To :
Mr Patrick Conaghan
Nationals Candidate for Cowper
Friday 10th May, 2019
From:
Katherine Morrison
36 McNally St
Bellingen, NSW 2454
Dear Mr Conaghan,
I am writing to you about our refugee and immigration
policies.
I have been very concerned at the Australian
government’s lack of compassion to people who have come to Australia seeking
political refuge, in fact I find it unbelievable.
The planet is in crisis with millions of refugees now
needing urgent help, with nowhere for them to call home in
sight. The U.S. under Trump has appallingly halved it’s refugee
intake. Australia should be doing it’s fair share. There are now an
overwhelming 69 million refugees in the world awaiting placement (UN 2018) with
continuous increases via current conflicts and natural disasters in many parts
of the globe, particularly Syria, South Sudan and the brutal persecution of the
Rohinga people of Burma.
How can we hold our heads up when we are so relatively
wealthy and ignoring this situation, when other much poorer countries (eg
Bangladesh - accepting 650,000, Turkey - accepting 700,000) receive so many
thousands and we only allow such a small number.
Of course people will continue
to try to come here by boat as we are an island and we could not accept all
that come (still a small number in the context of our overall migration
programme) but it is our human duty to process their
applications speedily and take thousands more than we already do. 50,0000
annually would be closer to a fair share. We know that many people arrive here
by plane claiming refuge and receive a kinder, different treatment.
Boat arrivals are not a simple dilemma I understand
due to the danger to the refugees of their transit and the unknown numbers, but
right now our treatment of them as criminals is appalling. We should not be
turning these people back to face further risks at sea with the unscrupulous
‘people smugglers’ who have likely taken the last savings of these refugees and
any support given them by extended family or friends in their countries of
origin.
How will they fare languishing for their remaining lives in countries
like Indonesia or Malaysia, if indeed they make it back there? How inhumane are
we to rob them of their last hope?
“Vulnerability should remain a cornerstone of our
Humanitarian Program. Our priorities should be aligned with those identified by
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.” (Refugee Council of
Australia 2018-19 – Intake Submission)
Limiting the media coverage of the boat attempts is
Orwellian, does not help anyone, nor does penalising those health workers and
staff who describe conditions in offshore detention.
We as a nation cannot be led by what the fearful
lowest common denominator thinks, those influenced by Pauline Hanson and the
“shock jocks’” xenophobia. They are an ignorant and unempathic minority who
need educating about the conditions that force people to take a boat and that
there is no orderly process as an alternative, no “queue”. We need moral
leadership here.
I believe the majority of Australians would not
do as you have been doing. I am part of a large ‘Rural Australians for Refugees
‘group, and at our fortnightly roadside demonstrations over half of the passing
motorists toot their horns and wave their support.
Seeking asylum is not “illegal” as some media and
(shamefully) politicians have labelled it, rather as you would know it is a
legal right, as Australia is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, as we
should always remain.
I cannot bear the thought of so many people enduring
deprivation and continued trauma effectively jailed for no crime in our
offshore detention centres. It is madness and it is cruel. It does not sit well
with Australian values let alone Christian values.
Whatever happened
to the “do unto others” principle? This could be our fate at
some time in the future – invaded and scrambling to find a safe haven, with our
poor international reputation for a lack of compassion as now a definer of
‘Australian’. The idea of furthering this poor policy by building another
offshore processing centre in New Guinea will only perpetuate these damaging
situations.
Several times when I have been overseas in the last
decade I have been approached by the people in other countries demanding to
know why we Australians do this to vulnerable people asking for our help. Why
indeed. The ancestors of white people in Australia have all come here only in
recent history as refugees, political or economic.
Refugees are our brothers and sisters in this human
family.
Many applicants could be re-framed as ‘assisted migrants’ (particularly
family reunion applicants connected to former refugee families here)– by
and large refugees and migrants become our hardest working Australians, paying
taxes, caring for their extended family well, enriching our culture
immeasurably and expressing gratitude to be here and safe. (Only a rare few turn
to terrorism.)
Australia now needs a bigger population to afford to
be able to care for our ageing population and support our needed public
spending on health care, education and defence.
These people should not be perceived as a ‘cost’,
rather as a ‘benefit’.
Clearly it is a priority to increase our
overworked Department of Immigration visa processing staff, and
support them with further training to facilitate sensitivity, timely
processing and transport of offshore detainees to safety in
Australia.
To approach other countries to accept these people is very
unreasonable and a demonstration of our racial intolerance when they are really
“our problem” and deserve our protection. (If people arriving by boat were
European in appearance, I imagine many Australians would not countenance the
treatment that these off-shore detainees currently receive.)
Children are an obvious priority.
I feel that a Royal Commission into
the damage our past and current policies area doing to people’s lives could be
useful so we can face this situation honestly, and could assist us in a way
forward to positively respond to the unfortunate people rendered homeless by
war who will continue to need safe haven here.
It is a very complex
problem compounded by racism and hysterical fears about those small numbers who
happen to arrive by boat. We need a rational look at how other countries handle
this same issue in better ways than we have done. This is the reality of our world
now.
Yours faithfully
Katherine Morrison
