Dear Minister Giles

                                                                                                                                                                                       7^th December 2023

Dear Minister Giles,

Please find enclosed an open letter, addressed to you, and signed by 245 people who recently visited our Rural Australians for Refugees market stall. The letter states:

 

 

We were delighted to learn recently that you had decided to grant the Sri Lankan asylum seeker Neil Para and his family permission to remain permanently in Australia. That was an eminently sensible decision, and a timely reminder that you are able to exercise your authority to intervene in these cases.

There are some 10,000 other asylum seekers in the same situation as the Para family, and the Biloela family before them. Must they each, in turn, win the active support of their local communities to draw attention to their plight? That should not be necessary, nor is it practical. Instead, you should finally recognise that it is time to end the uncertainty for these families and grant them permission to remain in Australia. They have suffered enough. They want to get on with their lives. Please act now to end their torment.

These people pose no threat to our country nor to their communities. Their claims to remain here should be urgently reviewed, with a view to granting permanent residency to all those who are found to have a right to our protection under international law. The government should urgently allocate the necessary resources to expedite their claims.

I look forward to receiving a positive response from your department.

Yours sincerely,

Mike G....

Bellingen and Nambucca District RAR