Same-sex marriage and refugee activists were the main groups protesting outside the Park Hyatt hotel in Melbourne when Prime Minister Julia Gillard was delivering a speech to a lunch of the AsiaLink and Asia Society (http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/speech-asialink-and-asia-society-lunch...).
Student activists at the University of Melbourne will stage a rooftop protest on Tuesday September 13 to voice their opposition to offshore processing and mandatory detention. The protest, organised by the Melbourne University Refugee Action Collective (MURAC), comes as bipartisan support for offshore processing faces a crisis of legitimacy following the High Court ruling against the Malaysia Solution.
The Refugee Survivors and Ex-Detainees organisation R.I.S.E. has issued the following call for action to take action against the Malaysian Solution. They offer a number of seteps you take to register your dissent against this barbaric, racist policy which traumatises the most vunerable people even further and makes a mockery of Australia's international legal obligations.
R.I.S.E. Suggested actions against the Malaysian Deal
A group of refugee protesters shut down the Melbourne immigration office today, in protest against deporting asylum seekers to Malaysia. The 40 refugee supporters loudly chanted “Refugees are welcome here” and “Not Malaysia, Not Nauru, Gillard we’re talking to you”. Four demonstrators staged a protest inside the immigration department where they gave speeches for 20 minutes before being escorted out of the building.
Refugee Action Collective Media Release 20th August Since the public outcry over the cruelty of the live animal export trade, many Australians have expressed dismay that the Australian government is prepared to act swiftly to stop cruelty to animals but is preparing to carry out what amounts to the live trade of human beings with its Malaysia refugee swap deal.
People who are concerned about the human rights of refugees will bring two cows to a protest outside the Immigration office on August 22 to highlight the double standards of the government.
Refugee Action Coalition Statement 5th August Refugee advocates tonight received a distressed call for help from one of the asylum seekers being held pending removal to Malaysia. The short call said only, “We are in a bad way, we need help. We are starting a hunger strike.”
HRA Press Release 31/7/2011The first boat load of lawful Asylum Seekers will be victimised by the Australian Government under its illegal Malaysian Deal policy. The boat load of lawful Asylum Seekers has presented themselves to the Australian Navy's HMAS Ararat in Australian waters north-west of Western Australia, near Scott Reef. There is irony in the name of the Australian Navy vessel - 'Ararat'.
The 'Pacific Solution' didn't work, and now Australia is trying the 'Malaysian Solution'. Under the Malaysian Solution, signed on 25th July 2011, Australia is once again out-sourcing its obligation to aid and help people seeking asylum. The agreementmeans that the next 800 asylum-seekers arriving in Australia by boat will, within 72 hours of their arrival, have their bio-metric data recorded and be flown to Malaysia. In return, Australia will allow 4000 people, who have already had their application for refugee status approved by the UNHCR, to move to Australia over the next four years.
HRA MEDIA RELEASE:
EMAIL STATEMENT FROM ASYLUM SEEKERS INSIDE SCHERGER WHO ARE HUNGER STRIKING - 6TH DAY
NUMEROUS PHONE CALLS.
11:30AM EST AUSTRALIA
On June 17th, refugee and asylum seeker advocates stormed a speech by Federal ALP Minister for Immigration Chris Bowen at the University of NSW. About 30 protestors forced their way past security and were able to heckle and interupt Chris Bowen's speech for over 10 minutes before police back up came to eject them. The protestors labelled PM Gillard and the Malaysian solution as racist. My favourite was the protestor dressed as a cow carrying the placard "End human live exports to Malaysia!!
