A copy of a letter posted on P.M. Morrison’s contact page yesterday.

Dear Prime Minister,

I listened in disbelief last week to your interview with Ben Fordham, in which you sought to insinuate that the men held in the Park Hotel were not actually refugees. You knew, of course, that this was not true. You know that the great majority of them are genuine refugees, who are entitled to our protection under international law. You wanted to suggest, on the other hand, that these men are simply asylum seekers wishing to remain here, and refusing to go home.

Your efforts at obfuscation in a media interview on the following day were utterly unconvincing.

Attempting to deceive the French President is one thing. Seeking to mislead the Australian people, in order to duck your responsibilities for the appalling treatment of refugees, is quite another.

I can only hope that, at the upcoming federal election, more and more Australians will seek to elect people of honesty, integrity and compassion.

Mike Griffin

Letter to the Prime Minister: Illegal arbitrary detention of asylum seekers and refugees

To: scott.morrison@aph.gov.au

Dear Prime Minister,

How much longer do you intend wrecking the lives of decent people,

men women and children who lawfully came to our country fleeing persecution? 

How low do you intend dragging our country's reputation?  We the   lovers of this land as it once was, before your cruel and uncaring disregard for the lives of anyone outside your own community became the rule of law. We want our beautiful country and  its kind citizens back again!!!I

If you ever expect to be respected again, you must allow every off and onshore asylum seeker and refugee their immediate freedom.  Some are close to death, how long can they survive without hope of a life of their own? With  no chance to work, have families, educate and eventually become great citizens of Australia.

Thank you,

Pat de Jong.

Tennis Star Finds Hotel Detention is not a Game: Mike Griffin

 The detention of tennis star Novak Djokovic in the Park Hotel in Carlton attracted worldwide headlines, including a degree of disbelief that this is what can happen to people whose application to enter Australia is not approved by the government. What the government did not anticipate was that Djokovic’s detention would also draw attention to the fact that there are more than thirty refugees locked up in the Park Hotel, where they have been held for more than a year under the watchful eye of SERCO guards and the ABF. They have committed no crime. They were brought to Australia from Nauru or PNG for medical treatment, which, for the most part, they have not received. Demonstrators outside the hotel, who gathered in support of Djokovic, were shocked to learn that these men have been in detention for more than eight years, with no end in sight. For more than two decades, successive governments, particularly at election time, have used asylum seekers as a political weapon to attract voters’ support. The emphasis has been on “protecting our borders” and safeguarding our security. The real stories of refugees have been deliberately excluded from the national narrative.

 

A recently published book: “Seeking Asylum: Our Stories”, put together by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, seeks to redress the balance through the voices and stories of refugees who have arrived in Australia during the past twenty years. The twenty-three people who tell their stories in this beautifully illustrated book have one thing in common, in that all of them had been forced to flee their homeland. Thereafter, each of their stories is unique and deeply personal. Members of our local refugee advocacy group have recently presented copies of the book to the local libraries in Macksville, Nambucca Heads, Urunga and Bellingen.

 

We do hope that members of our communities will enjoy reading the refugees’ stories, which will hopefully contribute to a better and more empathetic understanding of the issues, and help us to respond with greater compassion and humanity to these people. They are seeking a hand up, not a handout, and with support, they have so much to offer to Australian society. Who knows, it’s just possible that, having been made aware of the plight of these refugees as a result of the temporary detention of a tennis star, people might wake up to the reality of our government’s cruel and inhumane treatment of refugees. They might then demand that the refugees are released from this prison, and given the support that they need to rebuild their shattered lives.

A letter to the local Bellingen newspaper

Seeking asylum: refugees tell their stories

The Bellingen Librarian happily accepts a copy of Seeking Asylum

 
As we head towards the federal election in the months ahead, it will be more important than ever to be wary of the misinformation, sloganeering and deceit which, these days, go hand in hand with political campaigning. This is particularly relevant in relation to   the depiction and treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. For the   past two decades, we have shifted from a focus on compassion and our   human rights obligations to one of fomenting fear and spreading   misinformation. Securing votes at elections, whatever the human cost, is now all that matters.  Honesty and integrity come a very poor second. In all this fog of misinformation and scaremongering, the real stories of refugees have been excluded from the national narrative. 

 
A new book, _"Seeking Asylum: Our Stories"_, put together by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, seeks to redress the balance through the voices and stories of real refugees who have arrived in Australia
during the past twenty years. The twenty-three people who tell their stories in this beautifully illustrated book have one thing in common, in that all of them had been forced to flee their homeland.
Thereafter, each of their stories is unique and deeply personal.
 
When Ghofran was just nine years old, her family was forced to flee Iraq. She spent six years in a refugee tent in the Saudi Arabian desert, before arriving in Australia at the age of twenty with no English and limited education. But, like so many refugees, she was  determined and resilient. She was eventually awarded a Bachelor of Science degree with high distinction, and later completed her PhD. She
now works as a university lecturer, training biomedical students on their way to becoming doctors.
 

Another refugee, Danijel, tells us that he has gone from milking cows in a war zone to representing blue-collar workers in Australian courts!
 
 It is important that the stories of refugees be heard. To that end, some members of our local refugee advocacy group purchased copies of  the book and have presented them to Macksville, Nambucca, Urunga and Bellingen libraries. We do hope that members of our communities will enjoy reading the refugees' stories, which will hopefully contribute  to a better and more empathetic understanding of the issues, and help  us to respond with greater compassion and humanity to these people.They are seeking a hand up, not a handout, and, with support, have so
much to offer to Australian society.
 
Let these stories be an antidote to the inevitable drumbeat of racism  and fear as the federal election approaches.
 
Mike Griffin

As the federal election approaches, it’s important to remind people that compassion in government policies matters!

The article below, was published in the Nambucca News of the Area on Friday 14^th January, under the headline “Seeking Asylum: Our Stories”. It made quite a splash!

Dear NOTA Editor,

Sandra Moon’s excellent valedictory article about the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to two outstanding journalists is both timely and important. As the Norwegian Nobel Committee reminds us, freedom of expression and freedom of information help to ensure an informed public, and these rights are crucial prerequisites for democracy, and for protection against war and conflict. The News of the Area has made a refreshing contribution in this space during 2021, which is admirable.

As we head towards the federal election in the months ahead, a relentless focus on truth in electioneering and on a media that is courageous enough to speak truth to power will be more important than ever. This is particularly relevant in relation to the depiction and treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. For the past two decades, we have shifted from a focus on compassion and our human rights obligations to one of fomenting fear and spreading misinformation. Securing votes at elections, whatever the human cost, is now front and centre. The potential presence of refugees has preoccupied the nation – from the Tampa incident, the “children overboard” falsehood, and the demonising of asylum seekers as potential terrorists, rapists, thieves and job-stealers. In all this fog of misinformation and scaremongering, the real stories of refugees have been excluded from the national narrative.

A new book, “Seeking Asylum: Our Stories”, put together by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, seeks to redress the balance through the voices and stories of real refugees who have arrived in Australia during the past twenty years. The twenty-three people who tell their stories in this beautifully illustrated book have one thing in common, in that all of them had been forced to flee their homeland. Thereafter, each of their stories is unique and deeply personal.

When Ghofran was just nine years old, her family was forced to flee Iraq. She spent six years in a refugee tent in the Saudi Arabian desert, before arriving in Australia at the age of twenty with no English and limited education. But, like so many refugees, she was determined and resilient. She was eventually awarded a Bachelor of Science degree with high distinction, and later completed her PhD. She now works as a university lecturer, training biomedical students on their way to becoming doctors.

Another refugee, Danijel, tells us that he has gone from milking cows in a war zone to representing blue-collar workers in Australian courts!

It is important that the stories of refugees are heard. To that end, some members of our local refugee advocacy group have purchased copies of the book for our local libraries. These have now been presented to Macksville, Nambucca, Urunga and Bellingen libraries. We do hope that members of our communities will enjoy reading the refugees’ stories, which will hopefully contribute to a better and more empathetic understanding of the issues, and help us to respond with greater compassion and humanity to these people. They are seeking a hand up, not a handout, and, with support, have so much to offer to Australian society.

Let these stories be an antidote to the inevitable drumbeat of racism and fear as the federal election approaches.

Mike Griffin