By Jane Salmon

Having been vilified and blocked for over a decade, asylum seekers needing permanent visas are NOT ok.

The death by self-immolation of refugee activist Mano Yogalingam (on Wednesday 28 August 2024) barely attracted public comment and certainly nothing from the Minister.

There have been several deaths and many trips to hospital for this small cohort this year. The suicide toll for those in limbo across more than a decade is as high or higher than for the most acutely vulnerable Australian citizens.

There are currently 24/7 vigils in 5 capitals. The first began nearly 60 days ago in wintry Melbourne. No one camps outside on cold concrete for fun.

The message of these vigils is clear. Hardworking and deserving taxpayers are forced to wait too long for the permanent visas they deserve. They are tired of paying taxes for, yet still missing out on, access to affordable tertiary study, steady Medicare, bank loans, continuity, permanent jobs. They are tired of Facetiming their children or any remaining relatives instead of hugging them. They want to know when the fear of deportation will finally lift. They would love to be able to get mortgages and look forward to voting.

Refugees can and do offer Australia a great deal. These people feel they have no other safe home. They are dynamic workers, builders, family and community members. They volunteer and donate blood enthusiastically. In return Australia has demanded front line work during a pandemic. What’s next? We start demanding their kidneys?!

Their 24/7 protest camps are well maintained. There is music and good food. Hospitality and fellowship extends beyond ethnicity or language to embrace everyone attending. There is a warmth and courtesy that seems exceptional to anyone lucky enough to be Aussie-born.

But these people are desperate for change. Many of them shirk a medical check up at the GP, in the same way that citizens avoid $5000 crowns or root canals.

All it takes to help them is for Labor to recognise that they are governing now and that it is incumbent upon them to act in the current political term.

On Tuesday 10 September 2024 in Brisbane, tents and even a memorial to the recently deceased refugee Manu were taken down (by shopping centre security) after 23 days outside Jim Chalmers’ office in Logan City. The removal of refugees’ carefully maintained protest and property caused deep distress.

People have invested a great deal in the protests. They have taken long breaks from home comforts to sleep on the ground. They have given up precious time with any children who are here. They have shared resources to secure enough tents, barbeques, bedding, printing, microphones, speakers, transport and food.

For those at vigils, the most elusive resource is hope. The national discourse has been rejecting or downright hostile. (Neo Nazi and right wing bloggers have taunted people at the camp. On 6 September racists were incited to attack the Melbourne encampment, pulling hair and punching heads). Many have run the gauntlet of courts seeking a pathway to permanence.

Live video scenes from the Brisbane camp teardown are hard to watch. I have not seen grown men in such emotional pain for a long time. A woman collapsed. Another person went to hospital for heart palpitations attributed to anxiety.

It is risky to be there. Arrest could lead to deportation.

The real cure for this pain is not moving camp, another anti-depressant or group hug. Nor is it yet another political promise. Any suggestion that Labor will be doing better by this group next term is Labor conceding that they have had and still have no commitment or courage now. If they continue wave the white flag on this issue, it is an admission that they are too weak or too uncaring to govern. Dutton is still the nation’s leader even from opposition. Labor spent 9 years in opposition and failed to change racist narratives.

The time for action is now – not the political never-never.

All it takes is a sweep of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s pen and 10,000 desperate people can be re-connected with their own futures.

It is not ok for Labor to postpone another day.

(R U OK Day is Thursday September 12)

By Roger Chao

A Nation of Apologies

Australia, land of Altjira, of oceans wild and skies untamed,
Where stories of the Jukurrpa are told in songlines proclaimed.
Yet underneath this broad expanse, this dust that shrouds our past in gold,
Lies history’s wound, still open wide, beneath our feet, still damp and cold.
And now, a nation stands once proud, with noble gestures in its hand,
But hollow words, mere fleeting sighs, like shifting dunes on ancient land.

The hand that once oppressed now lifts to show its fragile form contrite,
A gesture made beneath the gaze of stars that watch with timeless light.
The sorry sighs of leaders, pressed into the fabric of the air,
Are like the gulls that cry and wheel, then vanish in the sky’s despair.
Apologies delivered bold, in speeches grand and laced with care,
Are but the surface of the wound, a balm too weak to truly bear.

What good are words, though grand they sound, when empty is the space between,
Where action falters, shifts, and fades, like phantoms in a fevered dream?
A treaty spoken in the wind, but never sealed with lasting hand,
A bridge of words, but still we stand upon the edges of the land.
Where were these voices when the soil was stained with blood and hearts were torn,
When families were ripped apart, and futures broken, futures mourned?

They speak of reconciliation as if it’s something to be sold,
As if by words alone, the past’s great weight can simply be cajoled.
Yet underneath the polished sheen, the blackened history persists,
For sorrys spoken without deeds are vaporous, like the morning mists.
The chains that bound, though long removed, still echo in the bones, the cry
Of generations left to rot beneath the unforgiving sky.

What is an apology, when it floats so lightly on the breeze?
When tears that fall from ancient eyes are brushed aside with practiced ease?
A parchment signed, a ribbon cut, a solemn nod, a day of pride,
And yet the ones for whom it’s meant remain forgotten, cast aside.
For sorrys, once they’ve found their voice, are powerless without resolve,
To right the ancient wrongs and see the shadows of the past dissolve.

Look now upon the fields where blood and earth once mingled in the sun,
Where spears gave way to rifles’ crack, and then the silence that begun.
For words, however sweet they sound, cannot repair the broken bones,
Nor fill the hollowed, aching heart that lies amidst thegraveyard stones.
And as the leaders gather round, to clasp their hands and bow their heads,
The truth remains: the empty page still speaks of what was never said.

Australia, proud of recompense, of ribbons cut and banners high,
What do you see when gazing deep into the wounded spirit’s eye?
For every speech, for every tear, for every sigh that’s softly drawn,
Is but a mask upon the face of history’s relentless dawn.
To say “I’m sorry” is to stand upon the precipice of shame,
But words alone, though full of grace, cannot erase the past’s cruel flame.

There lies a darker truth beneath, a shadow long and cold and stark,
That still invades the settler’s dreams, that whispers through the eucalypt bark.
For every tear and every sigh, for every public show of grief,
Is like the shifting sand upon the shore, too fragile, far too brief.
What good is guilt, when gilded speeches leave the core untouched, unchanged,
When those who suffered still remain, their futures shackled, futures estranged?

The ledger tallies words and wounds, but where’s the payment still not made?
Where are the actions bold and true that sweep away the heinous shade?
A parliament can bow its head, a people can repeat the phrase,
But all these grand apologies are lost beneath the sun’s harsh rays.
What of the lands, the sacred plains, the rivers where the ancestors trod?
What of the souls who cry for justice, crying out – a horse unshod?

To say “I’m sorry” opens doors, but who will walk inside and see
The wounds that fester, still unhealed, in hearts once proud, now bent, unfree?
Apology, though meant in truth, is but the first and smallest step,
For words alone cannot repair the bridges broken by neglect.
And yet the sorrys rise like smoke, ephemeral, and soon dispersed,
While those who carry history’s weight are left to bear its cruel curse.

Australia, land of wide horizons, deep with ancient blood and song,
Your sorrys, spoken loud and clear, do not right what was done wrong.
The grand apologies you send into the skies, though well-contrived,
Are but the shadows of a truth that struggles still to stay alive.
For reconciliation comes not through the words alone, nor grand display,
But through the action yet unseen, the justice owed but long delayed.

What are these words, when in the end, the land remains untouched, unhealed,
When those who own its sacred heart are left to wander, fate concealed?
The ancient trees, the rivers wide, the cliffs that whisper to the sea,
Still hold the stories of the past, still cry for what they cannot be.
So let the nation rise again, not with apology alone,
But with the strength to heal the past, to claim the truth as its own.

For what is sorrow if not paired with the resolve to see it through,
To mend the scars, to break the chains, to start again with something true?
The nation’s heart, once buried deep, will beat again with steady might,
But only when its hands reach out to turn the wrongs into the right.
So let the words fall silent now, until the deeds can match their worth,
And let the sorrys find their rest upon this scarred and ancient earth.

By Bert Hetebry

What is the problem with men?

As I sat down to write this I flicked on the news, and it seems Bruce Lehrmann wants to appeal the defamation decision in his case against Channel 10. The judge summarised his (Lehrmann’s) position eloquently, something like, ‘having escaped the lion’s den, he went back for his hat.’ What is he hoping to retrieve this time? His handkerchief perhaps, to wipe away his tears should the decision go against him… again?

Lehrmann’s issue seems to be that because he is the man he is, he is absolutely entitled to do whatever he wants with whomever he wants. His sense of entitlement does not allow for him to ever be or do wrong. At least that how it looks to me. A bit Trumpian really. The hyper masculine victim. Men such as these never feel ‘not good enough’ and will defend themselves no matter how bad it gets or looks. The victim badge will just get bigger and bigger. The closing line from 1959 pop song, Charlie Brown by The Coasters comes to mind: ‘why is everybody always picking on me?’

I was going to write about the problems many men face, the sense of being not good enough, to face rejection, nagging, bullying, judgement for somehow not living up to expectations or unable to meet the aspirational goals other in the workplace or in their home life, marriages, relationships, parenting. That women are murdered at a rate of one every four days is not just a women’s problem, it is very much a men’s problem, and that desperately needs to be addressed.

In discussing this earlier today with my doctor, I mentioned the ‘shit life syndrome’, where in many postindustrial regions the good jobs have gone, probably to China or some other cheap labour market where new factories with the latest automated production facilities see the latest goods produced with a fraction of the labour input and at reduced wages so we who can still afford to by stuff can get it super cheap. The people left in the postindustrial regions struggle to find the most menial of work and the levels of drug and alcohol abuse, suicide rates and domestic violence incidences are high. Property values have dropped, and any sense of self-worth has left town along with the jobs. Men who used to be able to provide for their families are reduced to emotional shells.

Mentioned also was the difficulty for family life for Fly in-Fly out workers. Two weeks of 12-hour days on a remote mine site and back home for a week of family fun. The need to reconnect with partners and children, and with the sizeable income, a bit of spoiling with great outings, the latest toys and a catch up with mates, often at the local over a meal and a few too many drinks. As one FIFO partner who worked on her own career once put it, ‘home for a night or two of honeymooning, catchup with mates and back to work’ leaving the issues of household management to her, except of course then came the questions on how the money is spent, prioritised. That marriage floundered, he felt he was rejected, somehow not good enough despite bringing home big pay-packets, and could not understand what went wrong.

Coercive control is part of the problem too. Technology allows the very effective tracking of people through mobile phone apps, and while there may be very good reason to have a tracking device linking partners’ phones, there are time when it is not a good idea. A better idea may be to call if the partner is not where you thought they may be, ‘Hey, where are you? All good?’ is a non-threatening way of checking in.

As well the installation of security cameras, while a good idea for gathering evidence should the home be broken into, burgled, it can also be a means of checking out who’s visiting a partner while the other is away, possibly working. Even the front doorbell can be monitored remotely. As well checking bank and credit card expenditure remotely, is just watching money without any context of why is being spent. Coercive control is insidious, it’s like there is constant surveillance and smacks of a lack of trust and is based on a sense of insecurity, that desire to be in absolute control no matter where we may be, on a remote mine site, travelling or even sitting side by side on a sofa.

And then there are the expectations that a partner will always be there for the head of the household; subservient, cooking meals, looking after the kids and contributing to the family budget through paid employment and despite the best efforts, complains that the poor harried man is not pulling his weight, so off to the pub or some other boys club meeting place to whinge with his mates of how shit his life is, how long since he’s had sex, how unreasonable the demands of his partner, so let’s do another line, inhale another load of that shit, have another beer, and crash home to a mouthful of complaints. ‘How much can a man take for goodness sakes, and now she wants to leave me after all I have done for her? I’ll show her...’

Financial pressures lead to the frustration of seemingly never having enough, never being ‘good enough’ is depressing and the tendency to seek solace in drugs and alcohol is often an easy escape route. In saying that, it is not only men who seek solace there, women too look for comfort through chemical solutions. Unfortunately, such solutions are short-lived, tempers are more easily frayed, voices rise to a crescendo and the pile on of frustration too often leads to physical responses.

Headlines telling us that a woman is killed every four days through domestic violence is shocking, but there is no easy fix. Just throwing money at it will not solve the issues. Having refuge centres is good, but always a short-term fix. It is important that a safe refuge is available at times of crisis, and that money is accessible to ensure needs can be met. But to address the fears women have, and those fears are real, we need to also address the ‘not good enough-ness’ that many men face. The frustrations of ‘being a man’ in the traditional sense, that of being the chief breadwinner, the provider, seems to be an unattainable goal in Australia today, and the team work required to make relationships work, where there is no dominant voice but an agreed voice, an agreed means of negotiating through the issues, the shared role of home making, financial commitments and intimacy, and a walk away from seeking solace through drugs and alcohol so that negotiation is a two way street, where there is active listening and a commitment to conflict resolution.

Cultural diversity sees different rules governing the relationship between men and women, but essentially, men need to understand that women are not chattels, are not a man’s property. In many religious circles the headship, leadership, authority of the man in a relationship is preached, but that places the woman in a weaker position, in that position of subservience. Again, we have an orthodoxy where there is discrimination, again we see the religious leaders seek to have the right to discriminate in law through the religious discrimination act. While that orthodoxy is promoted, whether it is through the wearing of certain clothes or the acceptance of leadership, authority, men will have a sense of power over women, and when that power is exercised in anger, many women face injury, even death.

It is not just in religious circles where male superiority is condoned, the internet is full of misogyny through pornography and influencers such as Andrew Tate, the bullying in schools, and as reported recently where boy students insult female teacher with misogynistic call outs like ‘make me a sandwich’. Freedom of speech is bullshit when it is used to denigrate or bully and normalise misogyny and denigration, to dehumanise through name calling and one-line putdowns.

So what are the answers… I wish I knew, but it has to be more than promising a squillion dollars to throw at it. We need to establish a means where men are not embarrassed to face counselling, to face their vulnerabilities, to have access to men’s groups which will guide thinking away from the sense of entitlement, the sense of ownership over women, particularly in male dominated workplaces such as FIFO sites where men are encouraged to talk through their relationship issues with trained counselors such as chaplains (and there are chaplains who are not affiliated with churches, so there will not be the fear of having some dogma or other reinforced) who will encourage the development of listening skills and empathy in negotiating domestic life.

I don’t know the answers, I really don’t think anyone has all the answers, and possibly, probably, the answer is different in each situation, for each person, but somehow, we need to work with men to make us understand that women should not need to fear us, that we will do everything we can to be good enough.

Community Housing Industry Association Media Release

An additional 2,090 homes housing more than 4,000 young people experiencing homelessness could be built by drawing on $1 billion already set aside by the Commonwealth, according to new modelling that will be presented to federal politicians in Canberra today.

The money was allocated last year to the National Housing Infrastructure Facility (NHIF) during negotiations between the Greens and the Government over legislation to establish the Housing Australia Future Fund.

Modelling conducted by Professor Laurence Troy, of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute is based on constructing two bedroom dwellings based on building costs in Melbourne’s inner east and the NSW mid north coast. It assumes a 60/40 split between metro and regional areas with the units occupied by tenants paying rent set to a maximum of 25% of their income plus any Commonwealth Rent Assistance they may be eligible for. The analysis highlights the investment can also include developments of congregate and core and cluster housing.

An analysis released last week of the most recent Specialist Homelessness Services data, revealed 37,872 children and young people approached homelessness services alone for assistance in 2022/23, including 9,232 children aged 15-17. Even after assistance from homelessness services, 44% of children and young people 15-24 were still homeless.

“Our system for supporting young people experiencing homelessness is fundamentally broken,” said Wendy Hayhurst, CEO of the Community Housing Industry Association. “But with $1 billion ready to be deployed we can almost immediately start turning sods and building the homes young people need. Community Housing providers are ready to help, we just need the political and financial commitment.

Kate Colvin, CEO of Homelessness Australia said the youth homelessness crisis would not be resolved without expanding dedicated housing. “Children should not be sleeping rough in Australia, but that is the reality. The funds that are already set aside will not fix the youth homelessness crisis but they will make a solid start on delivering the homes needed. We need to get moving on this immediately.”

Shorna Moore, from youth homelessness provider, Melbourne City Mission said “Every day we see teenagers and children escaping violence, homophobia or neglect. But we can’t get them safe homes because there simply isn’t enough housing or support to help everyone who walks through the door.”

By Jane Salmon

Palm Sunday rallies bring together Jew and Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, many varieties of Christian, humanists and atheists to share a vision of ecumenical cooperation and tolerance.

The rallies traditionally promote human rights and equity while also condemning war. Thinkers, believers and visionaries speak to each topic all over the country.

Sydney’s rally today was no exception. Josephite Sister Susan Connelly had plenty to say about the monetary drivers of military expansion. “Christ”, claimed Connelly, “would not be impressed by corporate or political greed”. Money lenders in the temple got mentioned. She emphasised the arrival of Jesus to Jerusalem on a humble donkey rather than the high horse of imperial or even colonial victors.

Humanitarian leader and national
soccer veteran Craig Foster spoke about the importance of reconciling our nation’s history with our beliefs and political actions before we can look to a truly harmonious future. He mentioned the referendum with regret.

Mr Foster said Australia could yet become a model of multi-cultural diversity and acceptance for the whole world.

Foster mentioned that prolonged detention ordeals are based on a tissue-thin rulings or bits of legislation that can be changed with the stroke of a pen. There is one tiny step or key between prolonged suffering and relative liberty. Foster witnessed such a transformational moment when Manus detainee Farhad Bandesh stepped past a formerly locked gate after 8 years of various types of imprisonment. The moment features in the film “Freedom is Beautiful”.

Palm Sunday refugee rallies happening around the country today.

Emphasising the right to seek asylum, the Refugee Convention, those still without permanence, Medevac refugees living month to month, and the importance of acknowledging recent progress and continuing reform. pic.twitter.com/0cOZUUAm1Y

— Craig Foster (@Craig_Foster) March 24, 2024

Offshore ordeals and turnbacks of the past 13 years continue on Nauru and in PNG. Foster crisply mentioned that denial of permanent residency for 11,000 more refugees constrains real freedom still.

Temporary visa conditions include limited work and study options, disrupted Medicare, fear of deportation, legal double standards, lack of family reunion, reduced financial credit and the absence of a clear way forward.

The joy of seeing Tamil walker Neil Para get not only work rights but the chance to host his ageing parents for a few months is proof of the momentous power of Permanent Visas. That the Para children can also aspire to work and higher learning is a great relief.

The national tendency to blame migrants for all our woes was also mentioned by Foster today. Scapegoating and inundation narratives seem heightened when asylum seekers come by boat.

Preventing drowning at sea is as simple as providing humanitarian aid to Rohingyans in squalid refugee camps where people struggle to manage on less than US 27 cents per day. The option of offering regional processing pathways for prospective Australians (to prevent the resort to maritime travel) is too often ignored.

Any refugees escaping from especially harsh regimes who broke our laws were given not only a jail sentence but then an extra, indefinite period of debilitating (rather than rehabilitative) immigration detention. Double jeopardy.

Now there is political outcry that a handful of these possibly-less-than-perfect people may be freed by High Court rulings. Ooher. This beat-up completely obscures the great things many thousands of other refugees have done while working through Covid as essential employees, taxpayers, volunteers, bringers of fresh skills, insights, culture and experience.

It is disproportionate. Only today, some Palm Sunday refugee speakers first gave blood in Melbourne. I doubt many politicians have the stamina or stomach for that.

Medical, anti-AUKUS, Arab, spiritual, whistleblower, anti corruption, refugees in Indonesia or PNG and other themes were represented today.

The Palm Sunday rally kilometres walked in capitals and regional centres around the country will be added to the distances walkers for logged for The Big Walk 4 Refugees. This means that fit refugees and their supporters have lapped Australia’s circumference 4 times. They are literally running rings around reflexive fear mongering politicians.

On Tuesday 26th, some of those refugees with lived experience, will go to Canberra to explain the reason for their participation.

It is, as Foster says, up to Federal Government to take the next, not-so-big step and grant permanent visas to all who have been living here long term.

Is the stroke of a pen so very strenuous?

Photo by Zebedee Parkes (via Facebook)

Photo by Zebedee Parkes (via Facebook)

The Refugee Advocacy Network

About the Palm Sunday Walk for Justice and Peace – Melbourne, 24 March 2024

Since 2014, the Refugee Advocacy Network, has brought together a wide range of groups to plan the Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees.

During the 1970s and 80s there was a tradition of holding Peace rallies on Palm Sunday. This dropped off sometime in the late 80s. In 2014, the Refugee Advocacy Network (RAN), working together with various groups in Melbourne, including Refugee Action Collective (RAC), established the Melbourne Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees. Since then, the Walk has been held each year on Palm Sunday, except for 2020, when an online event was held due to the Covid pandemic. Around 20 Palm Sunday events in support of refugee rights are now held each year in capital cities and regional towns right across Australia, with a level of co-ordination through the Australian Refugee Action Network (ARAN).

The Melbourne, the Walk for Justice for Refugees is planned each year with a Planning Committee with representatives from faith groups, RAC, other local advocacy and support groups for refugees. Refugee communities also contribute to planning for Palm Sunday. The main aim of the Walk for Justice is to reach out to groups and individuals who may not be routinely engaged advocacy activities, but who are none the less concerned about the way Australian policies have impacted refugees.

It is often claimed that Australia is generous in supporting refuges – and this is largely true in relation to the support provided to humanitarian refugees – people who are selected by Australia from refugee camps and offered refugee protection visas. However, as we have seen in the last 2 decades, Australia has developed a very punitive response to those who have the ‘audacity’ to travel to Australia undocumented (without official entry papers) to seek asylum. While most people who seek asylum in Australia arrive by air, those who arrive by boat are subjected to a very harsh regime, which is intended to deter people from taking boat journeys from Indonesia and similar places to seek asylum here. The domestic political debate about people who travel by boat to seek asylum has been consistently toxic, with the return of the Howard Government in late 2001 attributed largely to the fear of terrorism post September 11, and the rhetoric about strong borders, which was code for rejecting people who seek asylum here.

Our advocacy platform seeks to holds to account the punitive policy response of our Australian Government over those who seek asylum that problematises people and their means of arrival, rather than the circumstances causing their dispossession and forced migration.

The key issues which have been the focus of most Palm Sunday Walk events have been temporary visas which deny the permanent resettlement in Australia, indefinite detention, the establishment of offshore processing in PNG and Nauru, and the situation for refugees in Indonesia with no resettlement options. This year our main focus is on calling for permanent visas for around 10,000 people who have been living here for over 10 years on bridging visas and have been denied a fair process for through assessment of their claims for refugee status. The Walk for Justice is promoted on social media and through a wide network of around 100 supporting groups and organisations.

The program includes a select few speakers, including people with lived experience who have been impacted by the policies.

The program will commence at 10.30am with readings on peace and justice from several faith traditions. There will be a brief musical interlude between speakers. This will be followed by a young Palestinian who will sing ‘Change is a Comin’, followed by:

• Dr Tania Miletic, Assistant Director, Peacebuilding Initiative, University of Melbourne
• 3 refugee speakers, including a Palestinian refugee, and 2 people who are struggling in a visa limbo; one of the women did the walk to Canberra last year, alongside 21 other women from Melbourne.
• Other speakers are Sr Brigid (founder and coordinator, Brigidine Asylum Seeker Project – established in 2000 BASP has assisted thousands of families and individuals) and David Manne (long time Director of Refugee legal, and tireless advocate for Refugees and people seeking asylum.

In addition to the speaking program, we include music (often by refugees), this year including the TARAB Ensemble, a young Palestinian signer, a famous Ethiopian musician, and a Hazara asylum seeker.

This year we have been open to a change in format in response to the significance of, and public support for the Free Palestine Rally. We continue to be open to changes to the format of the Palm Sunday rally as many who attend may want to continue to the Free Palestine rally. Our common goal to support refugees in this country and outside of it.

In February 2023 the Albanese Government announced that all refugees who had been granted SHEV or TPV would be granted visas.

In late 2023 it was the immense frustration of living the last 10 years in limbo that motivated 22 women to make the gruelling trek on foot from Melbourne, 15 women from Sydney, and a young man to cycle from Brisbane to make their case – to tell politicians that it’s time to end the limbo and allow people to get on with building their lives in Australia.

More than 10 years after arriving here to find a safe future around 10,000 people still have no certainty. Many of these people have not seen their children, parents or spouses who remain in danger in places like Iran, Afghanistan and Myanmar. They cannot go back, and Australia has given them no certainty of a future here. All of these people have been subject to the so-called Fast Track assessment process – which is clearly not fast and is deeply flawed as it does not provide for thorough assessment of claims for refugee status.

These people are living on short term Bridging Visas, and some are refused the right to work. Without any income many families are totally reliant on charities, which are stretched to capacity. Many young people have completed their schooling here and are being blocked from continuing in higher education – some are denied the right to enrol, while those who can enrol are unable to pay international student fees.

Palm Sunday is a National Day of Action for Refugee Rights: “We call on the Albanese Government to establish a fair and just system for assessing refugee claims. All those who have been living here in limbo for more than 10 years should have the right to settle here with the security of a permanent visa.”

Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) Media Release

The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), the peak body for humanitarian and development organisations, welcomes the Australian Government’s announcement to reinstate the funding of the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA).

“This decision is overdue given the urgency of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and UNRWA’s lifesaving support amongst a population currently on the brink of famine,” said ACFID chief executive Marc Purcell.

“Children are already dying of starvation on the world’s watch. Parachuting aid is not a solution. Five civilians have already died in trying to reach air drops in Gaza, and the aid is only reached by those who are fit and able to do so. Women, children, elderly and people with disability are left behind, those who are sick, injured and starving will not receive this relief.

“It is essential that the Australian Government redoubles its efforts to ensure aid convoys can enter Gaza safely via land. We call on the Australian Government to urge that aid convoys and humanitarian workers are not targeted further by the Israeli defence forces as they seek to assist civilians.”

It has been almost three weeks since the Director of UNRWA in Gaza warned the Australian Government of UNRWA’s pending collapse without donors reinstating their funding. This would have meant the collapse of the entire humanitarian response.

“ACFID has actively advocated for UNRWA’s funding to be reinstated since its suspension, recognizing the vital backbone that UNRWA is in providing the humanitarian response in Gaza and across the region,” said Mr Purcell.

Since the allegations arose, UNRWA actively responded, including with the dismissal of staff alleged to have been involved in the October 7 attack.

Over 31,000 people have now died in Gaza since October 7, thousands more are injured or missing, and more than a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are estimated to be facing catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation.

ACFID welcomes the additional funding of $4 million to UNICEF and calls on the Australian Government to continue considering further ongoing funding for the humanitarian response in Gaza, the West Bank & the region, including to Australian NGOs providing crucial and lifesaving assistance.

ACFID continues to call for the Australian Government to publicly advocate for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to prevent further loss of life in Gaza.

A new report reveals a growing crisis of women and children fleeing domestic and family violence into homelessness prompting calls for an urgent funding package to provide pathways to safe housing.

Homelessness Australia’s Homelessness and domestic and family violence: State of Response Report for International Women’s Day analyses Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data to find 45 per cent of women and girls seeking homelessness assistance do so due to family and domestic violence.

It finds that over the last decade:

• the number of women and children sleeping rough or in a car at the end of homelessness support more than doubled, from 1,041 to 2,428
• the number of women and children couch surfing at the end of support more than doubled from 3,465 to 7,214.

And in the past year alone, the number of women and children sleeping rough or in a car after receiving homelessness support increased by 23%.

The report notes that lack of access to safe housing prevents many women from escaping violence and pushes women back to violent homes. The last Personal Safety Survey revealed that more than 20,000 women experiencing violence wanted to leave but were unable to because of a lack of money or financial support, and more than 13,000 women said lack of money or having nowhere to go was the reason they returned to violence.

Homelessness Australia proposes the Federal Government deliver a suite of measures to address the problem in the imminent National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, including increasing homelessness support, investing more in Safe at Home programs, increasing Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) and delivering more social housing.

Kate Colvin, CEO of Homelessness Australia, said: “Thousands of Australian women are faced with an impossible choice – return to a violent home or confront homelessness. This is not a decision anyone should be forced to make, yet it’s happening more and more.

“Pathways to safe housing are the missing piece in the Government’s response to family violence, but can be addressed in the soon to be released five-year National Housing and Homelessness Agreement.

“This International Women’s Day it would be refreshing to see real action to fix a desperate, parlous situation that puts the lives and safety of too many women and girls at risk.

“Australia is a wealthy, sophisticated nation. We can and must do better.”

Jocelyn Bignold OAM, CEO of McAuley Community Services for Women said: “Every day we work with women who have suffered trauma in a violent relationship who then suffer more when they become trapped in homelessness. With the right early intervention supports many women would never become homeless and could safely remain in their home.”

Plan International Australia Media Release

New research by Plan International Australia, released as the world marks International Women’s Day has revealed that awareness of how gender inequality manifests in some of the most devastating ways in Australia – and in more vulnerable contexts overseas – is alarmingly low.

Almost half of Australians (47%) surveyed in Plan International Australia’s Gender Compass research said they do not believe that physical and non-physical violence against women is extremely common.

Violence against women is a serious and widespread problem in Australia – with two in five Australian women having experienced violence firsthand since the age of 15. On average, one woman is killed a week in Australia by a former or current partner, according to Our Watch.

And despite women being the most over represented group when it comes to homelessness – only 45% of Australians surveyed in the Gender Compass believe this to be true.

Only 2 in 10 (21%) of Australians are aware that medical research in Australia has studied men’s health more than women’s.

Almost six in 10 Australians think we have, in fact, already achieved gender equality in Australia.

These new statistics are being released today in a second installment of Plan International Australia’s groundbreaking Gender Compass research: a first of its kind study revealing what ordinary Australians really think about gender equality.

The UN theme for this year’s IWD is “Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress” – with the day set aside in this year’s UN calendar to “examine the pathways to greater economic inclusion for women and girls everywhere.”

However, when it comes to how inequality plays out in the workplace and politics, the Gender Compass findings on gender equality awareness revealed that:

• Almost four in 10 (37%) Australians aren’t aware that there is a gender pay gap in Australia.
• More than a third of people (34%) were not aware that senior positions in business/industry in Australia are dominated by men
• Around the same amount (34%) do not believe that women do the bulk of unpaid labour in households.
• Close to half of Australians (48%) do not agree that women are typically underrepresented in politics.

“Our Gender Compass findings highlight the importance of moments like International Women’s Day in continuing to drive critical awareness and action towards gender equality. We need to have conversations about gender equality with Australians in a way that they can understand to make a difference. The impacts and negative effects of gender inequality are invisible to too many Australians,” said Plan International Australia CEO Susanne Legena.

With the Australian Government today releasing the country’s first ever strategy for gender equality, alongside its second annual Status of Women Report Card, now is a critical time to accelerate progress on gender quality.

As one of Australia’s leading humanitarian and girls’ rights organisations, Plan International Australia works to build a world where we are all equal. Together with research, civil society and philanthropic partners, Plan International Australia developed Gender Compass to reveal the prevailing views on gender equality, who holds them, and what drives them. The hope is that this will lead to more targeted and effective communications and advocacy efforts by individuals and organisations working to advance gender equality everywhere – particularly in more vulnerable countries overseas, where progress on gender equality is even more fractured.

Aseel, a 22-year-old Palestinian young woman that Plan International supports said that on International Women’s Day, she is calling for a future where every young person was safe, where women and children were not the target of wars and conflict, and where all children, and especially girls, have access to an equal education.

“The right to an education is sacred. No schools should ever be bombed, no teacher should ever be the target of attacks. No war should make children miss a whole school year, or go hungry and cold,” she said.

“The world is getting hotter, conflicts are erupting at a rate we haven’t witnessed in generations and extreme poverty is on the rise – and the risks of gender-based violence are only heightened during crises like these,” added Ms Legena.

“In Sudan, UN estimates state 4.2 million girls and women are at risk of gender-based violence with that expected to increase to 6.9 million this year. Right now in Gaza, women and girls are being killed and injured in unprecedented and unspeakable ways. The death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 30,000 people in five months – more than 70 per cent of them women and children. Two years on since conflict escalated in Ukraine, gender-based violence has sky-rocketed. In Haiti, which has just declared a state of emergency, a new Plan International study found increased incidents of rape and child early and forced marriage amongst adolescent girls.

“For girls around the world, who were already disproportionately affected by these issues and held back because of their gender, there is so much at stake. The fear of physical, sexual, and emotional violence is inescapable. We cannot look away,” she said.

“Current projections indicate that the next five generations of girls and women will never see gender equality. Everyone should be alarmed by this. We need to do better. This International Women’s Day, we want to see a future where girls can live without fear of violence and discrimination. We must come together to beat the clock on gender inequality, until we are all equal in this world.”

Oxfam Australia Media Release

Gaza farmers’ two-month-long “golden time” of agricultural production has been destroyed by Israel’s military bombing and sealing of northern Gaza, ruining the enclave’s richest farmlands which are one of its biggest sources of fruit and vegetables.

With Israel’s actions also severely restricting humanitarian aid, the loss of local agricultural production is worsening malnutrition and hunger, leading to starvation and fears of worst to come for the 300,000 people estimated still now living in northern Gaza.

“The risk of genocide is increasing in northern Gaza because the Government of Israel is ignoring one of the key provisions of the International Court of Justice, to provide urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance,” said Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa director. Israel reported privately to the ICJ Monday.

Oxfam’s partner organisation, the Palestinian Agricultural Development Association (PARC) – one of the biggest local organisations focused on agricultural support – estimates that nearly a quarter of northern Gaza’s farm holdings were completely destroyed by Israel forces, which razed greenhouses and buildings and 70% of Gaza’s fishing fleets in the initial days of bombings and incursion.

PARC Director of Operations in Gaza, Hani Al Ramlawi, told Oxfam yesterday that “these next two months should be the golden time of production. However, if farms haven’t already been destroyed then they have been made impossible to access, because any farmer trying to do so will be directly targeted by Israel forces. And without water, and without electricity farmland means nothing.”

Malnutrition is rife and there are reports of death by starvation. Oxfam partners talk of people drinking toilet water, eating wild plants, using animal fodder to make bread, and they speak about “catastrophic hunger” and their fear of famine without some breakthrough in access, aid and security. “You cannot imagine these conditions,” Al Ramlawi said.

Juzoor, another Oxfam partner and one of the few organisations still operating in northern Gaza, reports similar fears about rising malnutrition and hunger. It introduced a vaccine program last month in the 13 shelters where it operates and also did nutritional screenings of 1,700 children there.

Juzoor Director, Dr Umaiyeh Khammash, told Oxfam yesterday that they found out that 13% of the children they measured there are acutely malnourished. Among them, around 55 to 60 children (3%) were suffering from severe wasting and underweight.

“This is a life-threatening condition,” Khammash said. “They need to be managed in an advanced setup, a hospital or specific feeding program, none of which exist now in northern Gaza. If they are not going to receive proper management and supplementation immediately, in the coming days or weeks, those children are going to die.”

There are perhaps 300,000 civilians still in northern Gaza who have been almost entirely cut off for four months and, according to Al Ramlawi, “left behind from an international humanitarian response that has pledged never to leave anyone behind”, he said.

“The landscape is complete destruction, The farmers, the people, the animals have nothing. The minimum requirements to stay alive do not exist in North Gaza.”

Palestinians in Gaza depend on local agriculture not just for their food but also their livelihoods. The sector is worth over $575m a year, Al Ramlawi said, and that the loss of crops for both sustenance and income “not only exacerbates the already dire humanitarian situation but will have severe long-term impacts”.

“This crisis will lead to the overall collapse of Gaza’s agriculture for many years to come.”

PARC is still managing to deliver some aid locally, last week “we found a trader to provide warm clothes and other winterisation assets for around 100,000 people,” Al Ramlawi said. “Food prices are crazy, most of the people in North Gaza cannot buy commodities. A kilo of flour has gone from five shekels to 180 – who can buy this?” He said the cost of providing a humanitarian food parcel was now three times more expensive in northern Gaza to procure than in Rafah, and at less quality.

“How many days, hours, seconds, do we need to wait to provide those people with the services and aid they need? Do we need to lose all the people in north Gaza? What are we waiting for? We need to convince the world to care about this issue,” he said.

Leading homelessness advocates and unions have united in a joint push for state and federal housing ministers to plug a $73 million funding black hole that threatens to worsen the homelessness crisis by jeopardising the future of 700 critical support jobs, as ministers meet today.

Homelessness services are overwhelmed by surging demand as the nation faces its worst housing crisis in living memory.

Each day homelessness services are forced to turn away 295 people due to a lack of resources. New analysis of the most recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data reveals the number of children sleeping rough, even after seeking homelessness assistance, has surged 20 per cent.

Homelessness Australia calculates an additional $450 million is needed to meet demand for homelessness support. Despite surging demand, services are staring down the barrel of funding cuts. A $73 million funding black hole exists because funding previously provided to meet the costs of the Equal Remuneration Order (ERO) expires in June 2024.

The joint letter outlines the severe consequences if the $73 million funding shortfall is not fixed. “If the funding cut proceeds, homelessness service capacity will be slashed by more than 700 homelessness workers nationally, supercharging pressure on an already overwhelmed homelessness system,” the letter reads.

Kate Colvin, CEO of Homelessness Australia, said the uncertainty was playing havoc with Australia’s response to the crisis. “The reality on the ground is heartbreaking. Every day, families and children are left without a roof over their heads, sleeping in cars or worse. This is not just a funding issue. It’s a human crisis that demands compassion and commitment.”

The letter notes findings from a recent survey of 252 workers in frontline homelessness support services, showing the emotional toll of having to turn people away. Concerningly, 56 per cent of respondents rated the emotional impact at the maximum score of ten, with 84 per cent highlighting the detrimental effects of potential funding cuts.

“Workers in this sector are confronted by extremely difficult choices already, like picking between a mother and child fleeing violence or a teenager without a home. The last thing they need is uncertainty about their job or that of their colleague,” Colvin said.

Negotiations on homelessness funding over the next five years from July 2024 are set to take place at the Housing and Homelessness Ministerial Council meeting today.

Signatories to the letter, including Homelessness Australia, the Australian Services Union, Community Housing Industry Association, and ACOSS, are urging an immediate guarantee that funding will not be cut. They are also calling for plans to increase service capacity to meet the demand from Australians facing homelessness.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Association Media Release

Oxfam Australia Media Release

Oxfam, together with 19 other aid organisations, is deeply concerned and outraged that some of the largest donors have suspended funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main aid provider for millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the region. The aid cuts come amid a rapidly worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

The suspension of funding by donor states will impact life-saving assistance for over two million civilians, over half of whom are children, who rely on UNRWA aid in Gaza. The population faces starvation, looming famine and an outbreak of disease under Israel’s continued indiscriminate bombardment and deliberate deprivation of aid in Gaza.

We welcome UNRWA’s swift investigation into the alleged involvement of a small number of UN staff members in the October 7th attacks. We are shocked by the reckless decision to cut a lifeline for an entire population by some of the very countries that had called for aid in Gaza to be stepped up and for humanitarians to be protected while doing their job. This decision comes as the International Court of Justice ordered immediate and effective action to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.

152 UNRWA staff have already been killed and 145 UNRWA facilities damaged by bombardment. UNRWA is the largest humanitarian agency in Gaza and their delivery of humanitarian assistance cannot be replaced by other agencies working in Gaza. If the funding suspensions are not reversed we may see a complete collapse of the already restricted humanitarian response in Gaza.

With approximately over one million displaced Palestinians taking shelter in or around 154 UNRWA shelters, the agency and aid organisations have continued to work in near-impossible circumstances to provide food, vaccinations, and fresh water. The countries suspending funds risk further depriving Palestinians in the region of essential food, water, medical assistance and supplies, education, and protection.

We urge donor states to reaffirm support for the vital work that UNRWA and its partners do to help Palestinians survive one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of our times. Countries must reverse these funding suspensions, uphold their duties towards the Palestinian people and scale up humanitarian assistance for civilians in dire need in Gaza and the region.

Signatory organisations:

War Child Alliance

ActionAid

Norwegian Refugee Council

Diakonia

Oxfam

Première Urgence Internationale

Médecins du Monde France, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Germany
Danish Refugee Council

Johanniter International Assistance

The Association of International Development Agencies – Aida

Humanity & Inclusion/ Handicap International (HI)

INTERSOS

CCFD-Terre Solidaire

International Council for Voluntary Agencies

Norwegian People’s Aid

Plateforme des ONG françaises pour la Palestine

Norwegian Church Aid

DanChurchAid

American Friends Service Committee

Caritas Internationalis

Save the Children

Most of you have probably heard of the famous thought experiment proposed by Schrödinger where there’s a cat in a box and a vial of poison. If the poison has escaped then the cat is dead, but if the vial is still intact then the cat is alive. Consequently, the cat can be thought of as both alive and dead at the same time.

Of course, those of you who aren’t physicists aren’t so sure that a life trapped in a box is really a life although the philosophers among you may argue that we are all trapped in a box, but whatever, it’s only a thought experiment and, like the square root of negative one, the cat doesn’t actually exist, so there’s no need to call the RSPCA.

I couldn’t help but think of Schrödinger’s cat when someone started talking about Trump’s hold on the Republican Party the other day. According to rhetoric from Donald, he’s an anti-establishment outsider and that’s why Washington politicians are so opposed to him and why Deep State is working against him. However, like the cat, this hasn’t killed his sway with the Republican Party where, almost without exception, those in Congress back him to return as President. This is reminiscent of Reagan’s “Government is not the solution, government is the problem”, which could be considered a confession from someone who’d been a governor and a President, but I don’t think that was what he was trying to convey.

Similarly, Trump is both concerned about the lawlessness of various groups, while openly showing contempt for the legal system. Interestingly his argument in a number of cases is not that he hasn’t broken any laws; rather that the President has immunity. A point which his supporters consider to be both true and untrue – the cat again – because they simultaneously agree with this, while calling on Biden to be tried for corruption, treason, stealing an election and being a couple of years older than Donald…

All of which brings me to the tax cuts which Sussan Ley will wind back in government but also not wind back in government. Apparently, Labor are spreading a lie by repeating her exact words… A statement that can be true and untrue, because if her statement was a lie and Labor are spreading it, then they ARE spreading a lie, but if she wasn’t lying then Labor aren’t…

Ah, these tax cuts have caused the Coalition a bit of confusion. For example, David Littleproud has made the assertion that $190,000 a year is not a lot. This would be a good time to ask him if he thinks the payment to the unemployed should be raised. Notwithstanding that, David reminds us again that a cat can be both alive and dead, by going on to tell us that the tax changes are class warfare. Perhaps it’s just me, but if those on $190,000 aren’t earning a lot, how is it class warfare? I mean class warfare isn’t the poor against those not earning a lot as far as I’m aware.

Whatever, I expect that the Coalition may decide to wave the Stage 3 changes through, rather than hold them up and make them something that people focus on. Too much attention and people may become aware that the poor people on $180,000 are still getting a tax cut of $3729. Ok, it’s not as much as they were going to get, but when someone on $60,000 who’s only getting $1179 hears that someone earning three times as much is getting more than three times the tax cut and they’re the ones complaining, well, that’s when you will have a bit of class warfare happening…

I could be wrong. Just because it’s the sensible thing to do doesn’t mean that Peter Dutton will do it. Actually, when I think about it…

After all, Peter Dutton did say that he thought that big corporations like Woolworth’s should stay out of politics, so I guess this means that he’ll be asking his party to ban political donations from any large corporation because surely donating to a party is getting involved in politics.

It’s really quite interesting when you look at all the people who shouldn’t be involving themselves in politics. We have big corporations. Also, unions shouldn’t be involved.

There’s another example of Schrodinger’s political situation right there: Last week Liberal senator, James Paterson, was suggesting that the Albanese government was too willing to do the bidding of big business. Of course, this man is from the same party that regularly suggests that it’s the unions dictating Labor policy.

And, of course, there were suggestions that local councils were “being political” by not holding citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day and this was outrageous because local councils shouldn’t be political because politics is all about people who put forward positions and get elected which local councils don’t… oh wait!

Teachers also shouldn’t discuss anything political in the classroom. However, they should teach about the benefits of mining. Teaching about any problems with mining would no doubt be political, as would climate change or explaining how science works…

As for students, well they should be in school, not attending protests or writing letters to MPs or even thinking about anything but the 3Rs… And they shouldn’t think about the 3Rs too deeply or they may wonder why only one of them actually starts with an “R”.

And universities shouldn’t really get into politics either. Unless it’s some study that backs up Gina Rinehart’s desire to be the richest person alive.

Charities too shouldn’t be political. The Coalition passed legislation forbidding charities from getting political. Pity Josh Frydenberg didn’t understand that it also referred to people from the Guide Dog Association endorsing him. He thought it only applied to ones critical of the government.

Churches also shouldn’t get involved with politics unless they’re endorsing the Coalition. Any of this bleeding-heart lefty nonsense isn’t a position that a church should involve itself in.

So the list of people who shouldn’t be political includes ABC presenters, the Public Service, big corporations, unions, teachers, local councils, charities, students, universities…

Oh, and Marxists.

Yep, the only people who should involve themselves in politics are the people who agree with what the Murdoch papers are telling us…