Refugee Action Coalition Press Release 23/4/2011Wayne Swan is wrong to criticize Monday’s planned refugee rights protest at Villawood detention centre, refugee supporters say. Following this week’s unrest at Villawood, refugee rights advocates will stage a mass show of support for Villawood detainees on Easter Monday, 25 April. The 25th is also Anzac Day. Refugee supporters will meet at Chester Hill station at 12 noon, before marching to the Gurney Rd side of the detention centre for a rally in support of detainees.
Reacting to news of the planned rally, the deputy Prime Minister, Wayne Swan, described the show of support as ‘not necessarily appropriate’, and criticized the ‘unacceptable behaviour’ of protesting detainees.
“There is nothing inappropriate about Monday’s rally,” said Nick Riemer, from the Refugee Action Coalition. “We will be there to show refugees our support. What we’re demanding is respect for their human dignity, a fair go, and support for democratic freedoms.”
“It’s an extraordinary irony that both Labor and Coalition politicians talk of refugees having committed crimes,” Riemer continued. “The damage to property on Wednesday night is nothing compared to the brutalisation of innocent lives caused by mandatory detention itself.”
“As one of the banners of the rooftop protesters emphasises, they are human and deserve to be treated that way. If we’re talking about crimes being committed, it’s the government who are the wrongdoers by sticking to their failed and discredited policy of mandatory detention.”
“All asylum seekers want is to escape the war and persecution that have driven them from their home countries”, said Mark Goudkamp, also from RAC. “But instead of treating them with decency, and allowing them to contribute to Australian society, the government locks them up. Australia is the only Western country that does this.”
“Mandatory detention is deadly,” continued Goudkamp. “There have been five suicides of detainees since September, three at Villawood. Monday’s rally will be addressed by, among others, Dr Michael Dudley, chairperson of Suicide Prevention Australia, who will be telling us just how serious an abuse detention is. Anyone who wants to stop unnecessary human suffering should be in favour of Monday’s rally.”
“Last year’s election effectively saw both major parties declare a war against boat arrivals," Goudkamp concluded. “Given many of those now locked up fled war zones themselves, it is entirely appropriate that a strong show of support take place for them on Anzac day.”
http://converge2011.net/media-release-villawood-protest-anzac-day-%E2%80...
Comments
All these rioters need to realise we are a Huamnity country
I am all for Legitimate Refugees and I mean Legitmate like Families not Single Men also if you come to a country Illegaly of course your going to get detaineed and Protesting on ANZAC Day is wrong This the Anzacs day there one day for this country to thank them for fighting for our freedom and the freedom of people from other countries and laid down there lives to do so not People coming to this country who get detained because they here Illegaly and then riot and destroy stuff etc.
If they do that what are they going to do out here? We need to make sure we bring in the right people and not people who are gonna do the wrong thing and not contribute to Australian Society. All these rioters need to realise we are a Huamnity country if we werent we would of not given aid let people etc.
What if we let in a Rapists or Criminals etc we need fairness for every one and we need to think about the big picture and not go to protests. I hope the protesters try and push the Goverment to let the Families in and Legitimate people and not get caught in the whole protetest for every one to be let out we need to know who we are bringing in etc
Glad the government screens anyone coming to this country
Asylum seekers that are escaping war zones are incrediably brave people. They have had to escape from conditions that would appall those from western society. In general, the places they seek refuge from are exceptionally poor and degrading. While this statement is a generalisation, I believe that it reflects the attitude and reasoning behind the average asylum seeker.
However, this is not the case for all those that seek entry into this country under that particular means. Some are of a criminal background or have ulterior motives. Australia has rather stringent laws regarding immigration and the naturalisation of potential citizens. This, believe it or not, is to allow the potential citizen a screening process that negates any doubt upon that persons behalf.
The same goes for asylum seekers. With a requirement being background (criminal and character) as well as medical check, it may be a period of time before that person can be processed. Because often these people come from legitimately terrible and war torn places, these checks are exceptionally difficult and costly to organise, not to mention time consuming. So in order to facilitate these checks and provide a duty of care to these asylum seekers, they must be housed somewhere...
I can tell you for a fact that the facilities that these people are kept in are not in any way below a standard. In fact, our troops serving in some of the countries that these people seek asylum from are undergoing far worse conditions for at times, longer than some asylum seekers are housed for. Famalies and children under a certain age are also taken into consideration, being housed in hotels and other accommodation all I might add, at the tax payers expense.
So instead of carrying on and protesting on ANZAC day of all days, why not move your protest to a place from where these asylum seekers come from. Try Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, any of these places and attempt to 'demonstrate' with protest. try to change the Governmnt of origin. You will not have a few boy in blue politely ask you to settle down or at worst, lock you up for a few hours. You may in fact ( and i bet on it) have some real bullets come ripping into your protest.
I for one am glad the government screens anyone coming to this country. It is pure naieviety to assume everyone coming here under the banner of asylum seeker is perfectly legitimate. It has already been proven otherwise. And as far as the conditions there, what more can be done in the interim? Invest millions of dollars to have asylum seekers chaperoned around until their personal circumstance is sorted out? Allow unknown quantities of people run of the mill? Who knows what solution is proposed, but leave it until after ANZAC day.
They should be gratefull for what is provided to them
These people know exactly what they are in for when they get here before they leave their homeland and cross many borders without declaring their refugee status of which they are supposed to do according to the refugee treaty at the first border they cross. Why is this ? Then when they destroy their identification papers, Why is this ? making it extremely hard to verify who they are creating delays in their application they act in an entirely inappropriate manner by destroying property to the tune of millions of dollars,Why is this ?.They should be gratefull for what is provided to them at taxpayers expense,accommodation,meals,medical,weekly allowance to spend at the shop,but it appears it is not good enough for them.Why is this ?.
Also instead of protesting on ANZAC day why dont these refugee activists go and pay respect to the people who made the ultimate sacrifice to make this country what it is today,Why is this ?.
How many of these people who have been given visas are still welfare recipients years on from getting their visas?, it is the vast majority of them,i have seen the figures,Why is this?.
Far too many why is this ? WAKE UP AUSTRALIA BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE..
Happy that Anzac Day will lose them even more support
Im happy its going to be on anzac day they are going to lose even more suport. If people had any sympathy for them before they have lost it now.This a day for reflection not attention seeking
Naive to allow anyone in who arrives through the back door
I agree with those who comment that it is naive that we should allow anyone into the community who has chosen to arrive with no documentation and through the back door. I work with refugees from Burma who have waited in refugee camps for over 10 years before being granted entry to Australia. They have chosen a legitimate route and are thankful to be in a peaceful community. They commonly believe that those following the correct channels for entry are being disadvantaged by those who feel that they can demand entry because they have the financial means to get here by boat. Not only does this slow down the process for legitimate refugees, it also creates a feeling of distrust in the Australian community - distrust of all refugees.
I believe that if there is evidence that these people have caused millios of dollars of damage to the facilities provided for refugees, they should not be granted any status in Australia whatsoever.
Ha, the comments above are nothing but laughable
Ha, the comments above are nothing but laughable. The moral panic about refugees continues, some people seem to never learn!
All asylum-seekers have every right to be here. If we have any shred of dignity left in our beings, we will stand up and say so, without reservation!
I really wonder, is there no limit to cruelty in this country? All the talk about the need to be "tough"... But in this social climate, it takes a lot more toughness to be caring than to go along with the current fashion of cruelty.
What better day to show love and compassion than ANZAC day, which is supposedly all about "mateship". Or do you only consider white, wealthy people your "friends"?
Re: Ha, the comments above are nothing but laughable
You say..."the comments above are nothing but laughable." and then apart from make one incorrect point give us a bunch of sanctimonious BS and then finally the inevitable feeble racist slur (with "rich" thrown in mindlessly to make it, what you said "laughable"). But insults aside let me reply to to your contribution.
"All asylum-seekers have every right to be here."...There are many here, like the ones on the roof, than have had their claims rejected, that as such have no right to be here. Any asylum seeker who is lying about his situation also has no right to be here and given a) that if you are a genuine refugee there can be no reason to destroy the documents they apparently all had to have to fly to Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia and b) how the vast majority have destroyed their documents (which again is another reason they are in so long), I would suggest that most who have arrived by boat have no right to be here at all! It is just one great big scam. Just look at the photo of the so-called "children" who jumped the fence the other week. Two 20 plus adults, who for sure didn't have documents, posing as 17 year olds and the other, who did look he was around 17, saying he was 14. This asylum seeker and what Wall Street did are the two biggest global cons of this century.
"it takes a lot more toughness to be caring" What BS it takes no toughness at all to just let people do what they like. To just give them visas and citizenship willy nilly simply because they have the means to buy and air ticket and then pay a people smuggler to jump a que full of people who are more desitute so can't do the same and then just demand special treatment over and above the $100,000 plus we already spend on each of them). Take for example that they can be a convicted criminal of a nine month sentence (have to something fairly serious for that) and that doesn't even disqualify them. No we have a great big sign saying "Criminals welcome!" but with the small print "But not if you've killed someone!".
Get off your moral high horse for a second and justify to me, who sponsors two Muslim World Vision children, why we will spend close to $2 billion on these boat arrivals in 2010/11, when the same amount of money enriching lawyers etc could sponsor 5.5 million World Vision children for a year instead. From what I know these are children in families that could no more raise the money for an air-ticket out of there country, let alone pay a people smuggler $15,000. The same goes for destitute people in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Nauru etc. A desperate single mother or child there can't jump on a boat and come to Australia to improve their dire situation.
Lastly the International Refugee Convention is an outdated document because modern global communications enable people to know it's loopholes and abuse and exploit them to the max. It should be rewritten or we should take our signature off it. I am all for more genuine refugees coming here, but I want to prioritize a) the more desperate and needy, b) those in our neighbourhood and c) those from countries whose people have a high incidence of religious intolerance or fanaticism (persecution of Christian and other religions, female maltreatment and mutilation, bombs, burkas etc)
On the last point I simply don't want to play Russian Roulette with regard immigration as I don't think my government has the right to risk my children and grandchildren getting blown in to little pieces while joining with other families to sing hymns at some future Xmas pageant (as planned just last year by a 19 year old US asylum seeker who arrived as a child from one such hot spot Somalia, who made the call that he believed would detonate a bomb to kill hundreds). http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20023957-504083.html
From The Sunday Times (UK)
July 15, 2007
Asylum seekers form quarter of terror suspects
"A Home Office analysis of those arrested under antiterrorism laws from 2001 to 2005 found that almost a quarter – 24%, or 232 out of 963 – had previously applied for asylum. This figure includes failed asylum seekers who should have been removed from the country."
So no, I don't find people having fears about poor or soft immigration policy laughable at all!
So why do people choose to travel here under refugee status?
How is it compassionate to allow anyone the right to enter this country under any means they desire under any status? The word stupid comes to mind....
If the 'cruelty' that apparently wafts through our society is so evident, why do people choose to travel here under refugee status? I guarantee it is a little less 'cruel' being in a processing centre than in some of the particular situations that these asylum seekers have had in the country of origin.
But anyway, what are the proposed solutions? Hardly solutions, just complaining about fantasised human rights violations, as the milk fed leftist is prone to do.
Anzac Day celebrating the fight for freedom...
Anzac Day celebrates the fight for freedom - it seems that while we celebrate our freedom as Australian citizens many Australians want to deny others these same freedoms - people have a legal right to seek asylum in Australia - they are fleeing situations where their lives are at risk - demonising these people - and those who support them - is not in the spirt of the Anzacs.
We get angry when we are being conned
" people have a legal right to seek asylum in Australia - they are fleeing situations where their lives are at risk" By your criteria that would mean that if the whole population of any number of countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Libya, Colombia, Mexico etc) can buy an air ticket, destroy their documents and then pay a people smuggler we have a legal right to take them. Tell me if 60 million people from all these countries got on boats over the next 10 years that would be fine by you, yes?
For what it is worth I don't blame the people from doing what they are doing, but I do the people who "support them". We get get angry when we are being conned and told BS and the truth of what assylum seekers are doing is being misrepresented. And we are angry at this stupid, stupid up-itself government for making such a unbelievably costly inhumane mess that includes loss of lives when the problem had been solved and even worse knowing that it stuffed it up it doesn't go back to what worked, which would be so damn simple!
we shouldnt be wasting any resources on them
They should not be here in the first place and we shouldnt be wasting any resources on them, if the Government was switched on our borders would be safe and we would be sending these illegals back to their own country where they belong.