Newsletter for 1 May 2018 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

_{Next Roadside Demo - Bellingen, May 3rd 2:30pm}

_{Fundraiser Sunday 10th June}

_{12yo on Nauru pleads for help}

_{Confessions of former Border Force commissioner}

_{And finally...}

_{Roadside demonstration: Thursday 3rd May 2.30 to 4.00 pm}

_{Our next roadside demonstration is this Thursday 3rd May on Waterfall Way, Bellingen. You will find us in our usual spot, opposite the entrance to the golf club, and adjacent to the Yellow Shed. Several of our “regulars” will be away on holiday this week, so it would be much appreciated if others could come along to support us in this important activity. We have lots of placards and banners to share and it’s a great opportunity to get the message across about our government’s cruel treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Please join us if you can.}

_{Future demonstrations are as follows:}

_{Thursday 17th May: Coffs Harbour, opposite the Base hospital.}

_{Thursday 31st May: Hogbin Drive, Toormina.}

_{Thursday 14th June: The Big Banana, Coffs Harbour.}

_{Fundraiser: Sunday 10th June, starting at 2.00 pm}

_{On Sunday 10th June we will be staging a matinee music concert, “Reaching Out” in the main hall of the Nambucca Community and Arts Centre, which is located on Ridge Street in Nambucca Heads. We have several outstanding musicians lined up, and you are guaranteed a wonderful and uplifting experience. Please put the date in your diaries, and look out for further details in next week’s newsletter. If you can help on the day – selling tickets on the door, helping in the kitchen, selling our RAR merchandise etc, then please email Marlene at:marlene.griffin46@bigpond.com.}

_{All profits from the event will be used to help refugees and asylum seekers in Australia.}

_{Let’s make it a big one!}

_{Twelve-year-old on Nauru pleads for help}

_{A recent Guardian article, which you can read in full on our Facebook page, paints yet another heartbreaking story of the suffering of detainees on Nauru, where they continue to be held in mouldy tents in the tropical heat. The detainees – men, women and children - are becoming increasingly unwell and deeply depressed. Ali, the young boy in the article, who is himself clearly unwell, pleads for help for his very sick mother. To date, requests by doctors for her urgent transfer from Nauru have been resisted by the Australian Border Force (ABF), who routinely ignore the advice of medical practitioners. In correspondence, the ABF has offered to assist Ali’s mother in returning to Iran, the country from which she fled some five years ago.}

_{Catherine Stubberfield, a spokesperson for UNHCR in Canberra, reminds us that offshore processing is entirely inappropriate, particularly for children. She states: “The harm caused by over four years in harsh and punitive conditions has taken an enormous toll, confirmed by experts ranging from psychiatrists and paediatricians to the government’s own chief medical officer. Further mental health deterioration is both predictable and wholly preventable”.}

_{There are still approximately 100 children held on Nauru, including 42 in the detention centre.}

_{Confessions of the former ABF Commissioner}

_{In Twitter exchanges over recent days, the former Australian Border Force Commissioner, Roman Quaedvlieg, conceded that genuine medical transfer requests from Manus and Nauru are routinely “obstructed and thwarted” by the ABF. A former senior medical officer on Nauru, Dr Nick Martin, told Quaedvlieg: “...you must remember that every time, without fail, that I tried to get deserving cases the care they needed, they were  thwarted and obstructed by ABF. Every time.”  Quaedvlieg replied: “Understood, and I accept without equivocation”.}

_{It is deeply concerning  that the management of urgent medical needs, involving the transfer of patients from Manus or Nauru, takes second place, every time, to the political imperative of preventing asylum seekers from setting foot in Australia. It is also concerning that the current chief medical officer for the ABF is a bureaucrat who has no medical training.}

_{And finally....}

_{With my last breath before the lights go out, I’d prefer to say: “I’m glad I did something”, rather than “I wish I’d done something.”}

_{Julian Burnside QC. Patron of our national RAR group}

_{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 >560 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}

Newsletter for 13 March 2018 Rural Australians for Australia Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

_{Next Roadside Demo - Coffs Base Hospital March 22th 2:30pm}

_{Next market stall Bellingen Sat 17th March}

_{Our donation to ASC}

_{Harmony Festival Sun 25th March}

_{SHEV - Another acronym}

_{Border Force raids}

_{Roadside demonstration report}

_{Last Thursday’s roadside demonstration in Bellingen was a great success. There were eight of us in all, the sun finally shone and we had a huge and positive response from passing motorists. For the first time ever, we didn’t get a single negative response. Thank you Bellingen!  Our next demonstration will be in Coffs Harbour, by the side of the Pacific Highway, opposite the Base hospital, on Thursday  22nd Marchfrom 2.30 to 4.00 pm. Please try to join us if you can.}

_{Market stall this Saturday at the Bellingen Community Market}

_{Our next market stall is this coming Saturday, 17th March, from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm. at the Bellingen Community market. You will find our stall at site C29, which is near to the stage – a great spot, with lots of passing traffic. As usual, we will be handing out leaflets, encouraging people to sign our open letter to Bill Shorten and selling our merchandise on behalf of the Asylum Seekers Centre. If you are able to join us for an hour or two to help out on the stall, then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.}

_{Our recent donation to ASC}

_{We have just received a brief, but enthusiastic response from Danijela Spadina, the fundraising manager for ASC . Danijela writes: “Oh wow! How fantastic! And what a great result to raise $900. It sounds like you guys are doing incredible advocacy work in your community.”}

_{Harmony Festival : Sunday 25th March, 9.30 am to 2.30 pm}

_{A brief reminder about the Harmony Festival, which will take place in the Botanic Gardens, Coffs Harbour.  It will be a wonderful celebration of the journeys that people have made from across the world to make Coffs Harbour their home. You can look forward to an uplifting and joyful experience of music, dance and food from many countries.}

_{SHEV : another acronym to conjure with}

_{When the government legislated in December 2014 for the reintroduction of Temporary Protection Visas, it introduced a new class of visa, named the Safe Haven Protection Visa. As with the TPV, the visa is only issued once an asylum seeker’s claim for refugee status has been investigated and upheld. The conditions attached to the SHEV are similar to the TPV, but with several important differences. Firstly, the SHEV is issued for a five-year period, rather than three, secondly holders of a SHEV must reside and work, or study, in a designated regional area for a minimum of three and a half years of the five-year visa period, and thirdly, holders of SHEVS who meet the above conditions MAY  be eligible to apply for other classes of visa at the end of the period. Applications will be assessed based on the applicant’s ongoing need for protection.}

_{In recent months, the proportion of refugees applying for SHEVs rather than TPVs, has increased significantly. It is clearly far too early to judge how well the programme will work.}

_{It is important to note that the SHEV, like the TPV, is a temporary visa, and that there are no rights to family reunion.}

_{Border force removes a refugee family from the community}

_{Last week, the members of a Sri Lankan family  were forcibly removed for their home in Biloela, central Queensland, by a large contingent of police, ABF officers and Serco guards. They were given just ten minutes to collect their belongings , before being driven away in two separate vehicles to Gladstone, from where they were flown to Melbourne and taken to the Broadmeadows detention centre.  The family comprises Priya, her husband Nadesalingam, and their two daughters, one aged two, and the other one nine months. Both girls were born in Australia. Priya’s bridging visa had expired just a few days earlier, and she was working with a case officer to get it renewed. This is a well-respected family who have  been working hard to make Australia home.  A friend says “They were looking to enrol Kopiga into the kindergarten. Priya is a dedicated mum doing everything she could to help the kids. Nadesalingam is well-regarded at the meatworks. Everyone is shocked and outraged about the way they just came and swooped in and took the whole family. People are just appalled that this is happening in Australia, that people can be treated in this way. Everyone who had anything to do with this family wrote letters to the minister before Christmas asking for the family to be granted permanent protection.”
Once in detention in Melbourne, the parents begged not to be deported, but eventually, under severe pressure, were coerced into signing repatriation documents. If they are removed, then it will clearly not be voluntarily on their part. They will be returned under duress to a country where they have a well-founded fear of persecution.}

_{Please phone Malcolm Turnbull’s office to protest and to demand that the family be allowed to remain in Australia. (02) 6277 7700 or (02) 9327 3988.}

_​

_{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}

National RAR Press Release 20 February 2018 Border Force refusal of medical attention

PRESS RELEASE

The spiteful decision by Australian Border Force to refuse a critically depressed son to accompany his mother to Australia for medical attention appals  all fair minded Australians said Marie Sellstrom President of Rural Australians for Refugees.  While politicians are arguing about their sex lives in Canberra refugees with life threatening conditions are suffering on Nauru and Manus.

Fatemeh an Iranian woman on Nauru has serious health problems including diabetes, imminent risk of heart attack and severe depression she is unable to come to Australia for urgent medical attention as she will not leave without her 16 year old son.

Her son has severe depression and is at risk of suicide.  His mother does not want to leave him alone on Nauru.

“The refusal by Australian Border Force to allow her son to accompany her is inhumane” said Marie Sellstrom National President of Rural Australians for Refugees “Australia has a duty of care for refugees they have sent to Nauru and Manus and we are disgusted at this decision to disregard the health of a mother and son who are both at risk”.