By GetUp!
The Government's plan to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia for processing is in tatters. But this isn't over.
Cabinet is meeting tonight and they have a stark choice: to recommit to processing asylum seekers in a faster, more humane way here in Australia -- or to reopen John Howard's 'Pacific Solution' processing centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
These are countries where asylum seekers have waited for up to four years for resolution of their cases, usually without legal representation and with limited access to medical and psychiatric care . In fact, just months ago Immigration Minister Chris Bowen himself said "the Pacific solution did not break the people smugglers' business model; it broke the will and spirit of asylum seekers." 1
With so much on the line, can you make a quick call your Labor MP or Senator's office and let them know we won't stand for a return to Howard's 'Pacific Solution'?
Why do we need to call them now? Because perhaps they think we've all forgotten what it was like -- John Howard's callous approach to refugees.
That we've forgotten the days when families who arrived on our shores fleeing war and persecution were palmed to remote detention centres on pacific islands. Forgotten the four years some waited out of sight and mind, turning slowly mad in a limbo without adequate healthcare, education nor psychiatric help... nor hope.
Tonight as the Government meets in crisis to decide their course, let's show them we haven't forgotten -- and remind them of the values they once embraced when this same Government closed the Nauru and Manus Island detention centres down.
Contact your MP and make sure this Government doesn't make a bad situation worse by returning to John Howard's failed Pacific Solution. Click below to read some simple talking points and to find the phone number and email address of your Labor representative (whether MP or Senator):
http://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/refugees/high-court/we-cant-go-backwards
None of us want to see more families risk a dangerous boat trip to Australia. But Nauru and Manus Island won't help that. What will help is
increasing Australia's humanitarian program, focused on our immediate region, so that there are more orderly ways for refugees to come to Australia that don't involve undertaking dangerous boat journeys;
encouraging other settlement countries to also increase their refugee intake;
and
working closely with UNHCR and regional partners, in a methodical rather than ad hoc way, to help them improve their asylum seeker processing systems.
The Government will be having a very tough conversations tonight, and the Immigration Minister has made it clear that everything is on the table. Their choice is stark: a humane solution in Australia or a return to the dark days of the Howard Government's refugee policy.
With hope,
the GetUp team.
1 House of Representatives Official Hansard, No. 8, 2011, Tuesday, 14 June 2011, P.5863, 16:07
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GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you'd like to contribute to help fund GetUp's work, please donate now! Go to www.getup.org.au. Authorised by Simon Sheikh, Level 5, 116 Kippax St, Surry Hills NSW 2010