Newsletter for 9 April 2019 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

_{Valla Beach market report}

_{Roadside demonstration: Thursday 18}^th _{April. 2.30 to 4.00 pm}

_{Latest statistics from Senate estimates}

_{Christmas Island detention centre: closed, re-opened, closed again}

_{Valla Beach market report}

_{The Valla Beach markets were blessed with beautiful weather and a new location along the “main drag”. The many volunteers engaged with market goers in a friendly atmosphere with the extra frisson of the upcoming Federal election.}

_{Our next market will be at the Coffs Harbourside market on Sunday 21}^st _{April from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm. If you can help out for an hour or two, then please let Mike know by emailing him at mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.}

_{Roadside demonstration: Thursday 18}^th _{April. 2.30 to 4.00 pm}

_{Our next roadside demonstration will take place in Coffs Harbour, by the Pacific Highway, opposite the Base hospital on Thursday 18}^th _{April. Please come and join us if you can, and help us to maintain our campaign to end to our government’s cruel and inhumane policy of offshore detention. More than 900 people remain on Manus and Nauru, and many of them have been languishing there for up to six years. It is surely time to bring them here!}

_{Latest statistics from Senate estimates}

_{At a Senate Estimates meeting last week, the following statistics emerged:}

• _{There are 915 refugees and asylum seekers remaining on Manus and Nauru}
• _{Another 953 have been temporarily transferred to Australia for medical care or to accompany a family member receiving medical treatment}
• _{508 refugees from Manus and Nauru have so far been resettled in the USA}
• _{Offshore detention is costing the taxpayer $1 billion a year}

_{Christmas Island detention centre: closed, re-opened, closed again}

_{The Christmas Island detention centre was declared re-opened by the Prime Minister in a highly publicised photo opportunity on the island just weeks ago. This dramatic announcement came hard on the heels of the passage of the “medevac” legislation, which gives doctors, rather than bureaucrats, the prime responsibility for making decisions about the appropriate medical treatment of refugees and asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru.} 

_{It appeared that the government’s plan was to circumvent the new legislation by transferring sick people to Christmas Island in the first instance. The government costed this move at $1.4 billion over four years – a staggering amount of money to make a political point!}

_{In last week’s budget, however, we learn that, having so far committed $185 million for the re-opening of the detention centre, including the recruitment of medical staff, guards and other personnel, the government now plans to close the facility in July if it is re-elected next month.} 

_{It is believed that, to date, of the 25 people transferred from Manus and Nauru for medical treatment since the passing of the medevac legislation, only one has been transferred to Christmas Island. All the other medical evacuations have been to the mainland. It is difficult to make sense of this, but it seems not unreasonable to conclude that this has been a very costly exercise for no apparent or tangible humanitarian purpose.}

_{Very serious concerns remain about the treatment and care of families who have been transferred to Australia to allow a family member to access medical treatment. Some are held in motels, or in hotels, under guard and without access to the outside or to visitors. Dr Robert Burns, a GP who has assessed a number of offshore-based refugees, had this to say about the situation: “We are not going to heal these people if they are locked away, if they don’t have some ability to self-determination. They are not a threat to anyone, they are proven refugees. We are prolonging their agony at the expense of taxpayers. We have to look at what we are achieving here.”}

_{We are surely better than this!}

_{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 >620 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}

Newsletter for 2 April 2019 Rural Australians for Refugees Bellingen and Nambucca Districts

_{Fundraiser report}

_{Our Change.org petition to confront hate speech and fearmongering}

_{Next Market Stall: Valla Beach Market: Saturday 6}^th _April

_{Testimonies from Nauru: Médecins Sans Frontières}

_{The Invisible Man}

_{Fundraiser report}

_{The rain came down with a vengeance for our fundraising lunch and auction in Mylestom on Saturday, but we were well prepared and our spirits were in no way dampened. It was a hugely successful and enjoyable occasion, attended by more than forty supporters. Our target was to raise at least $2,000 for the Asylum Seekers Centre in Sydney, but we exceeded that by a very significant margin. Our provisional total is that the lunch and auction raised a total of $3,464. A huge thank you to all those who donated items for the auction and to all the generous bidders. A very special thank you to Margie and Georgie who hosted the event in their lovely home and cooked up the wonderful main course, to Ton who provided the exquisite desserts, to Marlene who took care of the money, and to Mike our auctioneer.} 

_{We know that the ASC will put the money to good use in supporting asylum seekers and refugees in the Sydney area. A great team effort!}

_{Our Change.org petition to confront hate speech and fearmongering}

_{Have you signed yet?}

_{So far, the response to our petition has been very slow. Could you please read the petition, the text of which is reproduced below, then click on the link to sign. It’s as easy as that! This is surely the moment to call time on the normalization of the demonization of asylum seekers, refugees, Muslims and other minority groups who call Australia home. We would be greatly encouraged, therefore, if you could take a couple of minutes to sign the petition and then forward it to your friends.}

_{A call on companies to withdraw their advertising from the Alan Jones Breakfast Show}

_{Members of the Bellingen and Nambucca District Rural Australians for Refugees call on all the companies who advertise on Alan Jones’ breakfast show to withdraw their advertisements. We urge them to join with the Australian community in demonstrating in the clearest possible way that they will no longer support intolerance and bigotry on the airways.}

_{The tragic events of Christchurch leave us all searching for explanations. Many commentators have written about far-right white supremacists and their ability to share their extreme beliefs on the internet. But these extremists don’t exist in a vacuum. For years we have increasingly normalized bigotry, anti-Muslim and anti-asylum seeker sentiments in Australia. Demonising, demeaning and mistreating those who are “not like us” has been mainstreamed by sections of the media, radio shock jocks and politicians on the right.} 

_{This has to stop if we are to have any real hope of developing a multicultural nation at peace with itself, a nation where people respect and celebrate difference. We must cease using fear, mistrust and vilification as a political weapon to garner votes.}

_{The Alan Jones Breakfast Show is the favourite echo chamber for leading politicians on the right – from Abbott and Dutton to Morrison and Abetz.  Their regular discourse with Jones has done much to spread fear of the “other”, and to demonise refugees, asylum seekers and members of the Muslim community.  Jones donated $10,000 to One Nation’s successful campaign to elect Mark Latham to the NSW Legislative Council. Latham has a long history of preaching intolerance, and advertisers should not associate themselves in any way with his brand of politics. This fearmongering has to end, and it needs to end now.}

_{Please sign our petition.} 

_{https://www.change.org/p/bellingen-and-nambucca-rural-australians-for-refugees-we-call-on-companies-to-withdraw-their-advertising-from-the-alan-jones-breakfast-show}

_{Next Market Stall: Valla Beach Market: Saturday 6}^th _April

_{A reminder that our next market stall is at the Valla Beach market on Saturday 6}^th _{April from 9.00 am until 1.00 pm. As usual, we’ll be talking to market-goers, handing out leaflets, selling our merchandise and inviting people to sign our open letter to Minister Dutton. If you can help out for an hour or two, then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.}

_{Testimonies from Nauru: Médecins Sans Frontières}

_{A recent report by MSF paints a harrowing picture of life in detention on Nauru. MSF provided mental health support for asylum seekers before being forced to leave the island in October 2018. Ashan (not his real name), tells MSF “We fled Sri Lanka because of the war. The army was looking for my dad, so he left first. My mother, my siblings and I left later. We didn’t expect to be sent to Nauru. There, we spent four years living in a tent. We didn’t feel safe there: there were bad accidents that happened. When refugees would return to the camp at night, sometimes locals would kick them and take their money.}

_{My younger brother’s mental health was very bad when we were on Nauru. He made a suicide attempt four or five times…washing powder, cutting his hand. We fled Sri Lanka in search of a place where we could live in safety, but on Nauru my brother was doing worse than in our home country.}

_{Now in Australia, my brother is slowly recovering. He is good at school and he’s being seen by a counsellor, but still sometimes he gets angry and scared.”}

_{Our government, supported by the opposition, has inflicted untold harm on so many people who have sought safety on our shores. Let us keep up our efforts to seek a more humane and compassionate approach to refugees and asylum seekers.} 

_{The Invisible Man}

_{The extraordinary story of Behrouz Boochani, the stateless refugee who won Australia’s richest literary award while living on Manus Island, but remains unable to set foot in this country. Here is the link to the ABC iView site of Australian Story that aired last night. Highly moving.}

_{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 >620 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}