Please find enclosed an open letter, addressed to you, and signed by 246 people who visited or market stall in recent times. The letter reads:
We were greatly encouraged by the High Court Ruling that holding people in indefinite detention once they have served their prison term is unlawful. Your reaction to that decision that, if you had your way “they would all be back behind bars tomorrow”, was truly shocking.
Undoubtedly, some of these people had committed serious crimes. But they had served their sentences, and, just like other criminals, should have been released.
The recent legislation, rushed through Parliament in the wake of the High Court decision, and driven by the Leader of the Opposition and his friends in the media, highlights once again that our political leaders seem only too willing to scapegoat and demonise asylum seekers in an unseemly battle for votes. You know that you will never satisfy the Opposition by trying to appease them. It only emboldens them to sink lower.
We sincerely hope that this failure to act with integrity and principle is not a taste of what lies ahead as we approach the next federal election.
It is deeply depressing to note that, since the above letter was written, the Labor government has continued to pursue a punitive and destructive agenda in relation to asylum seekers and refugees. The current legislation before parliament is a shameful abnegation of the government’s responsibilities to the human rights of people held in detention.
You need to do better. Much better.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Griffin
Bellingen and Nambucca District Rural Australians for Refugees.
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