Newsletter for 20th August 2019 RAR Bello and Nambucca

Roadside demonstration: Thursday 22^nd August, 2.30 to 4.00 pm

Our next market stall: Sunday 1^st September, Coffs Harbourside market

Fundraiser at Mylestom Hall: SOLD OUT!

A new detention centre opens in PNG

Roadside demonstration: Thursday 22^nd August, 2.30 to 4.00 pm

Our next roadside demonstration will take place on Thursday in Coffs Harbour, by the Pacific Highway, opposite the base hospital, from 2.30 to 4.00 pm. Please come and support us if you can. We are always delighted to welcome new supporters to join our regular band of banner wavers and placard holders! These events are a great way to remind people about the injustice and the inhumanity of our government’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, so the more of us there are, the better we can be at getting our message across.

Our next market stall: Sunday 1^st September, Coffs Harbourside market

 

A reminder that our next market stall will be at the Coffs Harbourside market on Sunday 1^st September from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm. As usual, we’ll be handing out leaflets, engaging with market-goers and collecting final signatures on our open letter to the Prime Minister, urging him to accept the offer of the New Zealand government to accept 150 refugees a year from Manus and Nauru. If you are able to help out at our stall for an hour or two, then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com. 

Fundraiser at Mylestom Hall: SOLD OUT!

As you will be aware from previous newsletters, a group of RAR supporters are planning a fundraising lunch and auction on Saturday 24th August in support of a local asylum seeker family. We are delighted to report that the event is now sold out, and should therefore raise a significant amount of money to help this family secure rental accommodation in Coffs Harbour in the months ahead. If you were not able to secure a place at the lunch, but would like to make a donation, then you can do so by contacting Margie at: gsmh@fastmail.fm, or by phoning her on: 0414 592 519.

A new detention centre opens in PNG

In spite of the fact that the PNG Prime Minister James Marape has been calling for some time for the Australian government to set an end date for the closure of all detention centres in PNG, a new detention centre has been opened in Port Moresby. This prison - let’s call it what it is - has been funded by the Australian government to detain about 50 asylum seekers from Manus island who have had their claims for protection rejected. They were initially told that their transfer to Port Moresby was a temporary shift to hotel accommodation whilst repairs were conducted at their centre on Manus. The reality is that they are now held in secure detention, and on arrival were officially informed: “You will not leave your room. Your meals and drinks will be provided to you in your room. If you are on medication, we will administer it to you.” 

The reality, then, is that these men are to be detained indefinitely, in solitary confinement, until such time as they either agree to be deported back to their home countries or are forcibly returned. It appears that there is no proper process in place for them to have their claims for asylum to be independently reviewed, as is their right. Predictably, our government’s response to this development is that it is a matter for the PNG government, notwithstanding the fact that it is our government that has spent $20 million on constructing this new prison, and that it is our government which will pay all the costs of running the place. A spokesperson for the Australian government states: “As the PNG government seeks to resolve the regional processing caseload it has determined that these failed asylum seekers should be detained pending removal.” So, nothing to do with us!

Ian Rintoul, on behalf of the Refugee Action Coalition, quite properly takes a different view. He states: “Many of those being detained are deemed not to be refugees, although they have never had a refugee determination in PNG.” He adds that the new facility is as bad as the now closed Lombrum detention centre on Manus. His view is that the people who have had their applications for protection rejected should be released and have their cases properly reviewed. That is surely the proper thing to do.

See also:

Remaining Manus Island refugees offered voluntary relocation to Port Moresby : The Guardian

This newsletter is composed by Mike Griffin. This newsletter is sent to >670 recipients.

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.

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

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Our next Coffs Harbour Market is on September 1.

Coffs Harbour Harbourside Market: September 1 

Hope to see you there.

Newsletter for 25th June 2019 RAR Bello and Nambucca

Coffs Harbourside market report

Roadside Demonstration: Thursday 27^th June, opposite the

Base Hospital, Coffs Harbour

National RAR Annual General Meeting: Saturday 27^th July,

5.00 pm in Queanbeyan

The UNHCR Global Trends Report

The Medivac Legislation

Coffs Harbourside market report

We had a hugely successful market in Coffs Harbour on Sunday. Mercifully, the rain that had been forecast didn’t materialise, and we had a really busy morning talking to people, handing out leaflets and collecting signatures on our open letter to the Prime Minister, in which we urge him to accept the New Zealand government’s offer to resettle 150 refugees annually from Manus and Nauru. Our wonderful team of supporters did a great job in collecting more than 200 signatures on the open letter, and we received many appreciative comments from market-goers for the work that we do to bring the reality of offshore detention to the public’s attention.

Our next market stall will be at the Bellingen Market on Saturday 20^th July. Please put the date in your diary.

Roadside Demonstration: Thursday 27^th June, opposite the

Base Hospital, Coffs Harbour

A reminder that our next roadside demonstration is scheduled for this Thursday from 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm. You will find us by the side of the Pacific Highway in Coffs Harbour, opposite the Base hospital. Please join us if you can, and help us to build on the momentum created by our record turnout for our recent demo at the Big Banana. We have lots of banners and placards to share.

National RAR Annual General Meeting: Saturday 27^th July, 5.00 pm in Queanbeyan

This year’s AGM will take place at the Uniting Church, Queanbeyan, commencing at 5.00 pm, followed by guest speakers and Annual Dinner. If you wish to attend, Queanbeyan RAR members can offer billets. Alternatively, you can participate in the AGM remotely, using ZOOM. For billet enquiries, contact Anne at: anne.gardner9@gmail.com. For dinner bookings, contact Carolyn at: cbr23154@bigpond.com. For further information, including about using ZOOM, or nominating for a committee position, contact: rar.australia@gmail.com or phone 0417398528.

The UNHCR Global Trends Report

Last week, to coincide with Refugee Week, The United Nations High Commission for Refugees published its annual Global Trends report, a comprehensive update on the global situation for displaced people, refugees and asylum seekers. The report includes “eight refugee facts that you need to know”. They are:

• CHILDREN: In 2018, every second refugee was a child, many (110,000) alone and without their families.
  
  
• TODDLERS: Uganda reported 2,800 children aged five or below alone or separated from their families.
  
  
• URBAN PHENOMENON: As a refugee, you are more likely to live in a town or city (61%) than in a rural area or camp.
  
  
• RICH AND POOR: High income countries on average host 2.7 refugees per 1000 of population. Middle and low-income countries on average host 5.8. The poorest countries host one third of all refugees worldwide.
  
  
• WHEREABOUTS: About 80% of refugees live in countries neighbouring their countries of origin.
  
  
• DURATION: Nearly four in every five refugees are in displacement situations that have lasted for at least five years. One in five have been in displacement situations that have lasted twenty years or more.
  
  
• NEW ASYLUM SEEKERS: The greatest number of new asylum applications in 2018 was from Venezuelans (341,800).
  
  
• LIKELIHOOD: The proportion of humanity who are refugees, asylum seekers, or internally displaced is now 1-in-108. Ten years ago, it was 1-in-160. 
   

The Medivac Legislation

The government is clearly determined to repeal the Medivac

legislation, which was passed late last year. The legislation was designed to ensure that medical practitioners, rather than bureaucrats, should make recommendations about the evacuation of individual detainees on Manus and Nauru to receive treatment in Australia. The legislation stipulates that the government retains the power to reject transfers on security or character grounds. Minister Dutton has now mounted a crude scare campaign to persuade the opposition and the cross bench in the Senate to overthrow the legislation. Yet again, he has resorted to his familiar tactics: the floodgates are about to be opened, the people smugglers are lining up to restart their trade, hundreds of detainees will be brought to Australia under the new legislation, we will be accepting rapists, paedophiles, and hardened criminals. Dutton appeared on Sky news last week, and suggested that women who had been victims of rape on Nauru were “trying it on” by deciding, on arrival in Australia, to continue with their pregnancy. He offered no evidence to support his claim. His remarks have, quite properly, enraged the people involved in supporting these women. Lawyers who have acted for multiple rape victims on Nauru say that this applied to none of their clients. George Newhouse, principal solicitor at the National Justice Project, stated: “I know of cases where women were raped under his watch and needed termination, and the fact that he’s using them as political cannon-fodder is an absolute disgrace.”

Minister Dutton’s claims just keep coming, as he becomes increasingly outraged at the dire threats to our future. He is particularly incensed that the Federal Court has ruled that it is in order for two doctors to review a patient’s case notes, rather than have direct contact with the individual, when making a recommendation for a medical transfer, in spite of the fact that it is normal medical practice to do so. Doctors involved in the assessment process are described by minister Dutton as “activists” rather as medical practitioners. To emphasise his point, he suggests that to “two activist doctors from Nimbin” can make the decision to request a transfer!!

Unsurprisingly, none of the above is true. Dr Kerryn Phelps, who, as an MP, steered the legislation through parliament, states: “There are not floodgate to open. There has been a very careful, measured and professional process put in place to assess people for transfer and that’s why it took a while for the transfers to begin, because it was very important for the processes to be medically robust.” She goes on to say: “It is outrageous that Mr. Dutton should come out swinging on this law, and try to deny people the care they need, on World Refugee Day. And to denigrate the motives and reputations of the doctors who are giving their time for a humanitarian cause is unconscionable. These doctors are acting out of compassion in the interests of human rights and the obligations of the medical profession.” 

 

Senator Stirling Griff, who supported the Medivac bill in the Senate, is incensed at Mr. Dutton’s portrayal of the legislation, accusing the minister of an “outright lie” in his comments about the new law. The facts are that the government has approved 31 transfers (not hundreds) over the past four months. The expert medical panel has been called on just 9 times to review the transfers recommended by doctors. The panel cleared two of these cases for transfer and backed the government on the other seven. One has to conclude, therefore, that the system is working as envisaged in the legislation. Of the 31 refugees involved, 22 have arrived in Australia for treatment. Minister Dutton would clearly prefer the number to be zero, and for people to remain on Manus and Nauru with their serious medical conditions, which have been brought on by the cruel system of indefinite detention, a system designed by government to break people’s spirits.

Please consider contacting your local MP, who for most of us is Pat Conaghan, and urge them NOT to support the repeal of the Medivac legislation. The legislation is operating as planned, presents no threat to our security, will not “open the floodgates”, and is a measured and humane response to dealing with medical needs which cannot be met on Nauru or Manus. The only way to make these people healthy again is to evacuate them all urgently, rather than a few at a time as they become more and more unwell.

Pat Conaghan’s contact details: 02 6277 4446 (parliament); 02 6652 6233 (Cowper office). Email: pat.conaghan.mp@aph.gov.au.

The vote of newly-elected Jacqui Lambie to the Senate will be vital when the matter comes before parliament. At the time of writing, the list of members of the Senate has not been updated to reflect the changes to membership. We will hopefully be in a position to share her details with you in next week’s newsletter.

This newsletter is sent to >620 recipients

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.

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

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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

At Coffs Harbour Markets June 23 2019

Newsletter June 18

In this newsletter:

Roadside demonstration report

Our next market stall: Coffs Harbourside market, Sunday 23^rd

  June from 9.00 am to 1.30 pm

Local events during Refugee Week

The Stamp Collection: a second appeal!

A fundraising date for your diary: Sunday 28^th July at 2.00 pm,

 Nambucca Heads

Offshore detention in the spotlight

Roadside demonstration report

We had a record number of supporters at our Big Banana roadside demonstration last week. It was really heartening to welcome a significant number of new participants to swell the ranks of our regular crowd. All agreed that the event was very worthwhile, and that it is important to keep the issue of offshore detention in the public spotlight. A big thank you to all who participated, and we do hope that more people will consider joining us from time to time.

Our next roadside demonstration is planned for Thursday 27^th June, by the Pacific Highway in Coffs Harbour, opposite the base hospital, from 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm. Please join us if you can.

Our next market stall: Coffs Harbourside market, Sunday 23^rd

June from 9.00 am to 1.30 pm

A reminder that we have our next market stall at the Coffs Harbourside market, which is located near the jetty, on Sunday 23^rd June from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm. As usual, we’ll be handing out leaflets, talking to market-goers, encouraging people to sign our open letter, and selling merchandise to raise funds for the Asylum Seekers Centre. The markets present a great opportunity for us to interact with the community, to talk about the cruel realities of offshore detention and the harsh treatment of asylum seekers living in Australia awaiting the outcomes of their claims for protection. If you can help out at our stall for an hour or two, then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com. 

 

Local events during Refugee Week

Apologies for the short notice about these events for Refugee Week, but here they are, and we hope that there will be something to interest you.

Wednesday 19^th June: share a meal, share a story: Scotts Head

Come along to Scotts Hub, 1/5, Adin Street, Scotts Head. Bring some food to share, bring a story about refugee or asylum seeker connections that you may have, and enjoy the company of people united by their shared humanity. Start time: 5.00 pm. Email Janet Granek for further details at: granekj@gmail.com. 

 

Thursday 20^th June: Freedom Feast, Coffs Harbour Showground. 6.00 pm to 9.30 pm

Freedom Feast is a long table sit down shared community meal experience with a variety of live entertainment, all coming together under one roof for an incredible evening of food, conversation, music and dancing. Relax in the Showground Exhibition Pavilion and enjoy live music and dance performances from diverse local cultural communities with culinary flavours from across the globe. Please bring a plate of food to share.

Full details of the event can be found on our Facebook page. Just click on the link at the bottom of this newsletter.

Friday 21^st June: film screening of The Staging Post at Cavanbah Hall, Coffs Harbour

This uplifting film tells the story of a small group of asylum seekers stuck in Indonesia. In addition to the screening, Jolyon Hoff, the Director, together with Muzafar Ali, the star of the film, will be present to introduce the film and to engage in a Q and A forum following the screening. This is a free event, but please book your tickets at: www.jettytheatre.com. Time: 6.30 pm for a 7.00 pm start. Cavanbah Hall is located at 191, Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour.

The Stamp Collection: a second appeal!

In last week’s newsletter, we asked for help in relation to the extensive stamp collection that one of our supporters has donated to us to raise funds for the Asylum Seekers Centre. We are still seeking someone who might advise us on how best to proceed to get the collection valued and put on the market – or better still, someone who might take on the task of getting the collection valued and sold. If you think that you can help, please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com. 

 

A fundraising date for your diary: Sunday 28^th July at 2.00 pm, Nambucca Heads

We are in the early stages of planning a major fundraising event which will take place in the beautiful main hall of the Nambucca Community and Arts Centre building on Sunday 28^th July, starting at 2.00 pm. We can promise you a wonderful and varied afternoon of music, which we guarantee you will enjoy. Further details in the weeks ahead, but in the meantime, please put the date in your diary.

Offshore detention in the spotlight

It is becoming clear, as the weeks since the election go by, that the government is under considerable pressure from several quarters in relation to offshore detention. On Manus island, both the governor and the police chief have spoken out about the epidemic of self-harm amongst the detainees in recent weeks. They have indicated that they believe it is time for the Australian government to take responsibility for the welfare of the detainees, and to evacuate them from the island. 

 

In addition, the PNG government has expressed its unhappiness

about the awarding of a hugely lucrative contract last year to the little-known contractor Paladin in a secret deal which excluded the PNG government from bidding for the contract, which expires at the end of June. Minister Dutton says that he expects Paladin to continue to provide services to the detainees, but the PNG government is expressing strong opposition to the move.

The independent MPs Rebekha Sharkie and Zalli Stegall have also spoken out in recent days about the plight of the detainees. Rebekha Sharkie has made it clear that she intends to campaign to bring offshore detention to an end once parliament resumes, stating: “we will not stop our pressure on the government, because they cannot leave people languishing there indefinitely”.

There are still more than 800 people languishing on Nauru and Manus, with an increasing number of them being brought to Australia for treatment for serious medical conditions, which themselves are a direct result of the pain and suffering which our government has deliberately inflicted on them. 

 

About 300 of the remaining detainees have been approved for resettlement in the US, and they are expected to depart in the weeks and months ahead. The government has no plans for the remaining 500 detainees, who are becoming more desperate and more unwell as each week goes by. It is surely time for our government to accept the New Zealand offer to resettle 150 refugees, and for the remainder to be brought to Australia for treatment and resettlement either here or in another safe country willing to take them.

This newsletter is sent to >620 recipients

 LINKS

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.

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