Letter: No Room At The Inn

The letter below, together with the attached photo taken at Valla Beach market on 4^th December, was published in the Nambucca and Coffs Harbour News

 

No Room At The Inn For Refugee Families

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my wife and I have not been able to see our young grandsons in the flesh for the past two years. Many families find themselves in the same situation, and we all wish that it were not so. Yet we can console ourselves with the thought that our predicament is but temporary, and that before too long we’ll feel that it’s safe once again to resume our international travels and be reunited with our loved ones.

That is certainly not the case for the thousands of refugees and asylum seekers currently in the “care” of our government. The men detained by our government on Nauru or in PNG have not seen their partners or other family members for more than eight years. The thousands of refugees living in Australia on Temporary Protection Visas are not permitted to have their families join them here. The several hundred men currently incarcerated in detention centres or in COVID-ravaged hotels in Australia have been isolated from their families for up to a decade.

For all these people, unlike for my family, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.  They can never look forward to being reunited with their families in Australia. Their suffering will endure indefinitely, because our government has declared that, for them, there is no room at the inn.

Whatever happened to compassion?

M. G.

Valla Beach