Our local RAR Newsletter May, 2021

ROADSIDE DEMONSTRATION REPORT

Our recent roadside demonstration in Coffs Harbour was a great success. For the first time in more than a year, our ranks reached double figures, and we were delighted to welcome back a number of supporters who we hadn’t seen for a while. The response from passing motorists, who couldn’t fail to be impressed by the number of placards and banners on display, was very positive.

 

Our next demonstration will take place on Saturday 22nd May from 10.00 until 11.30 am on Waterfall Way in Bellingen. You will find us at our usual location near the Yellow Shed, opposite the entrance to the golf club. Please join us if you can, to show your support for refugees and asylum seekers.

 

BELLINGEN MARKET REPORT

We had a beautiful warm and sunny day for our market stall on Saturday, and we were kept busy by a steady stream of visitors to our stall, many of whom expressed their deep dismay about our government’s ongoing punitive treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. We collected more than 150 signatures on our new open letter to the Leader of the Opposition, and more than $160 in donations and sales, all of which will be donated to the Asylum Seekers Centre in Newtown.

 

A big thank you to the supporters who helped make the morning such a success.

 

Our next market stall will be at the Valla Beach market on Saturday 5^th June from 9.00 am until 1.00 pm. If you can help out on our stall for an hour or two, then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com, so that he can draw up a roster. New supporters are always welcome. Helping out at our markets is not an onerous task, and newcomers are always well briefed and supported.

 

OUR NEW OPEN LETTER

 

As you will be aware, we recently posted an open letter to the Prime Minister which had been signed by more than 800 people. We now have a new letter, this time addressed to the Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese. It reads:

 

Dear Mr. Albanese,

As the Labor Party reviews its policy platform in preparation for the federal election, we, the undersigned, urge the Party to adopt a principled and compassionate asylum policy which is consistent with our international obligations. At a minimum, we urge the Party to commit to:

·      Bringing all remaining refugees from Nauru and PNG to Australia for resettlement here or in other safe countries, including New Zealand.

·      Urgently reviewing and processing all outstanding asylum claims.

·      Releasing all remaining refugees and asylum seekers from APODs and other mainland detention centres, except where in individual cases there are overriding security issues.

·      Issuing all genuine refugees in Australia with Permanent Protection Visas.

A clear and principled asylum policy, articulated boldly, would attract significant community support.

 

If you would like to collect signatures from family, friends or colleagues, then please email Mike at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com, and he will email a copy to you. It would be good if we could collect 1,000 signatures.

 

THE FEDERAL BUDGET AND REFUGEES

The government has decided to maintain the “temporary” pandemic-related reduction in our annual humanitarian refugee intake from 18,750 to 13,750 for at least the next three years. This comes at a time when there are more than 26 million refugees worldwide, most of them fleeing conflict, political upheaval or persecution in their homelands. The great majority of them are hosted in poor and developing countries which are already struggling to care for their own people, particularly in the midst of a global pandemic. It is deeply disappointing that our government, the tenth most rich country in the world, has decided to do less for refugees when it could, and should, be doing more.

 

 The government has allocated $811 million in the budget for the continued detention of refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru and in PNG. There are currently 109 people detained on Nauru, and 130 in PNG, meaning that our government plans to spend $3.4 million next year keeping each of these 239 refugees and asylum seekers out of sight and out of mind, and demonstrating to the world that we are irresolutely tough on protecting our borders from those seeking asylum on our shores. The trauma and suffering that we have inflicted on these people over a period of almost eight years is unconscionable.

 

We must continue our campaigning until this shameful chapter in our country’s history is brought to an end.

 

REFUGEES TO BE DETAINED INDEFINITELY

Last week the government passed into law, with the support of Labor, amendments to the Migration Act which give the government the power to indefinitely detain refugees, potentially for the rest of their lives. The new law allows for the government, where it has cancelled the visa of a refugee but could not send them back to their country of origin because they would face persecution there, to detain them indefinitely. The new law also gives the minister a broad unchallengeable power to withdraw a person’s refugee status recognition – declaring they can be returned to the country from which they had fled.

 

Even the government-controlled joint parliamentary committee on human rights raised serious concerns about the law, arguing it presented a “real risk that detention may become indefinite” and “may also have implications for Australia’s obligation not to subject any person to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. These concerns do not appear to have troubled either the government or the opposition.

David Burke, the legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the legislation exposed the government’s willingness to leave growing numbers of refugees in detention without any plan.  He states:

 

 “The government should not have the power to lock people up for potentially the rest of their lives without any safeguards. This forces refugees into an unthinkable choice between spending potentially decades in immigration detention, or agreeing to go back to a country where they will be persecuted. These new laws allow the Morrison government to warehouse people who have nowhere else to go.”

 

It should surely never be acceptable for a minister, at the stroke of a pen, to overturn the fundamental protection that the government has given, after due process, to someone whose life is at risk.

How did we get to this?

Our December Newsletter for 2020

 

ACCOMMODATION CRISIS IN COFFS HARBOUR   Coffs Harbour is in the middle of a major housing crisis. There has been an influx of people from the city which has put a strain on an already tight market. Many rental properties have been sold, resulting in leases being terminated and the renters being evicted. Christmas has traditionally been a very difficult time to rent, but this year is much worse. A worker from one of the NGO groups that works with refugees in Coffs has told us that their service alone currently has four refugee families that are either homeless, or will be, in the coming 4-6 weeks. He told us:   "This is the tip of the iceberg, and I know of numerous other refugee families not with our service who are in the same predicament. These include : A family of 3 adults, including elderly mother, couch surfing. A family of 6, including new baby, in a long term, tiny cabin.  A family of 9, 4 weeks left before eviction. A family of 6, including elderly parents. 6 weeks before eviction.  These families are genuine refugees who have sought and received refuge in Australia from trouble spots around the world from Africa to Syria and Myanmar. They are accustomed to paying rent in the range of $350 to $560 depending on the size of the rental property.   CAN YOU HELP? DO YOU HAVE A PROPERTY YOU COULD LEASE TO A FAMILY IN NEED? PLEASE EMAIL bellingen.rar@gmail.com or RING MARGARET at 0414 592 519 Note :  there are no cabins, caravans or hotel/motel rooms available in Coffs Harbour at all.     Please sign this petition requesting Coffs Council to open Coffs Showgrounds for local homeless families Copy and paste this link  https://www.change.org/p/coffs-harbour-council-open-coffs-harbour-showgrounds-for-local-homeless-individuals-families-to-sleep-safely?fbclid=IwAR0YduP4dtvyWtTn7r_EtQ_43TaOvsvyAZ859VsyOAR0t9AIGsJvo20tpLU Kate Wickman started this petition to Coffs Harbour City Council (Local Gov) and 5 others Homeless individuals and families who have not been able to secure housing/accommodation, due to lack of availability, should be allowed to have somewhere safe to sleep in their CARS at night whilst they await approval for the rental properties they have applied for. Individuals moving out of cities are being given preference over LOCAL FAMILIES in the rental housing market and as a result many are now homeless due to NO FAULT of their own. VALLA BEACH MARKET REPORT   We had a very successful time at Valla Beach market on Saturday. The sun shone, the crowds arrived and we had a busy time talking to market-goers, selling our merchandise and getting people to send greetings to parliamentarians, asking them to free the Biloela family by Christmas. People were also very generous with their donations, and we will make our final donation of 2020 to the asylum Seekers Centre in the days ahead. Hopefully, in the New Year, we will be able to plan a number of fundraising activities, particularly as we can now invite up to fifty people to a private house. A big thank you to the market organisers and to our team of supporters for helping to make the morning so successful.  ROADSIDE DEMONSTRATION REPORT   Just a small number of us braved the heat last Saturday for our demonstration on the Pacific Highway next to the Big Banana. Fortunately, there was a strong, cooling breeze to sustain us, and the reaction from motorists, as always, was overwhelmingly positive, and at times enthusiastic! Our final demonstration for 2020 will take place by the Pacific Highway, opposite the base hospital In Coffs Harbour on Saturday 12th December from 10.00 am until 11.30 am.  Please come and join us if you can, and show your solidarity for the plight of the thousands of asylum seekers and refugees who continue to suffer terribly under our government’s punitive and cruel immigration policy. ANOTHER GENEROUS DONATION    Following his successful exhibition at the Nexus Gallery in October-November, one of our supporters, Jeremy Barrett, has very kindly donated $600 from the sale of his work to RAR, which we will forward to the ASC together with any final income from sales and donations at the Valla Beach market. This will undoubtedly be a welcome end-of-year gift to the ASC, who need every dollar that supporters can raise during these very challenging times.  A big thank you to Jeremy for his generous gift.   THE UDAWATTA FAMILY FROM KEMPSEY   In our newsletter two weeks ago, we described the plight of the Udawatta family, who face deportation following the death of the father of the family in September. We urged supporters to contact our local MP, Pat Conaghan and the Acting minister for Immigration, Alan Tudge. At the time of writing, we have received a reply from Pat Conaghan MP, assuring us that he has made representations to the Minister on behalf of the family and that he will continue do all he can to ensure that they remain in Australia.   That is very encouraging and positive news. You might wish to thank Pat Conaghan for his timely intervention, and ask him to continue to advocate for the family to stay.   We have not, to date, received any response from the minister’s office. Could you therefore please consider phoning Alan Tudge’s office? *Tell them that you are aware that Pat Conaghan has made representations on behalf of the Udawatta family. *Ask whether the Minister has made a decision to intervene to allow the family to stay in Australia. *Tell him that this is an urgent issue, and that you know that he has the power to intervene. Emphasise that the Kempsey community is fully supportive of the family and that they are hoping that the Minister will make a decision before Christmas. You can find letters to both politicians by clicking on the link to our blog at the end of this newsletter. Pat Conaghan’s phone number:  6277 4446 (Canberra), or 6652 6233 (Coffs Harbour).  Alan Tudge’s phone number:  6277 7790 (Canberra) or 03 9887 3890 (electoral office). THE BILOELA FAMILY If you happened to be listening to RN last Thursday morning, you might have heard a report by Fran Kelly about the continuing plight of this Sri Lankan family of four, who have now spent more than 1000 days in detention after being snatched from their home in Biloela in March 2018, where they had been living for a number of years. The family have been held in detention on Christmas Island for well over a year. The two young daughters are accompanied to school by guards each day, and their lives are both precarious and miserable.   The Biloela community has fought long and hard to persuade the government to grant the family leave to stay in the country and the town that they call home, but to no avail. Minister Dutton, true to form, is utterly dismissive of the family’s and the community’s pleas for compassion. He has made it clear that the family is not welcome here, and accuses them of “trying every trick in the book” to avoid deportation. At our market stall in Valla Beach on Saturday, we gave out specially-made Christmas cards, provided by our national RAR committee, to send to politicians about the Biloela family. The message inside reads:   3 years after Asylum seekers Nades, Priya and their two daughters, Kopika and Tharunicaa were taken by Border Force from their newly adopted home in Biloela Queensland in March 2018. They are still in detention. Despite strong support from the people of Biloela and the wider Australian community, the government continues to deny them residency. We ask that the children will not face another year in detention and that they will be safely home in Biloela by Christmas. You might like to send your own Christmas cards, using these words, to the politician of your choice. Pat Conaghan MP: PO Box 2056, Coffs Harbour, NSW 2450 Peter Dutton MP: PO Box 2012, Strathpine, Queensland 4500 Alan Tudge MP:  Suite 4, Level 1, 420, Burwood Highway, Wantima South, VIC 3152 TEMPORARY: THE PODCAST   This new project is produced by UNSW’s Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, initiated with support from the Collier Charitable Fund, and features an eight-episode narrative podcast series from the UNSW Centre for Ideas and Guardian Australia. Temporary offers rare access and intimate understanding of people navigating Australia’s refugee system, with no way to secure permanent protection. In their own voice, each refugee and asylum seeker speaks from a shadowy legal limbo of Australia’s creation. You can listen to the podcast series by clicking on this link: https://temporary.kaldorcentre.net.    We have about 100 postcards to distribute, provided by national RAR, for you to send to politicians. We’ll be handing them out at our markets in the months ahead, and we hope that you will join the campaign to impress on politicians that we want an end to the punitive and inhumane policy which inflicts so much suffering on people who have fled their homelands to seek a safe haven in Australia. We need to send a strong message that we will not vote for this cruel policy. Check out the index of subjects on our blog http://bellorar.blogspot.com.au It includes articles from many sources and letters to politicians and newspapers. This newsletter is sent to >630 recipients Our Face book is at https://www.facebook.com/Rural-Australians-for-Refugees-Bellingen-and-Nambucca-Districts-269696303205083/timeline/ (579 likes) Twitter Account @RARBellingenNam Email address bellingen.rar@gmail.com   The National RAR web site is at  www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org.au  The National RAR facebook site is at  RAR Facebook

Bello Nambucca RAR Newsletter 10th December 2019

Valla Beach market report

Bush, Beach and Bash update

Roadside demonstration: Thursday 12^th December, Coffs Harbour

World Human Rights Day: Tuesday 10^th December

Medevac laws repealed

Medevac. So, what is the “secret deal”?

Valla Beach market report

Saturday’s market was a busy event, with lots of people arriving to buy their fresh fruit and vegetables and hunt for Christmas presents. We had an excellent spot under the trees in a busy location and there were many visitors to our stall. People were very keen to sign our open letter to the Prime Minister, and many of them expressed their anger and despair at the repeal of the medevac legislation in the Senate last week. A big thank you to the thirteen supporters who turned up at different times to lend a hand. We remain a strong and resilient team!

This was our final market for 2019. We will post details of our market calendar for 2020 in the first newsletter of the new year, but in the meantime, you might like to put the Bellingen market on Saturday 18^th January 2020 in your diary.

Bush, Beach and Bash update

Following last week’s social and fundraising event, we received a further $60 in donations from supporters who were unable to attend, bringing the total raised to $965. We’ll give you a final update on our 2019 fundraising for the Asylum Seekers Centre in next week’s newsletter.

Roadside demonstration: Thursday 12^th December, Coffs Harbour

Our final roadside demonstration for the year will be this Thursday, 12^th December, by the Pacific Highway in Coffs Harbour, opposite the base hospital, from 2.30 to 4.00 pm. Please join us if you can, to help us show our steadfast commitment to the refugees and asylum seekers in Australia and offshore who continue to suffer at the hands of our cruel government, which seems to be completely lacking in empathy and compassion.

World Human Rights Day: Tuesday 10^th December

World Human Rights Day is a day that marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – a document which our government helped to write. Our nation signed up to uphold and protect the human rights of all people, including those who came here to seek asylum. Instead, our government’s punitive laws and policies are deliberately designed to humiliate and punish some of the most vulnerable people on the planet who fled their countries to seek safety and protection on our shores. Instead of helping them, we have created systems aimed at crushing their spirits, ruining their health and forcing many of them to return to danger, in clear contravention of our international obligations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes:

Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.

Article 14. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

It is clear, and deeply shameful, that our government is falling well short of the obligations that it entered into when it signed up to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Medevac laws repealed

Sadly, but perhaps predictably, Senator Lambie sided with the government last week, thereby allowing the repeal of the medevac legislation. Once again, it will be bureaucrats, rather than doctors, who will make decisions about whether or not a detainee on Nauru or in PNG should be transferred to Australia for medical treatment which cannot be adequately provided offshore.

All the evidence is that the medevac legislation was working exactly as it was meant to do. Lives have undoubtedly been saved. We now return to the previous regime, where deliberate delays are built into the system, and where the recommendations of doctors will be routinely overridden by bureaucrats in Canberra. As before, lawyers will have to intervene on behalf of patients, and, as before, the government will spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ money in the courts in futile attempts to prevent transfers. And for what, we are entitled to ask? The only explanation seems to be that the government simply wants to demonstrate, yet again, that it is tough on “border security”, that only the Coalition can keep us safe, and that Labor cannot be trusted. In the end, it is all about politics, and has nothing at all to do with the humane treatment of sick refugees, who are but pawns in their games. It is a truly shameful and tragic state of affairs.

Interestingly, four doctors on the Coalition benches voted for the repeal of the legislation, notwithstanding their professional obligations to do no harm and to treat sick people without discrimination. They are Dr Katie Allen, who is a paediatrician, Dr Fiona Martin, who is a psychologist, Dr David Gillespie and Dr Andrew Laming. They all voted to give the power to assess the medical condition of seriously ill people to non-medical professionals. A staggering example of the power of ideology and self-interest to usurp professional ethics.

Medevac. So, what is the “secret deal”?

Much has been made in recent days of the so-called secret deal between Senator Lambie and the government, which vehemently denies that any deal exists. The consensus seems to be that a deal to resettle some refugees in New Zealand is finally on the table. But the government has been shifting its position on the NZ offer for some time. From a position of “this is never going to happen”, we received a letter from the Director of Regional Processing and Resettlement on 4^th October, in which he states: “Australia appreciates the offer from the New Zealand Government to resettle refugees, however we are focused on completing the larger arrangement with the United States.” It is therefore reasonable to conclude that, once the US resettlement programme has run its course, the government will finally engage with the New Zealand government to resettle refugees in NZ. However, it is important to note that, since last week, government ministers have constantly referred to “getting people off Nauru.” There is no mention of the several hundred men in PNG, which is deeply concerning. We need to be very alert to this, and be prepared to campaign strongly in the New Year to get all refugees on Nauru and in PNG to places of safety.

Check out the index of subjects on our blog http://bellorar.blogspot.com.au

It includes articles from many sources and letters to politicians and newspapers.

This newsletter is sent to >670 recipients

Our Face book is at https://www.facebook.com/Rural-Australians-for-Refugees-Bellingen-and-Nambucca-Districts-269696303205083/timeline/

(579 likes)

Twitter Account @RARBellingenNam

Email address bellingen.rar@gmail.com

 

The National RAR web site is at  www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org.au 

The National RAR facebook site is at  RAR Facebook

Bello Nambucca RAR Newsletter 19th November 2019

Not the roadside demonstration report

Bellingen market report

Have you signed up yet for B, B and B on Sunday 1^st December?

Behrouz Boochani is finally free

Not the roadside demonstration report

Unfortunately, due to the smoke haze in Coffs Harbour on Thursday, we had to cancel our planned demonstration by the Big Banana. We did contact everyone who we thought might be planning to attend, and do sincerely apologise if anyone was inconvenienced.

Our next demonstration will be at the same location – by the Pacific Highway beneath the Big Banana - on Thursday 28^th November from 2.30 until 4.00 pm. We do hope that you will consider coming to join us if you can. 

Bellingen market report

We had an excellent time at the Bellingen market on Saturday, with eleven supporters turning up at different times to lend a hand. We were in a really good spot, with lots of market-goers passing our stall, enabling us to collect more than 200 signatures on our open letter, engage in many fruitful conversations, and collect a number of generous donations for the Asylum Seekers Centre in Newtown. A big thank you to our team of supporters and to Kaz and the market crew for allocating us a site at such a busy junction.

Our next stall will be at the Valla Beach market on Saturday 7th December from 9.00 am until 1.00 pm. If you can help out for an hour or two, then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.

Have you signed up yet for B, B and B on Sunday 1^st December?

Our final fundraiser of the year is now less than two weeks away, and we would be so pleased if you would indicate soon that you are planning to attend. You can revisit the full details in the newsletters for the past three weeks, which you can access by clicking on the link to our blog at the end of this newsletter. Briefly, for the benefit of our new supporters who signed up at the Bellingen market, the plan is to gather at 39, Rogers Drive, Valla Beach at 11.30 am on 1^st December. We’ll have a gentle walk through the Jagun nature reserve and along the beach, before returning to the house for lunch at about 12.30 pm. Drinks will be provided, and you are asked to bring a plate to share if you can, and to donate $20 towards our $10,000 target for the Asylum Seekers Centre. Please let Mike know soon if you are planning to attend, which we hope you will. Email: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com. If you don’t feel like the Bush and Beach parts, just arrive at 12.30 pm or earlier for lunch.

Directions will be provided in next week’s newsletter.

Behrouz Boochani is finally free

So many people at the Bellingen market were overjoyed to learn that Behrouz Boochani had arrived in New Zealand from PNG on Thursday, after spending more than six years in offshore detention. Many of you will have read his award-winning book: “No Friend but the Mountains”, in which he depicts his experiences of his flight from Iran and his life in detention. He was able to obtain travel documents to leave PNG to give a presentation to the Christchurch writers’ festival later this month, and was warmly welcomed with a civic reception in Christchurch. He has a temporary one-month visa, but, unsurprisingly, he has vowed never to return to PNG. A New Zealand government MP Golriz Ghahraman, who, like Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish refugee from Iran, had this to say: “I’m just so proud that New Zealand gets to stand as the counterpoint to the kind of politics that has led to Australia’s prison camps being in operation for so long. We’ve got a man like this, a human being, trapped for six years, and we get to be the country that stands for inclusion and for human rights and for freedom.” Asked if she had a message for the Australian government, Ghahraman said: “Close the camps…they amount to torture. It’s time the Australian government acts like a good international citizen.”

The contrast between the actions of the New Zealand government and the cruel and punitive policy of the Australian government could not be starker.

Labor senator Kristina Keneally, the party’s immigration spokesperson, issued a statement welcoming Behrouz Boochani’s freedom, but he was, rightly, having none of it, describing her statement as “shameful,” and reminding her that it was a Labor government that had exiled him and many others to Manus, and that her party has supported the Coalition’s offshore detention policy ever since. He told her: “If you are honest, do something for others who are suffering in PNG and Nauru. In my view, anyone who supports the policy is a criminal and a terrorist.”

Let us hope that Behrouz will finally be able to rebuild his life in New Zealand or the USA, where he has been accepted for resettlement. He has so much to offer, as undoubtedly have so many other people who we have left in limbo on Nauru and in PNG for purely political purposes.

 

Check out the index of subjects on our blog http://bellorar.blogspot.com.au

It includes articles from many sources and letters to politicians and newspapers.

This newsletter is sent to >670 recipients

Our Face book is at https://www.facebook.com/Rural-Australians-for-Refugees-Bellingen-and-Nambucca-Districts-269696303205083/timeline/

(579 likes)

Twitter Account @RARBellingenNam

Email address bellingen.rar@gmail.com

 

The National RAR web site is at  www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org.au 

The National RAR facebook site is at  RAR Facebook