawtell Nursery. Please come and join us if you can. We are always looking for new recruits!}

_{Valla Beach market: Saturday 2nd June from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm}

_{Our next market stall is at Valla Beach  this coming weekend. As always, we’ll be handing out leaflets, asking people to sign our open letter to delegates at the (now postponed) Labor Party conference, talking to market-goers and selling our merchandise.  We have a new leaflet which explains the government’s latest cruel plan to strip asylum seekers of all their benefits. Some single asylum seekers have already lost these benefits, but from 4th June, many thousands more, comprising families with young children, and living for the most part in the suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney, face homelessness and destitution in the weeks ahead. Please come along if you can, pick up a copy of the leaflet, and then let our politicians know what you think about this latest act of inhumanity.}

_{If you can help out at the stall for an hour or two, then please email Mike at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.}

_{Fundraising Concert: Reaching Out. Sunday 10th June}

_{Have you purchased your tickets yet? The concert starts at 2.00 pm in the main hall of the Nambucca Community and Arts Centre, which is located on Ridge Street in Nambucca Heads. You can purchase your tickets at The Alternative Bookshop in Bellingen, or at Helloworld Travel in Nambucca Heads. Alternatively you can phone Marlene on 6569 5419 to arrange for your tickets to be collected at the door on 10th June.}

_{We now have a great team of volunteers to cover the tasks on concert day.  A big thank you to all those who have volunteered to help. If any supporters could bring along a plate of sandwiches, cakes or other finger food to help with refreshments, that would be greatly appreciated and will help keep our expenses to the minimum.}

_{We are looking forward to a great afternoon of music.}

_{Another death on Manus Island}

_{Last week, yet another refugee died on Manus Island, apparently by suicide. This is the third death in as many months on Manus. Salim Kyawning, a Rohingya refugee, was the seventh man to die on Manus, and the fourteenth person to die in offshore detention whilst in the care of the Australian government. Salim, a husband and father, had been held on Manus for almost five years, and like others on the island, his spirit had been broken by the cruel and inhumane treatment to which all these refugees are subjected, and by the utterly inadequate medical care  on the island for people with serious health problems.}

_{Salim’s health problems were well known to authorities. Both Doctors4Refugees and Rohingya refugees on Manus had petitioned the government to help him. Behrouz Boochani, who has been held on Manus for five years, commented: “Salim was a father of three. A Rohingya man who escaped genocide and persecution, endured five years of prison and illness, but lost his life to Australia’s cruel offshore processing regime. A tragic ending. And Australia has a seat at the UN Human Rights Commission. What a strange world we are living in.”}

_{Our government made no attempt to contact Salim’s wife to break the news of her husband’s death – she learned about it from a staff member of the Asylum Seeker Resources Centre who phoned to offer their condolences. But our government did find the time to leak details of Salim’s confidential medical file to their friends at The Australian newspaper. The information provided to The Australian was reported under the headline : “Mentally ill refugee had ‘violent history”’ , which was a clear attempt to smear his name within twelve hours of his tragic death, and to absolve the government of any responsibility. Salim’s death was the direct result of government policy, which is deliberately designed to inflict suffering.}

_{It is clear that the main political parties in Australia have little interest in bringing this cruel and inhumane policy to an end any time soon. Only we, the citizens of Australia, can bring about change. We must continue to make our voices heard. Please consider phoning:}

_{Malcolm Turnbull: (02) 6277 7700 or (02) 9327 3980}

_{Bill Shorten: (02) 6277 4022 or (03) 9326 1300}

_{Peter Dutton: (02) 6277 7860  or (07) 3205 9977}

_{Response to last week’s newsletter}

_{The Labor Party candidate for the Federal seat of Cowper, Andrew Woodward, does not feel that the comments reported in last week’s newsletter properly reflect his views on asylum policy. You can read his letter, together with Mike’s response, on our blog. Just click on the link at the end of this newsletter.} 

_{Scroll down to the next post to read the correspondence.}

_{Labor Party Victoria Conference}

_{There were high hopes that the Victoria State Labor conference would debate the party’s asylum policy at the weekend, and there was a  motion for the conference  to “close the offshore detention centres, transit centres and other camps on Manus and Nauru within the first 90 days of a Shorten government”.  And what happened? Union delegates combined to defer that motion, and all others, bringing the conference to a close.  The CFMEU powerbroker John Setka, tells us that this is “democracy in action”. Really? Earlier, Bill Shorten had made it clear that Labor would not “weaken” Australia’s tough border protection policies. He added that “We just happen to think that we shouldn’t be leaving people in semi-indefinite detention for five years just to achieve this”.}

_{It’s clear that we cannot expect any support from the major parties in bringing about an end to the appalling treatment of refugees and asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru. It’s up to us, the Australian people, to make change happen.}

_{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 >580 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}