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Category Archives: Social Justice

Update: Join refugee Neil Para as he completes his 1000km walk for freedom across Western Sydney

Media Release Update

Who: Neil Para

What: 1000 km Refugee Walk For Freedom from Ballarat to Marrickville

When and where: Friday 8 September 2023, 8am, Camden Showground.

When and where: Saturday 9 September 2023, 7.45am, Liverpool Regional Museum

Refugee supporters and locals are invited to join Neil on his extraordinary walk into Sydney next Friday 8th and Saturday 9th of September 2023.

Neil will walk from Camden to Liverpool (29km) on Friday. He continues from Liverpool to Canterbury (20km) on Saturday.

People wanting to join Neil are warmly encouraged to join Neil as he continues into Sydney.

Refugee support groups People Just Like Us, Asylum Seeker Centre and Southland Shire Refugee Connection are supporting Neil as he enters Sydney.

Fabia Claridge of People Just Like Us says the public are invited to join Neil as he walks on the concluding days through Camden, Willowdale, Liverpool and on to Canterbury.

“Neil has been met with open arms all through Victoria and New South Wales, and we are excited to welcome him and support him as he walks on these last stages in Sydney. We invite anyone who wants to walk with Neil to join us at Camden Showground for an 8am departure or Willowdale Shopping Centre for lunch.”

Walkers can join Neil at the following points:

Thursday September 7:

When Neil arrives in the Greater Sydney Area on Thursday, Tamil organisations in Sydney, including Australian Tamil Refugee Council, Consortium of Tamil Organisations NSW/ACT, TRACK (Tamil Rehabilitation and Community Konnection), THADAM, Australian Tamil Congress, Uniting Church Tamil congregation, together with Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce of National Christian Council will host a dinner to welcome Neil. Details from Joyce Fu.

Friday September 8:

8am Camden Showground (Cnr Mitchell St. & Cawdor Rd.)

12pm Willowdale Shopping Centre

Finishing at Liverpool Regional Museum

Saturday September 9:

7:45am Liverpool Regional Museum

9:15am Davy Robinson Reserve Boat Ramp

10:30am McDonald’s Revesby / BP Services

12:15pm Wiley Park (Lakemba, Edge St entrance, near the parking)

2.15pm Arrive at St Mary MacKillop Reserve, welcome by Senator Mehreen Faruqi

Walkers will be asked to walk single file on the footpath. Please bring own water and snacks. Lunch will be provided.

 

 

People will be able to track Neil’s exact location via his website – Walk for Freedom

Walk contacts: Neil Para 0452 533759

Images, Facebook live and facts – Union of Australian Refugees | Facebook

Twitter @UofAusRefugees

https://www.instagram.com/refugeewalkforfreedom/

#RefugeeWalkForFreedom

Background:

Neil is calling for permanent visas to provide hope and certainty for around 10,000 refugees who have been living in the Australian community for almost 10 years whilst waiting for permanency.

“Please listen to our voices as we ask for freedom, hope and certainty. Please grant us permanent visas so that refugee children such as my children have hope for the future.”

Neil is walking from Ballarat to the Prime Minister’s Sydney electorate, arriving in the second week of September.

Neil and his wife Sugaa and their two daughters Nivash and Kartie came to Australia seeking safety 11 years ago. For over 9 years the family has lived with no visa, no right to work, without Medicare and no tertiary study rights. (Youngest daughter, Nive, was born in Australia and has citizenship).

The family would love to be able to work and support themselves. Neil was a hairdresser in Sri Lanka and wants to be a police officer in Australia, while Sugaa hopes to become an aged care worker.

Neil and Sugaa do volunteer work in Ballarat to give back to the local community which has supported them. Both have been continuously involved in community committees. Neil is a tireless volunteer for the SES and leads a crew, while Sugaa has volunteered for years in aged care (Ballarat Health Services) and the Ballarat Visitor Information Centre.

Eldest daughter 15-year-old Nivash would dearly love to study medicine at university when she finishes school as she dreams of being a cardiac surgeon, but without a visa she cannot attend university once she turns 18. [1] Nivash would also love to work part-time as her Australian friends do.

Neil and Sugaa learnt English through their volunteer roles, as their non-resident status precluded them from even attending classes to learn English.

 

Neil Para and his family outside their home in Ballarat North, 14 May 2023. Photo @Aldona Kmieć

 

The Federal Government’s Resolution of Status (RoS) visa announcement in February paved the way for permanent visas for 19,000 refugees [2] (on a temporary protection or safe haven enterprise visa 2013) but Neil is one of thousands of others who missed out.

People can sign the petition here.

———

*Youngest daughter Nive finally has a Medicare card now as she was born here and is a citizen now but does not have the same equal rights as other Australian children.

[1] Family Pleads With Government To Change Refugee Policies – Network Ten (10play.com.au)

[2] https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/thousands-of-refugees-on-temporary-visas-will-be-allowed-to-stay-after-labor-fulfils-key-election-promise/kj5jobvay

 

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Will you become one of Neil’s mates, and a mate for 10,000 refugees who have been left behind?

Media Release

Neil Para is inviting everyone who supports the Walk for Freedom to become his mate and a mate for the 10,000 refugees who have been in limbo for more than 10 years. You can do this by:

Joining Neil on the last leg of his walk into Sydney on 8-10 September;

Signing and sharing Neil’s petition calling for hope and certainty for 10,000 refugees who are still waiting for a permanent.

Signing can make a huge difference to many.

Neil left Ballarat on 1 August to walk 1000 kilometres to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electorate in Marrickville, Sydney. Neil is asking for permanent visas for his family and 10,000 other refugees, including 2,000 families with children.

Neil has lived in limbo in Australia for 11 years with his wife Sugaa and their three young daughters Nivash, Kartie and Australian-born Nive who has Australian citizenship. They have no visa, no job and no continuous Medicare.

Neil: “I fled war and persecution in Sri Lanka and arrived in Australia via Christmas Island in 2012. Asylum seekers like me from militarised parts of the world seek safety in Australia. Instead, we experienced 14 months of detention in immigration detention centres that almost broke our spirit. But we are resilient, and we carry the hope that all 10,000 refugees who have been forgotten will call Australia home one day.”

When Neil started his walk, he had already gathered dozens of supporters around him. Now, more than 600 kilometres in, Neil and his family have won the hearts of thousands in Australia and overseas in support of their cause: asking for permanent protection and better rights for his family and for the 10,000 other refugees who have been left behind.

Since Neil started walking, more than 5000 people have signed and shared the petition, taking the total from 12,000 to 17,000 signatures because they know Neil, his family and the 10,000 refugees they are working for deserve justice. Every day, new supporters – including refugees, advocates, volunteers, SES colleagues and local community members along the way – are keen to walk part of the 1,000 kilometres with Neil to show support for the Walk for Freedom. To date, more than 40 refugees who walked with Neil into Shepparton, visiting the local mosque and enjoying a Hazara lunch together and sharing stories of the impact of lack of permanent visas and certainty on their lives.

Musician Rose Turtle-Ertler from Tasmania who walked with Neil, welcomed Neil in a friend’s home and sang Let Them Stay, the song she wrote for Neil and his family when she met them in 2011.

The many people who walk with Neil and offer their homes to Neil, so he can have a good night’s sleep and a good meal before he continues his journey the next day.

Drivers and support vehicles who stay with Neil while he walks to make sure Neil and others on the roads are safe, taking turns driving and walking with Neil.

Neil would love it if you could be his mate and be a mate for the 10,000 refugees left behind by:

Joining Neil as he walks into Sydney (Friday 8 to Sunday 10 September 2023);

Signing and sharing Neil’s petition – and leaving a comment explaining why you think Neil, his family, and the 10,000 refugees left behind should have a home in Australia.

 

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Refugee freedom walker reaches halfway point on 1000km trek to PM’s office

Union of Australian Refugees Media Release

Neil Para calls for supporters and politicians to join him as he walks 500km to the PM’s office in Sydney.

Refugee Neil Para today reached the halfway mark on his 1000km freedom walk to raise awareness of the impact of continuing uncertainty on refugees living in Australia.

Neil reached the 500km mark at The Rock on Saturday 19th, day nineteen of his walk.

With huge support from regional refugee advocacy groups, such as Rural Australians for Refugees, Neil will deliver a petition with 17,000 signatures to Mr Albanese’s office. While in Sydney, he will attend a refugee rally organised by Refugee Action Collective.

Neil will arrive in Sydney on 9 September at 4pm.

“I have been overwhelmed by the support throughout Victoria and New South Wales, with positive responses from local communities, politicians and councillors, media, and with refugees and supporters travelling across Victoria and interstate to walk with me. Yet I still have not had a response to my invitation to meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.”

Neil is calling for supporters to:

  • join him on the second half of his trek, leaving The Rock on Sunday 20thand arriving in Sydney on 9 September,
  • walk with him on the leg from Liverpool to Marrickville arriving on 9 September at 4pm, and
  • phone and email local MPs, Prime Minister Albanese and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles seeking support so that refugees living in the Australian community for more than 10 years are not left behind.

The coalition of refugee groups supporting Neil’s walk includes Refugee Action Collective, Rural Australians for Refugees and People Like Us.

The coalition has pressed decision-makers not to overlook the legacy caseload of around 10,000 refugees who have been living in the Australian community for 10 years without certainty.

Margaret O’Donnell of Ballarat Rural Australians for Refugees said:

“We welcome the news of the ALP’s intention to introduce policy reforms which could substantially lessen the mental health impact for people seeking asylum in Australia.”

“However, it is disappointing that around 10,000 refugees who came to Australia more than 10 years ago continue to be forgotten. This announcement further exacerbates their feelings of being in limbo and the distress caused by restrictions on work, tertiary study, family reunion and their children’s future. We urgently call upon Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to provide certainty and hope for these 10,000 refugees, which includes Neil, [his wife] Sugaa and their three girls.”

 

 

 

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Refugee freedom walker urges decision-makers to provide much-needed hope for refugee children this World Humanitarian Day

Media Release

This World Humanitarian Day, refugee freedom walker Neil Para is calling upon decision-makers to provide an amnesty for all 10,000 refugees still waiting for visas so that all refugee children living in Australia have hope and certainty for the future.

On Saturday, Neil reaches the halfway mark of 500km on his 1000km refugee freedom walk. He is walking on behalf of 10,000 refugees who, after 10 challenging years, are still waiting for permanent visas.

That number includes 2,000 families with children, including many children born here in Australia. Despite having lived and grown up in the community, attended school and having dreams just like their Australian friends, these children are not free to follow their hearts and dreams or enjoy their rights.

The lack of permanent visas has a devastating ongoing impact for parents and children, as well as for families who are not able to reunite.

“Lack of certainty has a devastating impact on all refugees. For families, like my wife Sugaa and our three daughters, it is heart-breaking to see that the children we came to Australia to protect are restricted from working and going to university.”

“I call on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to allow refugee children to grow up, follow their dreams, and contribute to the Australian community – just like all other children in Australia. Please provide an amnesty so that all refugees, including families with children, can work, study, build and plan for the future.”

Speaking on The Project on Sunday, 15-year-old Nivash (Neil and Sugaa’s eldest daughter) shared how upsetting it is to see how the lack of certainty about the family’s future affects her parents, who are not able to work to provide for the family.

Nivash also cannot work part-time like her friends, nor can she follow her dreams of studying to become a cardiac surgeon. Nivash has made an emotional plea asking Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to meet with Neil at the end of his 1000km walk.

In her second letter to the Prime Minister asking for help she wrote “I don’t really understand politics, but I know what you are doing to my family is unjust and I just hope you find it in your heart to help this family of 5 you’ve been tormenting for the past 10 years.”

Neil and Sugaa’s second daughter, 13-year-old Kartie, is in the same situation. Nive, who was born in Australia, was granted citizenship and a Medicare card when she turned 10.

Throughout Neil’s walk, refugee families have shared heartbreaking stories of the mental health toll of not being able to work and build a life for their children and contribute to a better Australia.

Close family friend and supporter, Shae Duggan said, “It has been heartbreaking to watch the effect of this ongoing cruelty on the Para family over eight years. The girls know nothing else but Australian life, they see themselves as no different to their peers and yet our government withholds any type of future for them. It’s incredibly damaging for these children. The Ballarat people have welcomed this family, they are Ballarat people now and they have shown that they deserve a future here.”

The negative impact of prolonged visa insecurity on refugee families in Australia has been well documented. Visa insecurity leads to poorer mental health outcomes for mothers and children, causing heightened mental anguish for parents. Key factors of a lack of certainty, ongoing trauma resulting from detention, family separation and restrictions on freedom have a long-term mental health toll for parents, with enormous effects on children’s wellbeing.

Neil is calling for permanent visas so that children are not left behind. He is asking that:

  1. Children born in Australia should have the same rights as other Australian children.
  2. All children who have attended Australian schools should be given Australian citizenship or permanent residency with a pathway to become Australian citizens.
  3. All remaining refugees living in Australia should be included in the permanent visas process announced by Andrew Giles on February 13, 2023.

Neil is 500km into a 1000km refugee freedom walk to Prime Minister Albanese’s electorate office in Sydney to raise awareness of the plight of refugees especially those with no visas or visas that don’t give them certainty for their future. Neil’s invitation to meet with Prime Minister Albanese has not yet had a response.

Sign the Change.org petition here.

 

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Important step forward at National Conference as ALP recommits to rights for people seeking asylum

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Media Release

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) National Conference passed a series of amendments to the National Platform today, which further commits the Albanese Government to ensure the rights of people seeking asylum and refugees.

Following an event at the Conference hosted by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) on the need for work rights, study rights and the right to mainstream social support for people seeking asylum, the conference passed two meaningful changes to the platform on this issue.

Firstly, the ALP committed to providing not just work rights, but also study rights to people while their protection claim is being processed; secondly, it strengthened the policy concerning mainstream social support.

Further positive changes include: the recommitment to abolish Temporary Protection Visas and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas; the appointment of a Special Envoy for Refugee and Asylum Seeker Issues; enshrining the ‘90 day rule’ into law, which institutes a 3 months deadline for the assessment of refugee applications, and initiating a parliamentary inquiry into immigration detention.

These are welcome and important policies that when implemented will improve the community and lives of people seeking asylum.

You can read ASRC’s submission to the ALP Draft National Convention here.

Ogy Simic, Director of Advocacy at ASRC said: “Today is an important day of progress with the ALP not just recommitting to their platform but making meaningful commitments that when implemented will make a difference in people’s lives.

“We now need the Albanese Government to action these commitments so they are realised for the families and individuals seeking asylum in urgent need of these rights and further protections.”

Sajeeda Saama, Community Organiser at ASRC said: “Policies can either give people life or take it away from them. I have lost my cousin to the hands of the current policy framework just last month, when he gave up hope after years of waiting. I want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to someone else. Today’s changes are a vital step in the right direction to give people hope and ensure the dignity of thousands of human lives.

Paul Schmidt, Coordinator of the ASRA network of service providers in Queensland, said: These changes make plain sense. We need a safety not for people seeking asylum to reduce the impact on their mental health, the reliance on charities and to treat people with dignity.

Emma, a refugee who is waiting for her protection claim to be assessed for more than seven years, said: “As a single parent precluded from mainstream services I have found it impossible to rebuild my life in Australia. I have never been able to have a community because I’m forced to move from place to place depending on what work I can find, which is even more difficult now given the cost of living crisis. The ALPs policies are a step in the right direction but the Labor Government now needs to implement these policies so that people like me and my son can live in safety.

 

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Refugee freedom walker urges decision-makers to provide hope for children

Doesn’t every little girl want the chance to play for the Matildas right now?

With every little girl in Australia dreaming big as the Matildas continue their record-beating World Cup run, Neil Para is calling for decision-makers to provide hope and certainty so that refugee children living in Australia can also dream big.

Neil has just crossed the border into New South Wales, 415 kms into a 1000km walk to raise awareness of the plight of 10,000 refugees who, after 10 challenging years, are still waiting for permanent visas.

That number includes 2,000 families with children, including many children born here in Australia. Despite having lived and grown up in the community, attended school and having dreams just like their Australian friends, these children are not free to follow their hearts and dreams or enjoy their rights.

The lack of permanent visas has a devastating ongoing impact for parents and children, as well as for families who are not able to reunite.

Speaking on The Project on Sunday, 15-year-old Nivash (Neil and Sugaa’s eldest daughter) shared how upsetting it is to see how the lack of certainty about the family’s future affects her parents, who are not able to work to provide for the family.

Nivash also cannot work part-time like her friends, nor can she follow her dreams of studying to become a cardiac surgeon. Nivash has made an emotional plea asking Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to meet with Neil at the end of his 1000km walk.

In her second letter to the Prime Minister asking for help she wrote:

“I don’t really understand politics, but I know what you are doing to my family is unjust and I just hope you find it in your heart to help this family of 5 you’ve been tormenting for the past 10 years.”

Neil and Sugaa’s second daughter, 13-year-old Kartie, is in the same situation, whilst 10-year-old Nive who was born in Australia has been granted citizenship.

Throughout Neil’s walk, refugee families have shared heartbreaking stories of the mental health toll of not being able to work and build a life for their children and contribute to a better Australia.

Close family friend and supporter, Shae Duggan said,

“It has been heartbreaking to watch the effect of this ongoing cruelty on the Para family over eight years. The girls know nothing else but Australian life, they see themselves as no different to their peers and yet our government withholds any type of future for them. It’s incredibly damaging for these children. The Ballarat people have welcomed this family, they are Ballarat people now and they have shown that they deserve a future here.”

The negative impact of prolonged visa insecurity on refugee families in Australia has been well documented. Visa insecurity leads to poorer mental health outcomes for mothers and children, causing heightened mental anguish for parents. Key factors of a lack of certainty, ongoing trauma resulting from detention, family separation and restrictions on freedom have a long-term mental health toll for parents, with enormous effects on children’s wellbeing.

Neil is calling for permanent visas so that children are not left behind. He is asking that:

  1. Children born in Australia should have the same rights as other Australian children.
  2. All children who have attended Australian schools should be given Australian citizenship or permanent residency with a pathway to become Australian citizens.
  3. All remaining refugees living in Australia should be included in the permanent visas process announced by Andrew Giles on February 13, 2023.

Neil is almost 400km into a 1000km refugee freedom walk to Prime Minister Albanese’s electorate office in Sydney to raise awareness of the plight of refugees especially those with no visas or visas that don’t give them certainty for their future. Neil’s invitation to meet with Prime Minister Albanese has not yet had a response.

As Neil’s daughters, like every other little girl in Australia, wait with anticipation for the Matilda’s first ever semi-final in a FIFA World Cup tonight, Neil asks:

“I call on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to allow refugee children to grow up, follow their dreams, and contribute to the Australian community. My girls are just like all other girls in Australia who right now are dreaming that they could one day play for the Matildas. Provide all refugees, including families with children, the ability to work, study, build, plan and dream for the future.”

Neil and his wife Sugaa are Sri Lankan refugees living in Ballarat. With their three daughters, they have lived with uncertainty for 11 years. With no visa, they are not allowed to work or have access to Medicare. His daughters’ access to tertiary study is affected too. Neil is asking for a permanent visa to give certainty to his family.

Neil will present a petition to Mr Albanese’s office (which has already attracted more than 16,000 signatures) urging permanent visas for the 10,000 who were overlooked when Mr Giles announced in February that some refugees could apply for permanent residency.

Sign the Change.org petition here.

 

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Refugee advocates raise concerns about detainee suicide case

Refugee Action Collective (Vic) Media Release

Refugee advocates are concerned that certain criminal charges laid in 2021 against the Department of Home Affairs have not yet proceeded to trial. The charges relate to the unprevented suicide of a detainee at Sydney’s Villawood immigration detention centre on 4 March 2019.

Ian Rintoul of Sydney’s Refugee Action Coalition and Refugee Action Collective (Victoria) spokesperson, Max Costello, are asking, “Will this case proceed? Or will it be permanently ‘stayed’ by the presiding magistrate?”

Costello, a retired health and safety prosecutor, explains the legal background. “All immigration detention facilities, including Villawood, are Commonwealth workplaces, because immigration is a federal government matter. Accordingly, they come under the Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

“Inspectors of the Act’s regulator, Comcare, investigated the suicide circumstances, and prepared a brief of evidence: it underpins the charges that were laid against Home Affairs, and another defendant, in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on 3 March 2021.”

Comcare’s 10 March 2021 media release elaborates: “The Department of Home Affairs and its healthcare provider International Health and Medical Services (IHMS) have been charged with breaching Commonwealth work health and safety laws over the death of a man in immigration detention.

“… the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has filed two charges each against Home Affairs and IHMS alleging they failed in their duties under the federal Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act).

“The charges relate to an incident on 4 March 2019 where a 26-year-old Iraqi national took his own life at Sydney’s Villawood Immigration Detention Centre.

“It is alleged that Home Affairs and IHMS failed to provide and maintain a safe system of work at the facility as part of their health and safety duties that extend to detainees.

“It is also alleged that Home Affairs and IHMS failed to provide necessary training, information and supervision to mental health staff in relation to their care for the detainee.

“Each charge … [carries] a maximum penalty of $1.5 million.”

What’s happened since then? Court records reveal that, in 2022, Home Affairs and IHMS applied to have their charges permanently ‘stayed’ – deferred indefinitely, never to be heard. In response, the court adjourned the matters.

Eventually, in early May this year, magistrate Shields heard both defendants argue in full their case for a permanent stay. On 3 May, his Honour indicated that, on 25 August, he would make a yes or no decision on their application.

“The possibility that these charges might never be heard is deeply concerning”, says Ian Rintoul. “Since the 2019 suicide, there have been at least four other suicides and numerous suicide attempts in Villawood, including one in January 2023. Nothing has changed.

“The root cause of these tragedies is the excruciating cruelty of extended, sometimes indefinite, detention. Labor should scrap this regime that locks people up just for being a non-citizen.

“A prosecution would see that regime publicly scrutinized in open court. A guilty verdict and substantial fines would hold Home Affairs and IHMS to account, and deter future non-compliance with the WHS Act’s duties of care.”

Max Costello added, “The charges laid in this matter are the first and only charges brought by Comcare against the Department (or IHMS). That’s despite the fact that I, and fellow RAC (Vic) member Margaret Sinclair (Dip WHS), have (separately) written to Comcare a total of 76 times since 2014, providing evidence of apparent WHS Act criminal offences and asking Comcare to take enforcement action. But every time, Comcare says its inspectors have found no evidence of a breach of the Act.”

Margaret Sinclair comments, “Granting permanent stays could involve three cruel implications. The deceased man’s family would be robbed of justice; detainees could well believe that the law will never protect them; and Home Affairs/IHMS might conclude that unlawful, potentially fatal neglect of detainee health and safety can be engaged in with impunity.”

“A final, serious concern”, says Ian Rintoul, “is that Home Affairs has been maintaining its application for a permanent stay even under Labor. The charges allege offending in 2019, when the Morrison Liberal-National government was in office and Peter Dutton was the Home Affairs minister.

“But Labor’s Clare O’Neil became the minister in May 2022. Surely Labor would want to see Home Affairs and IHMS held to account. The only constant is that Michael Pezzullo was, and is, the departmental Secretary.

“We call on minister O’Neil to forthwith instruct Secretary Pezzullo to ASAP write to the court withdrawing the department’s stay application. Justice can then take its course.”

 

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Refugee freedom walker welcomes increased humanitarian intake

Media Release

Refugee freedom walker Neil Para and the coalition of refugee groups supporting him welcome the increase in the humanitarian intake announced yesterday by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.

Advocates remind decision-makers that there are thousands of refugee and asylum seekers already here urgently needing permanent visas.

There are refugees who have lived here for more than a decade in limbo without permanent visas, access to jobs, study or Medicare and are already contributing to and part of the Australian community.

The coalition supporting Neil Para includes Refugee Action Coalition (RAC), People Just Like Us (PJLU) and Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) and more.

Ian Rintoul from RAC said the additional 2125 are expected to come from overseas.

“We welcome any increase in the humanitarian intake; though we are mindful that there are around 10,000 refugees already in Australia who are victims of the Morrison fast track system that urgently need permanent visas,” he said.

Neil Para formed the Union of Australian Refugees this year to help give refugees a voice and is one-third of the way through a 1000km refugee freedom walk to Prime Minister Albanese’s electorate office in Sydney to raise awareness of their plight especially those with no visas or visas that don’t give them certainty for their future.

Commenting on Mr Giles’ announcement Mr Para said: “That is why we formed the Union; we are a voice for refugees who are already in Australia. We welcome the minister’s announcement but we want the minister to please end the uncertainty for those who are already here.

“Mr Albanese said yesterday that Australia can do its share as part of being a responsible nation that has always been generous.

“We call on Mr Albanese and Mr Giles to live up to that and in the good Aussie tradition of a fair go, please give embrace refugees who have lived here for over a decade and are already part of Australia and wish to contribute more.”

Neil, a Sri Lankan refugee from Ballarat has lived here for 11 years in uncertainty with his wife and three daughters without a permanent visa, is not permitted a job or continuous Medicare. His daughters’ access to tertiary study is affected too.

He will present a petition to Mr Albanese’s office (which has already attracted more than 16,000 signatures) urging permanent visas for the group who were ignored when Mr Giles announced in February that certain refugees could apply for permanent residency.

Chair of Ballarat RAR, Margaret O’Donnell said Australia had room enough for both groups. “Refugees in Shepparton who met Neil this week, just for example, play a vital role in the local economy as orchardists and cannery workers.”

“We applaud the federal government decision to build a kinder country and every increase is a step towards a more inclusive, compassionate and culturally rich Australia,” Mrs O’Donnell said.

It makes sense to start by processing those already here. People like Neil are already contributing and poised to do more.

“Becoming a permanent citizen could offer many refugees precious family reunion opportunities, work rights, more affordable tertiary study options for their children and Medicare access. Those building this nation also aspire to vote.

“Not many Aussies are crazy about contributing tax but for refugees the ability to pay tax represents an important milestone. There are thousands on temporary visas who hope to take the next step.”

RAR members have been supporting Neil along the way and everywhere he goes, people are empathetic to the cause.

Convoys of refugees have travelled from Melbourne to share their frustrations. At a meeting in Shepparton this week refugees who met with Neil told their stories of heartbreak and uncertainty.

Sign the Change.org petition here.

 

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Refugee Neil Para continues his 1,000km walk for freedom and certainty to highlight plight of thousands with no permanent visa

Media release

Sri Lankan refugee and asylum seeker Neil Para has completed 329km of his 1000-kilometre walk for freedom to raise awareness of the plight of refugees in Australia: especially those with no visas or visas that don’t give them certainty for their future.

Blisters are kicking in but Neil’s spirits are high due to so much support along the way from locals, travellers beeping horns and stopping to cheer him on and fellow refugees even travelling from Melbourne to relay their stories and support Neil.

Neil left Ballarat on August 1 and is trekking to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electorate office in Marrickville, Sydney arriving in September. From Neil’s heartland to Albo’s.

With massive support from regional refugee advocacy groups, such as Rural Australians for Refugees, Neil plans to deliver a petition to Mr Albanese’s office and later attend a refugee rally organised by Refugee Action Collective.

Neil is averaging 30km per day. His location is currently Benalla in Victoria. He is being supported on stages of his journey by different drivers.

The dangers of walking along the highway particularly worry Neil’s family. His daughter has written to Albanese about her concerns for Neil and begging for timely Ministerial Intervention to head off undue risk.

Neil says: “My steps may be powerful but my energy comes from people like you.”

Local Rural Australians for Refugee members are providing meals, accommodation and support vehicles in a huge, carefully co-ordinated effort.

Mayors are meeting Neil along with a group of supporters and refugees and Neil presented each town with a copy of a book he has written, telling his story.

A large group of mainly Hazara refugees living in the Shepparton region met with Neil. The contribution of those who fled the Taliban’s return to Afghanistan to our regional economy cannot be over-stated.

The petition urges permanent residency (visas) for about 10,000 refugees and asylum seekers like Neil who cannot legally earn an income because they have been waiting for years for the Australian Government to grant them a visa that allows them to work.

15,000 signatures on petition

The petition has now topped 15,000 signatures. Greens Senator Nick McKim from Tasmania thanked people for signing and supporting Neil “as he sets out on his massive walk to draw attention to the thousands of people who, like him, had their claims for asylum rejected under the former government’s dodgy fast track assessment process.”

People can sign the petition here.

Ballarat city councillor Belinda Coates said: “Neil gives back so much to this community. You are doing this to adjust what has been happening to many in this country for too long. I hope this is the start of change.”

At the walk launch Brett Edgington secretary of Ballarat Regional Trades and Labour Council said: “Neil is the bravest man I know. At the end of this we hope that one day, we can attend Neil, Sugaa and the girls’ ceremony to become citizens, wouldn’t that be a wonderful moment. Ten years too long. Neil is very much a part of this community.”

Lieke Janssen from Refugee Action Collective said: “Neil is walking 1000km for himself, his family and 10,000 people that are still being left behind under the Albanese’s ‘No-one-will-be left-behind’ government. Politicians do not need to hide behind the ‘We cannot comment on individual cases’ excuse. Neil is walking for thousands. Every politician should come stand behind Neil and the thousands that deserve this.

“1000km is gonna be challenging and hard but it’s nothing compared with the challenges these refugees have been living with without a permanent visa for so long, every day they face consequences of living without this security. We need permanent visas and freedom now.”

Around ten thousand refugees missed out when the Federal Government announced in February that refugees who held Temporary Protection and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas could apply for permanent visas.

Neil is currently denied work rights, study rights and even Medicare access. Above all, his family lacks certainty about the future.

Apart from being granted freedom to work, Neil also wants refugees to be granted the freedom to vote, become an Australian citizen and have the essential rights that Australian citizens do.

Neil has lived in Australia in limbo for 11 years without a permanent visa, steady job or continuous Medicare with his wife Sugaa and their three young daughters: Nivash, Kartie and Australian-born Nive who has Australian citizenship.

They have lived under various immigration restrictions even though they are ambitious to build careers. Neil was a hairdresser in Sri Lanka and hopes to become a police officer in Australia, while Sugaa aspires to be an aged care worker.

The Federal Government’s Resolution of Status (RoS) permanent visa announcement this year paved the way for permanent visas for 19,000 refugees with a pathway to citizenship and family reunion (who were on temporary protection or safe haven enterprise visas at the time of the announcement). Sadly, Neil is one of thousands still missing out. Most of these were maritime arrivals.

Beyond trying to find certainty for his family, (for whom return to strife-torn Sri Lanka would still be dangerous as Neil is on an airport watch list), Neil is advocating for refugees who’ve been left behind in similar circumstances to him.

It’s a wide open road for the stateless

“I’m calling on the government to end the uncertainty for all refugees seeking a safe home. Please grant us permanent visas, health and the freedom to work,” Neil said. “I am also walking so that refugee children can have certainty.”

In the petition Neil says: “I fled war and persecution in Sri Lanka. Asylum seekers like me from militarised parts of the world seek safety in Australia. Instead, we experienced 14 months of detention in immigration detention centres that almost broke our spirit. But we are resilient, and we carry the hope that we’ll call Australia home one day. Australia represents refuge from the turmoil we were escaping.”

“Now I stand with refugees as the founder of the Union of Australian Refugees (UAR).”

The Union of Australian Refugees was formed this year to bring refugees together, create awareness and be their voice. Its motto is “Be Seen, Be Heard” and while they were seen during a four day sit down at Parliament House, he said it appeared they were not properly heard.

Neil says in the petition: “We are tired of living in limbo. It has been more than a decade. We have spent time in detention, the harshest time of our lives, but there is still no clarity about our status. We cannot return to a country where we don’t feel safe and we don’t feel at home. We yearn to contribute to the society we now call home.”

Neil’s immigration odyssey is described in greater detail in his book (link below). The family fled Sri Lanka to Malaysia where they remained for four years having been given refugee status by the United Nations. They came to Australia by boat and lived in detention in Darwin, then community detention in Dandenong before they came to Ballarat in 2013 (to seek fast-track visas, after applying for a permanent visa while in detention). Unfortunately, after four months in Ballarat their bridging visas were revoked, leaving the couple almost suicidal.

“We didn’t know what we were going to do, we didn’t even speak English,” Neil said.

Ten years later, Neil’s family is still waiting, and the strain of living on the charity of friends without any certainty has taken a huge toll on their mental health.

The family survives through the generosity of the local community, groups such as Rural Australians for Refugees, friends and allies.

Neil and Sugaa do volunteer work in Ballarat to give back to the local community which has supported them. Both have been continuously involved in community committees. Neil is a tireless volunteer for the SES and leads a crew, while Sugaa has volunteered for years in aged care (Ballarat Health Services) and at the visitor information centre. Their eldest daughter also volunteers at Vinnies and Ballarat Information Centre. Their volunteering has attracted awards.

The couple learnt English through their volunteer roles as their non-resident status precluded them from formal study.

Neil has also arranged local events in Ballarat to raise awareness of the mental health issues that refugees and asylum seekers experience due to being denied residency and the right to work.

Neil’s goals for the Walk

  1. Children born in Australia should be given Citizenship with the same rights as other Australian children.
  2. All children who go to or went to Australian schools should also be given Citizenship or permanent residency with a pathway to become Australian citizens.
  3. More refugees who are now residing in Australia should be included in the permanent visas process announced by Andrew Giles on February 13.2023.

 

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National protests call for an end to offshore detention

Refugee Action Coalition Media Release

ALERT: TEN YEARS TOO BLOODY LONG RALLIES CALL FOR AN END TO OFFSHORE DETENTION

July 19 marked the 10th anniversary of then Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, signing the PNG deal and his announcement that no refugee sent offshore would ever be resettled in Australia. After 19 July 2013, out of the 7832 people seeking asylum who arrived in Australia by boat, 3127 were forcibly sent from Christmas Island to Manus Island or Nauru.

Following rallies today (Saturday 22 July) in Perth and Melbourne, there will be rallies in Brisbane, Canberra, and Sydney, on Sunday 23 July, to demand an end to offshore processing, and permanent visas for all offshore refugees and the victims of fast-track processing. Attached are photos of a protest held outside ALP Treasurer Jim Chalmers electoral office on 19 July and a protest at Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil’s electoral office on 21 July.)

“Labor has a particular responsibility to end offshore detention and bring those still held offshore to Australia,” said Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition, “It was a Labor government in 2013 that implemented the PNG deal. And it is the current Albanese Labor government that is keeping 75 refugees in PNG.”

“A determined campaign finally got the last refugee off Nauru this month. Labor is on notice, we will keep fighting to get all the refugees from PNG evacuated from PNG and brought to Australia. And for all those from PNG and Nauru in Australia to get permanent visas.”

Shannen Potter, a delegate to Labor’s August national conference will speak at the Sydney rally in support of the Labor for Refugee’s motion to the national conference calling for an end to offshore detention.

Labor’s claim that they are not responsible for the refugees in PNG has been blown out of the water after by today’s revelation that there is a secret deal between Australia and PNG to fund the refugees they dumped there ten years ago. Yet, the Albanese government has refused to transfer any of the refugees to Australia.

Around 1100 refugees brought from PNG and Nauru are in the Australian community on bridging visas; they need permanent visas. Twelve thousand asylum seekers denied refugee status under Morrison’s fast track process also need permanent visas.

Albanese claims that Labor can be “tough on border protection without being weak on humanity,” but after a year in office Labor is showing it really is weak on humanity.

 

Photo credit: Refugee Action Coalition

 

Sydney rally: Labor’s Refugee Shame: Ten Years Too Bloody Long, 1pm, Sunday 23 July, Town Hall. Speakers include, Speakers include: Ramsi (Former Manus refugee); Zahra Hashembadi (Former Nauru refugee), Kajan Palan (Tamil refugee on bridging visa), Shannen Potter (ALP National Conference Delegate), Dave Towson (Independent Education Union NSW/ACT), Tilly (Refugee Action Coalition).

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Domestic violence: An all too familiar story

Headlines come and go, but this one repeats itself with a familiar refrain: “In one week, three Australian women were allegedly killed by men they knew.”

Why?

The figures are staggering. Despite the programmes we instigate and the enormous amounts of money we invest to combat domestic violence, on average one woman is killed by a husband or partner every week.

Should I repeat that? One woman has her life taken from her by a man close to her every week.

Three women were allegedly killed by a man close to them a couple of weeks ago.

“Christine Rakic, Amira Moghnieh, and a woman in the Northern Territory had their lives terminated.”

The people who analyse these things use words that make you think, but it’s hard to get one’s head around it, the why of it seems beyond me.

“The advocates in this area say things like “absolutely horrifying.” Domestic and family violence experts say violence against women is at “epidemic proportions.”

All the statistics combined tell a story that might be called “How they suffer for their femineity.”

Tarang Chawla, an anti-violence advocate, recently told SBS News that.

“At a human level, it is absolutely horrifying.

“It’s horrible that we’ve had to have so many tragedies in such a short space of time for us to really take stock, listen and think about why this is occurring and what we need to do to stop it from happening with such frequency.”

I have heard Chawla speak of his own experience on ABC’s The Drum.

He had lived through a similar experience, losing his sister Nikita in 2015 when she was murdered by her husband in Melbourne. He urged the community to understand the true human cost of particularly men’s violence against women.

“When we talk about these things in the media, we sometimes gloss over the fact that these are real human beings and the tragedy will have lifelong consequences – and that’s the people who are left behind.

“The families of these people will never be the same.”

It has now become a familiar story. One that I have written about myself and in the annals of my own family history, I wonder if my mother may have experienced similar acts of cowardice.

Then I heard that police had raided the homes of almost six hundred male offenders due to the three murders mentioned earlier. The NSW police targeted the state’s most dangerous domestic violence offenders and turned up illegal firearms and guns – and a corn snake (whatever that is).

“The four-day operation dubbed Amarok III resulted in 1107 domestic violence charges being laid against 592 people, who were mostly men, but there were at least two women.”

As I read on, I’m told that 139 men were arrested, and of these, 103 had outstanding warrants for violent offences and were amongst NSW’s most dangerous offenders.

The article went on to say that of those charged, many face other severe offences, including prohibited firearm and weapon possession, drug possession and supply.

From what I have read to this point, I am shocked at the criminal element involved in Domestic Violence. It’s enough to overwhelm one’s emotions.

Am I that naive I ask myself to have not known this?

“Some 139 were amongst NSW’s most dangerous offenders, and 103 had outstanding warrants for violent offences. Some of those charged also face other serious offences, including prohibited firearm and weapon possession, drug possession and supply.

Police seized 22 firearms and 40 prohibited weapons, as well as various types of illicit drugs located with 89 detections.”

An article from The Courier quotes many more facts and figures, saying:

“We know domestic and family violence is one of the most under-reported crime types.”

That I am left in a state of shock would be an understatement.

Reporting for news.com.au, Blake Antrobus says that:

“… specialist teams such as the Domestic Violence High-Risk Offender Teams (DVHROT) were also involved in the operation.”

“The NSW Police Force invests significant resources into responding to domestic and family violence, attending some 139,000 calls for assistance in 2022 – with more than 33,100 of those actual assaults and 17 domestic-related murders.”

What, in God’s name, I ask myself, am I missing here? What if I were to multiply all these facts and figures across the nation? The statistics would be incredible.

They have undoubtedly worsened because of the Covid pandemic and multiplied again due to the economic crisis and cost of living problems. And these figures don’t mention what I shall call the non-criminal cohort. However, I might be corrected on that one.

The next question I ask myself, is what is to be done? In the totality of what I know, I suggest seeing the crisis as a community problem; not just a family one. We should educate ourselves on the subject. Be prepared to report cases of abuse. Enlighten our children about what it means.

What exactly causes men to commit these terrible acts of abuse? What makes us tighten our fists and strike out? Low self-esteem, culture, misogyny, tempestuous or explosive personality, incubus personality, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder. Anyone with these personality disorders might commit domestic violence when under the influence of drugs.

Our first port of call must be education. To familiarise ourselves with the problem and arm ourselves with all the information we can digest and then speak it.

My thought for the day

If you are looking for the ultimate expression of the purity of love, there is no better place to look than in the sanctity of motherhood.

 

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Overdose death at Villawood Detention Centre

Refugee Action Coalition Media Release

An African immigration detainee was found dead in his room in Hotham Compound, Villawood detention centre, around 9.00am this morning, Friday, 30 June.

It is believed the man died from a drug overdose. It is understood that the man was a humanitarian refugee, who has a wife and family in Sydney, but whose permanent visa had been cancelled because he had breached covid restrictions.

The man was one of those immigration detainees who was released at the end of 2022 due to a High Court decision, but who was re-detained early this year, after Labor changed the law. (See February press release).

For many of the detainees, the overdose death is an ‘accident waiting to happen.” One Villawood detainee told the Refugee Action Coalition that ‘it is surprising that drug deaths are not more common in here, given how easy it is to obtain drugs in Villawood’.

“Drugs are rife in Villawood, there is nothing that you can’t get inside the detention centre,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, “Drugs are regarded as just another way of maintaining a more manageable and compliant detention population.

“Prolonged immigration detention creates the circumstances in which drug use becomes more common. This responsibility for this needless death lies with the immigration minister,” said Rintoul.

The Department of Home Affairs and detention medical provider, International Health and Medical Services Pty Ltd (IHMS), are already the subject of court proceedings regarding the suicide death of a detainee in Villawood in 2019.

In that case it is alleged that both Home Affairs and IHMS had seriously neglected the mental health of the detainee who took his own life.

“There are obviously similar considerations in a case of an overdose death,” said Ian Rintoul.

“There needs to be a full inquiry not just into the immediate cause of death, but an inquiry that deals with the supply of drugs in Villawood and circumstances of this man’s detention. From everything we know, the man should not have been in immigration detention.”

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has said many times that the government is committed to “risk-based immigration detention policies”, and that “people should be living in the community if they do not pose a risk.”

“Section 501 of the Migration Act should be repealed. It allows explicit discrimination and extra-judicial punishment just because people are not Australian citizens. Now it has inflicted a death sentence; for what?”

 

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Nauru’s Refugee Stain: Australia’s Continued Offshore Processing Regime

The last refugee, for now, has left the small, guano-producing state of Nauru. For a decade, the Pacific Island state served as one of Australia’s offshore prisons for refugees and asylum seekers, a cruel deterrent to those daring to exercise their right to seek asylum via the sea.

Since July 2013, 3,127 people making the naval journey to Australia to seek sanctuary found themselves in carceral facilities in Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, told that they would never resettle on the Australian mainland. Such persons were duly euphemised as “transitory persons” to be hurried on to third country destinations, if not returned to their country of origin, a form of vacant reasoning typical of a callous bureaucracy.

The wisdom here was that other countries would not only be more suitable for such persons, but keener candidates to pull their weight in terms of processing and accepting refugees. For the Australian Commonwealth, outsourcing responsibilities from protecting citizens to shielding vulnerable arrivals from harm, has become a matter of dark habit.

Many of those remaining refugees held on the Australian mainland are the subjects of acute care, and all await transfer to third countries such as Canada under its private sponsorship program, the United States, New Zealand or other destinations.

In the meantime, 80 remain in PNG. The situation there is marred by a fundamental legal peculiarity. In October 2017, the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea found the Manus Island Centre to be both illegal and unconstitutional. (PNG, unlike Australia, has a constitution prohibiting violations of personal liberty, even for non-PNG nationals.) Its closure led to the removal of the detainees to various transition centres devoid of basic amenities, including water, electricity and medical support.

Both PNG and Australia proceeded to squabble over responsibility, despite the obvious fact that the latter exercises effective control over the facilities and those being held in them. Emilie McDonnell of Human Rights Watch deems it indisputable “that Australia bears primary responsibility for those in offshore detention under its policies and has an ongoing legal duty to find a durable solution.”

The offshore concentration camp system established and prosecuted by respective federal governments has become the envy for autocrats, populists and reactionaries the world over. Fact-finding missions have been made by European Union members states. The model is mesmerising officials in the UK. Its credentials of cruelty and suffering are beyond doubt: 14 deaths since 2012, marked by gross medical neglect, suicide and murder by overly enthusiastic guards. Spokesperson for the Refugee Action Collective, Ian Rintoul, suggested that the legacy on Nauru “will forever stain the record of both sides of Australian politics.”

The absence of any refugee inmates in Nauru’s detention facility does not herald its closure. Far from it: the Albanese government has, according to Federal Budget figures, promised to spend A$486 million this year on the facility.

The Department of Home Affairs continues to tersely state that the position of the government “on maritime smuggling and irregular maritime ventures has not changed. Any person entering Australia by boat without a valid visa will be returned or taken to a regional processing country for protection claims assessment. Unauthorised maritime arrivals will not settle in Australia.”

For anyone concerned about the welfare of such persons held in captivity, the department makes a feeble assurance: “All transitory persons in Nauru reside in community accommodation and have access to health and welfare services. Transitory persons have work rights and can operate businesses.” These people have evidently not been to the prison idyll they so praise. But not to worry, a wounded conscience could also be put to rest by the fact that there were “currently no minors under regional processing arrangements” on the island.

In Senate estimates, it was also revealed that the government would continue forking out $350 million annually to maintain the Nauru facility as a “contingency” for any future arrivals. According to a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs, the processing centre was “ready to receive and process any new unauthorised maritime arrivals, future-proofing Australia’s response to maritime people-smuggling.” And so, old canards are recycled in their staleness and counterfeit quality.

Another unsavoury aspect to this needless cost to the Australian budget is the recipient of such taxpayer largesse. The Albanese government has an ongoing contract with the US prison company, Management and Training Corporation (MTC), which is responsible for running the facilities till September 2025 at the cost of A$422 million.

MTC has a spotty resume, though it trumpets its record as a “leader in social impact.” Impact is certainly not an issue, if maladministration, wrongful death, poor medical care and a failing performance in rehabilitation count in the equation. In 2015, then Arizona governor Dough Ducey cancelled MTC’s contract after a withering state department of corrections report into a riot at Kingman prison identifying “a culture of disorganisation, disengagement and disregard for state policies.” As a 2021 lawsuit filed in the District Court of the Southern District of California pungently alleged, MTC “is a private corporation that traffics in human captivity for profit.”

The very fact that MTC Australia advertises itself as a provider of “evidence-based rehabilitation programs and other services to approximately 1,000 male inmates in Australia” begs that old question as to why they need to oversee refugees and asylum seekers in the first place. But the answer is glaringly evident: anyone daring to make the perilous journey across the seas to the world’s largest island continent are seen as presumptively criminal, trafficked by actual criminals. Such a sickness of attitude and policy continues to keep the Australian political imagination captive and defiant before law and decency.

 

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Australia’s Humanitarian Visa System is Inhumane: An Open Letter to Immigration Minister Andrew Giles

By Loz Lawrey

Dear Minister Giles,

Since my previous emails to you of 14 and 25 April and 5 May 2023 have received no answer from your office I write once again to express my concern at the treatment by Home Affairs of my friend Abdul, an Afghan citizen of Hazara ethnicity, whose application for a humanitarian visa to Australia appears to be lost in an immigration bureaucratic black hole.

Your department’s refusal to respond to genuine enquiries from members of the public enquiring as to the progress and current status of humanitarian visa applications is causing great misery to many desperate applicants who must wait in limbo for years on end while your Special Humanitarian Processing Centre (SHPC) refuses to even communicate with them about the case.

What on earth is going on?

I have been deeply shocked to realise that humanitarian visa applications lodged by desperate people whose lives are at risk can take four years or more to process. Four years!

Surely an application for a humanitarian visa is a cry for help? For prompt and timely humanitarian rescue from an inhumane situation?

I’m also astounded at the cruelty of a system which leaves applicants in the dark for so long and does not respond to requests for updated information on the progress of their visa assessments.

My friend Abdul first applied for Australia’s assistance and compassion in October 2021, after the Taliban takeover of Kabul.

His father and brother had in previous months been murdered by Taliban members in Ghazni Province.

Abdul’s appeal to Australia for help came in the form of a photo of his bare back, lacerated with whip marks. The photo was captioned: “Please save my life!”

He had been detained by the Taliban, tortured, questioned and, amazingly, released.

He then went into hiding, living in fear of possible execution by the new religiofascist regime which had taken control of the country he loved.

I’m guessing that by now Abdul was living in a state of shock at the impact the Taliban takeover had upon his life. Suddenly his dreams of contributing to society in some positive way, of working and perhaps starting a family, were shattered. His life had become a struggle for survival.

A graduate of the University of Kabul, Abdul entered the workforce in January 2016, working as a reporter for the Afghan Peoples’ Voice Weekly.

He then spent a year working in education as a teacher at Kabul’s National Institute of Educational Planning.

By the time of the Taliban arrival in Kabul in August 2021, Abdul had spent two and a half years working in a management position for Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission, promoting democracy and the need for free elections and the importance to all citizens of voting and having a say in the country’s direction.

At the age of 27 Abdul was a contributing citizen in his own country. He was, in fact, helping to rebuild his country after years of conflict.

Non-religious, with deeply held values around empathy, egalitarianism, human rights and the importance of democracy for the common good, Abdul has achieved an admirable level of education and a great breadth of work experience.

The Taliban are intolerant of Afghans of Hazara ethnicity. Hazaras are of Persian descent and whilst long-time residents of Afghanistan, they have always suffered similar racist “othering” as do African-Americans in the USA.

As I’m sure you already know Minister Giles, under the current Taliban regime all Hazaras resident in Afghanistan are at risk of detainment and possible execution.

Abdul realised that he would not survive for long by remaining in Kabul.

He applied for a visa to neighbouring Pakistan. The refusal took three months to arrive.

Like many others, Abdul could see no future for a safe life in Afghanistan and so paid a guide to lead him across the border on foot.

Now he lives as an illegal refugee in Pakistan. He is safer there, but he cannot work and lives under threat of repatriation to Afghanistan should he attract the attention of the local authorities.

For Abdul, repatriation to Afghanistan means almost certain death.

In his current situation, Abdul is a man without rights or citizenship.

Yet does he not deserve a place in the world? Does Australia not need new citizens?

I believe the horrors which have been inflicted upon him and his family have caused him to suffer a form of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).

He continues to live in a constant state of anxiety due to the insecurity of his situation.

I have made it clear to your department that as Abdul’s proposer I commit to paying for all his travel to and resettlement costs in Australia.

He is desperate to come here to our country and is prepared to undertake any work available to him.

Surely, since approving Abdul’s application will cost your government nothing,

there is no reason to perpetuate the trauma he continues to suffer?

Every day he is forced to wait and wonder whether Australia will ever accept him damages him even more.

Why do these humanitarian visa applications take such an inhumanely long time to process?

Applicants wait in the dark for years for a decision on their case, demeaned, disrespected and unable to build a decent life in their place of refuge.

As refugees, they do not enjoy the rights of citizenship. They are forced to live in limbo while years of their lives are stolen by the structural cruelty of bureaucracy.

Minister Giles, you have not replied to my previous letters, so I am sharing this latest one with the Australian public.

Your government has recently announced that Australia’s 2023-24 permanent migration program level has been set at 190,000.

Surely such a number could include my friend Abdul?

Surely granting him a humanitarian visa would be the humane thing to do?

Best Regards,

Loz Lawrey

 

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Desperate PNG refugee attempts self-immolation after years of neglect

Refugee Action Coalition Media Release

A 46-year-old Iranian refugee doused himself, and an office, in petrol yesterday morning (Wednesday 10 May) threatening to set himself alight.

Abolfath Gheitasi, had gone to the offices of Chatswood at Waigani in Port Moresby, the supposed service provider for refugees in PNG company around 9.15am Wednesday morning, carrying petrol and a lighter. He had poured the petrol over himself, and inside and outside the building.

Firefighters were called to the building, and after a stand-off, with security and PNG immigration officers, Abolfath eventually handed them the lighter.

“The attempted suicide highlights the desperate circumstances for the 88 refugees and asylum seeker still being held in PNG,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

Abolfath was one of the first refugees to be transferred to Manus Island after the Rudd government implemented the Pacific Solution II in July 2013. He was accepted to go to the US and did a medical for transfer to the US, three years ago, but is still waiting.

Besides the torture of Manus Island, refugees now in Port Moresby had gone several weeks without income support from Chatswood. PNG officials and UNHCR were warned about Abolfath’s deteriorating situation and threats of self-harm two months ago.

The lack of support for refugees in PNG and Nauru was one of the features of Labor’s budget failure to address the urgent needs of refugees and asylum seekers. Labor has refused to transfer sick refuges from PNG even though refugees are still being transferred from Nauru.

The neglect is also highlighted by the announcement of US president Joe Biden’s visit to PNG to sign a defence pact with PNG and a $32 million assistance package, while dozens of refugees in PNG are still waiting to be resettled in the US. A new joint Australia-US-PNG military deal is expanding the navy base on Manus Island, ironically the base, where refugees were held after 2013.

“It is almost ten years since refugees were transferred by a Labor government to Manus Island. Labor has a particular responsibility to those they dumped there. Refugees are waiting forlornly for resettlement in the US or NZ,“ said Rintoul. “It’s time for Labor to end the mistreatment and uncertainty and bring them to Australia.”

 

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