Roadside
demonstration: Thursday 13th June, Big
Banana, Coffs Harbour: 2.30 to 4.00 pm
Dates
for our roadside demonstrations
Our
next market stall: Coffs Harbourside market, Sunday 23rd
June
Supporting
detainees on Manus and Nauru
Is
there a philatelist amongst us?
National
RAR priorities
Status
Resolution Support Services
Roadside
demonstration: Thursday 13th
June, Big Banana, Coffs Harbour: 2.30 to 4.00 pm
A
reminder that our next roadside demonstration, after quite a gap, is
this Thursday, by the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour, from 2.30 pm to
4.00 pm. It would
be great to welcome new members to join our team of regular stalwarts
at the demo. It is important, in the post-election phase, to continue
to remind the public that the cruel policy of the ill-treatment of
refugees, both offshore and in Australia, has not subsided in any
way. The reality of the re-election of the Morrison government has
been nothing less than disastrous for refugees detained offshore,
with more than twenty of them self-harming or attempting suicide
since 18th
May. It is equally distressing for the asylum seekers in our cities
who find themselves increasingly at the mercy of the government’s
harsh policy of withdrawing support for them as they wait, seemingly
indefinitely, to have their claims for protection determined. Please
join us on Thursday if you can. We have lots of placards and banners
to share.
Dates
for our roadside demonstrations
Apologies
for the fact that we gave you incorrect dates for our demonstrations
in July. The programme for June to August is listed below. Please
note that all the roadside demonstrations take place on a Thursday,
from 2.30 to 4.00 pm.
June
13th:
Big Banana, Coffs Harbour.
June
27th:
Opposite the Base hospital, Coffs Harbour.
July
11th:
Waterfall Way, Bellingen.
July
25th:
Hogbin Drive, Toormina.
August
8th:
Big Banana, Coffs Harbour.
August
22nd:
Opposite the Base hospital, Coffs Harbour.
Our
next market stall: Coffs Harbourside market, Sunday 23rd
June
Our
next market stall will be at the popular Coffs Harbourside market on
Sunday 23rd
June, from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm.
As usual, we’ll be handing out leaflets, talking to market -goers,
and encouraging them to sign our new open letter to the Prime
Minister. If you can help out for an hour or so on our stall, then
please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.
Supporting
detainees on Manus and Nauru
At
our recent general meeting, one of or members talked to us about a
scheme which enables refugees and asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru
to keep in touch by phone with their families back in their home
countries. Contact with their loved ones is absolutely vital for them
in keeping alive some glimmer of hope for the future. If you wish,
you can make a one-off or a regular contribution to the purchase of
phone cards, which are sent to the detainees. You can do so by going
to: https://giftsformanusandnauru.org.au/
Is
there a philatelist amongst us?
One
of our supporters has kindly donated a stamp collection to help us
raise funds for the Asylum Seekers Centre. He inherited the
collection from his father, and it is in pristine condition, and goes
back some time. There are six albums, comprising some 4,000 stamps,
including one which is devoted exclusively to Christmas and Easter
stamps from around the world. A seventh album contains some 40 first
day covers and sets of new issues. We are keen to have the collection
valued so that it can be put up for auction, presumably in Sydney. If
there is anybody out there who has any expertise or insights which
might help us to manage this process, then please get in touch with
Mike at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.
National
RAR priorities
Our
national committee, which supports the work of more than 80 local RAR
groups, has written recently about proposed priorities for RAR, and
asked for responses.
The
suggested priorities are:
-
Manus
and Nauru – safe resettlement of the detainees
-
Status
Resolution Support Services (SRSS)
-
Growing
the RAR organization
-
Working
with Faith Groups
-
Writing
articles to the local press
-
Creating
a list of sympathetic politicians
-
Supporting
Refugee Week
Mike responded to the
proposals as follows:
Dear RAR national committee,
Many thanks for the list of priorities
for RAR, and for the invitation to comment on them. I think
that the items listed are ones that RAR groups will be happy to
support and get behind, though I would prefer it if, instead of
“faith groups”, the item were to read “faith and other
community groups.” I guess that there are RAR groups around the
nation who are invited to speak to a range of community groups, and I
think that this should be encouraged and supported.
More generally, the list, to me, is just
that, and seems to be lacking context, but I accept that this simply
might be that, at this point, the issues have not yet been fleshed
out. There is no mention, for example, of the national committee’s
role in supporting, coordinating, leading or sharing information
and actions with local RAR groups. I think that the list should be
framed around these issues, so that RAR groups can feel that the
national committee is a source of support, helping to coordinate
their work. We are much stronger when we can work in unison, and I
see this as a critically important role for our national committee.
By way of example, at our recent
meeting, attended by 33 supporters, there was strong support for
moving from our present practice of writing open letters/ petitions,
and then sending them to the national committee for circulation, in
the hope that other RAR groups might support our initiatives. Some
do, but many others will, understandably, have their own petitions
and actions which they are promoting. The net result is that there
are probably many similar initiatives in place at any one time, all
of them less effective than they might be if we had one, nationally
coordinated initiative.
I hope that this is helpful.
Keep up the good work!
If
you have any comments or suggestions, then please let us know.
Status
Resolution Support Services
The
government has drastically reduced funding for the SRSS, which is
paid to asylum seekers in Australia as they await the resolution of
their claims to asylum. The allocation has been slashed from $139.8
million in 2017-18 to just $52.6 million in 2019-20, a reduction of
more than 62%. In February 2017, 13,299 people were receiving
financial support, which amounts to just 89% of the Newstart
allowance. By April 2019, this number had reduced to 5,888, leaving
many people destitute and homeless.
What
does this mean for individual asylum seekers? Let’s consider the
plight of Mohammed and Rosie, who came to Australia from Iran to
escape persecution. Their story is told in the daily news sheet
Eureka Street.
“In
November 2018, the government notified them that their SRSS support
would be withdrawn. They were very distressed by the news and anxious
about the fact that they had not yet secured a job, despite their
numerous attempts, or been able to secure suitable housing.
The
odds were never in their favour. They are in their mid-sixties, speak
little English, and have had very little education. They are also
suffering from long-term illnesses. Mohammed was part of a community
gardening group, which we hoped would assist him to build networks,
develop new skills, and improve his mental health. But after his SRSS
payments were cancelled, Mohammed could not afford the weekly commute
and stopped attending. Without employment and a safety net, Mohammed
and Rosie are homeless. They rely on food aid and emergency vouchers
from the Jesuit Refugee Service and other organisations to survive
day-to-day.”
This is the daily reality for
thousands of asylum seekers in Australia. How have we managed to sink
so low in our treatment of other human beings? Let’s join the
campaign to urge the government to restore the SRSS to all asylum
seekers who need it.
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