Newsletter for 30 January 2018 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

_{Next Roadside Demo - Toormina Thursday February 8th 2:30pm}

_{Next Market - Valla Beach Sat 3rd February}

_{More refugees sent to the USA}

_{Update on Manus Island} 

_{Make use of our blog}

_{Roadside demonstration report}

_{Just four of us braved the hot sunshine last Thursday for the roadside demonstration in Coffs Harbour. We gave our new banner its first outing and received a lot of support from passing motorists, together with a number of negative gestures from others. There clearly is still much work to do to win the hearts and minds of many members of the public, but that’s what we are committed to doing, given the terrible suffering inflicted on innocent men, women and children trapped in indefinite offshore detention. Our next roadside demonstration will be on Thursday 8th February from 2.30 to 4.00 pm in Toormina. You will find us at our usual venue on Hogbin Drive, just down the hill from the fire station and opposite what used to be the Sawtell nursery. Now that the holiday period is behind us, it would be great to have a good crowd of supporters to help us get the message across about the government’s cruel asylum policy.}

_{Next market: Saturday 3rd February at Valla Beach : 9.00 am to 1.30 pm}

_{Our next market stall will be this Saturday, 3rd February at Valla Beach. We are looking for supporters to lend a hand between 9.00 am and 1.30 pm, so if you are able to help out for an hour or two, then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com. We have a new open letter to Bill Shorten for people to sign and it would be great if we could collect 100 signatures on Saturday. Our National RAR president, Marie Sellstrom, will be joining us at the market, so please drop by to say hello if you can. After the market, you would be most welcome to join us for a light lunch at 39, Rogers Drive Valla Beach from 1.30 pm. Please let Mike know in advance if you intend to join us for lunch. It will be a good opportunity to relax and enjoy one another’s company.}

_{Another group of refugees flies to the US}

_{In recent days 58 refugees were flown from Port Moresby for resettlement in the US. Another 130 refugees on Nauru have been accepted for resettlement and are expected to leave for the US in the coming days. This will bring the total to 242 so far, though it is more than a year since the Obama government agreed to take 1,250 refugees from Manus and Nauru. No Somalis or Iranians are included in these latest groups as they are banned by the Trump regime from travelling to the US. According to Natasha Blucher from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, there are still up to 2,000 people, including 150 children, in offshore detention, with no prospect of freedom. She states: “The US cannot be the only solution here. It is moving too slowly and people’s lives are being destroyed from the very moment they are stuck in this crushing system. We work with a huge number of people suffering from serious health issues, families who have been ripped apart, and people – including children – who have been living in mouldy tents on Nauru for over four years now.”}

_{It’s surely time to bring them all here!}

_{Malcolm Turnbull: (02) 6277 7700  or (02) 9327 3988}

_{Bill Shorten: (02) 6277 4022  or (03) 9326 1300}

_{Update on Manus: a personal story}

_{Some of you may have read the heartbreaking story in The Saturday Paper by Imran Mohammad about the latest situation on Manus, now that the detainees have been moved into three different detention centres. It is a story of utterly cruel abandonment by our government and is well worth reading. In spite of the crushing hardship of life in limbo on a remote island, Imran tries to end on a positive note: “It may seem like a dream, but if we all dream together we may have a world in which everyone is born into security and freedom. It is my hope that 2018 will be the year of healing, peace and safety, and may there be many peaceful and happy years to follow for every citizen on this earth”. You can read the article by clicking on our Facebook link at the bottom of this newsletter.}

_{Making use of our blog}

_{Please have a look at our blog from time to time if you can, by clicking on the link at the end of this newsletter. You will find a range of information, including letters that have been published in the press or sent to politicians. You’ll also find regular updates from Our National RAR committee, which are always informative. If you write to politicians, or have a letter published in the press, then please forward it to bellingen.rar@gmail.com so that we can include in on the blog.}

_{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 >500 recipients}

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

_{(482 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}

Response to Tanya Plibersek letter 26 December 2017

_From: Mike

_{Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2017 3:50 PM}

_{To: Tanya Plibersek MP}

_{Subject: Offshore detention}

_{Dear Ms Plibersek,}

_{Many thanks for your detailed response of 22nd December to my letter of 13th August, sent to Shayne Neumann and copied to you. I very much appreciate the time and trouble that you have taken to address the issues that I raised and to set out the Labor Party’s position. I do  accept, for the most part, the criticisms that you make of the Turnbull government’s utter failure to deal adequately with the appalling situation for asylum seekers and refugees languishing in offshore detention. But we need to address the problem of the elephant in the room. The Labor party went to the last election promising the Australian people that there was no difference between the Labor party and the Coalition in relation to the key pillars of asylum policy, namely: turning back the boats, the maintenance of offshore detention camps, and the Rudd-era policy of preventing people arriving by boat from ever settling in Australia. In these crucially important areas, the Labor party’s policy stance has not changed. It seems somewhat disingenuous to me for the Labor party to state that the detention camps were never regarded as being indefinite. Apart from the government’s incredibly stupid refusal to take up the NZ government’s offer to resettle 150 refugees annually, the Coalition tells the same story, and Dutton wants us to believe that he is trying to get people off Manus and Nauru as quickly as possible. In the meantime, many hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees continue to suffer both physically and mentally whilst politicians essentially look the other way.}

_{In the present terrible circumstances, the Labor party should bite the bullet, decide that enough is enough and take the political  risk of declaring that all detainees in offshore detention should be brought to Australia  without delay for their safety and well-being. This would allow an orderly progression to appropriate third countries, which would include the US and NZ, but would exclude Third World countries such as Cambodia. Those wishing to remain in Australia, where a number of them have family connections, should be allowed to do so.}

_{It is time to bring this shameful chapter in our history to an end.}

_{Yours sincerely,}

_{Mike Griffin}

_{39, Rogers Drive, Valla Beach NSW 2448}

letter to Nick McKim - appreciation for efforts to spotlight horrors of Manus Island

8th December 2017

Dear Senator McKim,

I am writing to express my appreciation for the huge efforts that you have made in recent times to bring the government's cruel and punitive asylum policy to the attention of the Australian public. Your forensic spotlight on the horrors of life for detainees on Manus island, and Dutton's arrogant rejection of the facts on the ground have been a game changer for some of the people that our Rural Australians for Refugees group talk to at our local markets. Your appearances on the national TV news to report on the disgraceful treatment of the Manus detainees and their forcible removal from the Lombrun RPC had an immediate impact at local level, with many people expressing their dismay and agreeing that the offshore detention centres should be immediately evacuated.

You might be interested in the enclosed letter which I sent yesterday on behalf of our local RAR group to Shayne Neumann, and copied, together with a covering letter, to a number of his colleagues on the so-called Left of the Labor party. These included Tanya Plibersek, Anthony Albanese, Lisa Singh, Jenny Macklin, Maria Vamvakinou, Kim Carr and  Penny Wong.

Many thanks for all that you do to expose the government's disgraceful policy and for advocating for a just, lawful and humane solution for Australia's asylum seekers and refugees.

                                                                                                Yours sincerely,

                                                                                                Mike Griffin