Newsletter for 30 October 2018 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

_{Roadside demonstration: Thursday 1}^st _{November, Bellingen}

_{Next market stall: Bellingen, Saturday 17}^th _November

_{Refugee families take action against permanent separation}

_{Senate Estimates: statistics from Nauru}

_{Liberal MP Julia Banks speaks out}

_{80% of voters want children and families off Nauru}

_{Regular donations}

_{Roadside demonstration: Thursday 1}^st _{November, Bellingen}

_{A reminder that our next roadside demonstration is this Thursday in Bellingen, from 2.30 to 4.00 pm. You will find us at our usual location on Waterfall Way, adjacent to the Yellow Shed, opposite the entrance to the golf club. Please come and join us if you can, to help us send a clear message that indefinite offshore detention needs to end now, and that the hellholes on Manus and Nauru must close. People have suffered too much already, and the Australian public is now demanding that children and their families should be brought to Australia for treatment and resettlement.}

_{Next market stall: Bellingen, Saturday 17}^th _November

_{A reminder that our next market stall will be at the Bellingen Community Market on Saturday 17}^th_{November from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm. Please drop by for a chat if you are visiting the market, and don’t forget to sign our open letter to the Prime Minister. If you can help out on the stall for an hour or two, then please email Mike to let him know at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.}

_{Refugee families take action against permanent separation}

_{Fourteen refugee families, comprising 63 mothers, fathers and children who have been permanently separated between Australia and indefinite detention on Manus or Nauru have taken their case for family reunion to the UNHCR. The group includes five babies who were born in Australia after their mothers were transferred from Nauru for urgent medical attention, and whose fathers remain on Nauru; a father detained on Manus island for five years whose wife and family are living in Sydney, and whose daughters are studying at university; and finally husbands and wives, children and parents and brothers and sisters who remain permanently separated simply because they arrived and sought protection in Australia on different dates, often just days apart. The UNHCR has always advocated for families to remain together, for the obvious reason that separation adds greatly to family stress, and prevents families from rebuilding their shattered lives after fleeing persecution in their home countries. When we then factor in that it has cost the Australian taxpayer some $2,500,000 just to keep one father separated from his family for five years, it’s clear that this policy is not just cruel but is also hugely expensive. Daniel Webb, director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre says: “Ripping these families apart is cruel, harmful and clearly illegal.” Let us hope that these families win their case, and that the Australian government is forced to reunite them in Australia.}

_{Senate Estimates: statistics from Nauru}

_{Last week, in Senate Estimates, the Australian Border Force commissioner Mandy Newton provided senators with the following statistics:}

_{There are currently 652* asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru}

_{541 of these people have been determined to be refugees, entitled to our protection}

_{88 of them are still being processed}

_{23 have had their claims to asylum rejected}

_{52 children remain on Nauru*}

_{There are 107 families detained on the island}

_{27 children were transferred from Nauru on 22.10.18, the day before Senate Estimates.}

_{*Since the meeting, a further four children have been transferred to Australia for urgent medical treatment.}

_{Liberal MP Julia Banks speaks out}

_{At long last, a member of one of the major parties has stood up in parliament to call for the immediate transfer of children and their families from Nauru to Australia. Julia Banks criticized the major parties for failing to reach agreement on the transfer of 150 people to New Zealand. She stated: “In the past months, the political games and distractions of both parties have disgracefully played out in this place and in the meantime the situation on Nauru with sick children has reached a crisis point.” She went on to say: “This issue comes down to a simple truth – it is our humanitarian obligation to get these children and their families off Nauru.” Will MPs on the other side of the aisle now speak up in support of Julia Banks? We must continue to press them to do so.}

_{A coalition of charities has given the government until 20}^th _{November to get all children and their families off Nauru.}

_{80% of voters want children and families off Nauru}

_{Whilst the major political parties continue to assert that offshore detention is a key element in their armoury to ensure that “the boats don’t restart”, the public has moved on. It seems that it is now mostly politicians and the Nauruan government who want this terrible situation to continue. However, the government is now under severe pressure to act, and in the past week, for the first time, sick children have been transferred from Nauru to Australia without the intervention of the courts, where our government has now spent some $480,000 in recent months attempting to block transfers. When our Prime Minister hypocritically asserts, in relation to the transfer of children from Nauru: “We have just been getting on and doing it like a responsible and compassionate government should”, we have the right to be angry and cynical, but we can at least feel that our campaigning is finally cutting through and that the end of the suffering on Nauru is in sight. And then we have to shift our focus to the 600 or more men who continue to languish on Manus Island.}

_{Regular donations}

_{One of our supporters has suggested that we should consider offering the opportunity to members of our group to make a regular financial contribution to our fundraising efforts. Following discussion with a number of supporters, we agree that there might be some people, particularly amongst those who are not able to support our various events, who may want to contribute in this way. So, if you wish to set up a Direct Debit for our RAR account, the details are as follows: Account Name: RAR Bellingen and Nambucca. BSB: 533000. Account number: 238205. We would then send the contributions to the Asylum Seekers Centre at intervals, as we do at present. Please note that every dollar we receive is currently donated to the ASC, though we have supported other refugee groups in the past. All day-to-day expenses for our group are covered privately. Alternatively, you could donate directly to the ASC, which would allow you to claim tax relief on all donations over $2. If you choose this route, then just go to: https://secure.asylumseekerscentre.org.au/regulardonation.}

_{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.}

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_{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}