Roadside demonstration report
Fusion Festival: TODAY from 11.00
am to 2.00 pm
Nauru horror gets worse
Did you watch last night’s 7.30
Report?
Roadside demonstration report
A hugely successful roadside
demonstration in Coffs Harbour last Thursday, with a great turnout of
enthusiastic supporters. The response from motorists was overwhelmingly
positive, underlining once again that there is solid community support for
ending the brutal policy of indefinite offshore detention. If only politicians
on both sides of parliament would develop some spine and stand up to the
right-wing media, this cruelty could be brought to an end in a matter of weeks.
Our next demonstration will be on
Waterfall Way in Bellingen, adjacent to the Yellow Shed, on Thursday 6th September
from 2.30 to 4.00 pm. Please come and join us if you can.
Fusion Festival: TODAY from 11.00
am to 2.00 pm
A final reminder that the Fusion Festival
takes place today, 28th August from 11.00 am until 2.00 pm at
the Coffs Harbour education campus on Hogbin Drive. Enjoy dancing, music and
food from around the world!
Nauru horror gets worse
Since last week’s newsletter, the
situation for sick children on Nauru has deteriorated further. At least three
children have been evacuated from the island since last Thursday, and reports
from the island say that at least three more children, including a
twelve-year-old, are very seriously ill. Our government continues to resist the
urgent advice of medical staff until the last moment, putting lives at serious
risk. As solicitor George Newhouse stated in recent days: “ What kind of world
do we live in where life-or-death situations need to be decided by a judge?”
Given that our new Prime Minister
was the previous hardline minister for immigration, the short-term prospects
for asylum seekers and refugees would appear to be grim. Mr. Morrison was one
of the principal architects of the current asylum policy - a policy which he
pursued enthusiastically . He was, and remains committed to the cruel and
inhumane treatment of asylum seekers and refugees, both in offshore detention
and in Australia. Whether or not the appointment of David Coleman as the new
minister for immigration makes any difference remains to be seen.
A coalition of more than 30
organisations, including RAR, is lobbying politicians to bring all the children
and their families currently on Nauru to Australia by the deadline of Universal
Children’s Day on 20th November. It is vitally important that
we keep up the pressure on both the government and the opposition, and to get
them to understand that, as an election approaches, we will continue to campaign
strongly for a change of policy. The CEO of World Vision, Claire Rogers, at the
launch of the petition, stated: “ These children have been forced to see and
endure things that no child should ever see. The clock is ticking. This
harmful, secretive and dysfunctional system of indefinite detention must end.”
Please sign the petition by
clicking here: https://www.kidsoffnauru.com./
Did you watch last night’s 7.30
Report?
If you watched last night’s 7.30
Report on ABC, you would have been shocked and dismayed by the accounts of the
three professionals – a healthcare worker, a child psychiatrist and a social
worker – who related their experiences of working with children in Nauru. They
revealed a shocking spate of recent self-harm events, brought on by a deep
sense of despair and hopelessness as a result of their ongoing indefinite
detention.
Dr Vernon Reynolds stated : “ Am I
concerned that children could die in Nauru, that some of these refugee children
should die? I’m absolutely concerned about that. I’m reasonably surprised that
no-one has.” Dr Reynolds worked in Nauru for two years until April 2018 and was
about to return, only to discover, a day before his scheduled departure, that
his services were no longer required. And the reason? He had been speaking out
about the dreadful situations that he encountered on a daily basis in the
course of his work, which was bad for the reputation of his employer and the
Australian government.
Please keep this in mind if, in a few weeks’ time, at the
Pacific Islands Forum to be held in Nauru, you see images of Prime Minister
Morrison surrounded by happy, smiling children.
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
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Our Face book is at https://www.facebook.com/Rural-Australians-for-Refugees-Bellingen-and-Nambucca-Districts-269696303205083/timeline/
(579 likes)
Twitter Account @RARBellingenNam
Email address bellingen.rar@gmail.com
The National RAR web site is at www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org.au
The National
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