refugees

Canberra refugee protest outside parliament

Refugee advocates protested today on the lawns outside Parliament House, Canberra, to call on the new federal parliament to introduce humane refugee policies and stop using refugees as political footballs.

About 150 people from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, carrying endorsements from over 48 groups across Australia, gathered at the opening of Parliament on Tuesday 28 September.

BD News: Update on Julia Gillard's proposal for asylum-seeker pocessing in Timor-Leste

BACK DOOR Newsletter on Timor-Leste:
http://members.pcug.org.au/~wildwood/Index.htm

Australian PM's proposal for Asylum-seeker Processing in Timor-Leste:
http://members.pcug.org.au/~wildwood/asylum.html

21 September 2010

A collection of articles and news items about Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's proposal to establish a processing centre in East Timor for people seeking asylum in Australia.

Please find below the latest twelve articles from the website.
To read the full article click on the relevant link.
Articles are in reverse chronological order.

We support the Darwin breakout!

Yesterday people gathered at Central Station Tunnel to show solidarity with the courageous protest of 92 detainees who broke out of Darwin Detention Centre on Wednesday. The snap-action response in Sydney, called by the Anti-Deportation Alliance (ADA) focused on encouraging people to take actions to force the Federal Government to close the detention centres, and inviting people to join the Refugee Action Coalition protest today, Friday 3rd of September.

Geography: 

Stand Up For Refugees - rally 13 August 2010

NZ Green Party MP Keith Locke was one of those who addressed a 500-600 strong gathering outside the Melbourne Town Hall last night at the end of a rally called by the Refugee Action Collective under the banner "Stand Up For Refugees".

Geography: 
Promotion: 

Refugees – ‘What would you do in their shoes?’ – 9 August 2010

That was the question put by students from Kilbreda College, Mentone, today in an action organised by the Refugee Action Network on the steps of the old GPO in Bourke Street. They mimed the arrival of a boatload of asylum seekers, followed by their reception, processing and eventual fate. At the same time, volunteers from the ASRC and others handed out fact sheets to passers-by, and Pamela Curr went on to recount some recent case histories and set out some facts to counter the current widespread misinformation in the community.

Geography: 

Awful days ahead for refugees

Over the next few weeks hundreds of Afghan Hazaras in Darwin, Christmas Island and Villawood detention centres, are going to be refused visas on the grounds that Afghanistan is "evolving" and that it is safe to return. The evidence of persecution and the stories of fear of return have not changed in the past month.
The Hazaras were being granted refugee visas at the rate of 100% until now. What has changed are politics in Australia and the looming election.

Geography: 

Federal ALP wants to jail people who help asylum seekers

The Federal ALP is planning to bring in laws that would declare anyone who assists asylum seekers in coming to Australia even if they receive no financial gain a "people smuggler" and they face jail time. The Melbourne Age states a "modern day Oskar Schindler" would face 10 years jail. The captain of the Tampa could have been jailed under these laws. The new law also gives ASIO the power to tap phones in Australia to tackle the "problem" of people smuggling.

Geography: 
Promotion: 

Rudd government to reopen 'human rights hellhole'

Refugee and Human Rights advocates are in shock at the Rudd Government announcement that Curtin, the Howard era hellhole is to be reopened. Curtin Detention Centre was the worst of Australia's hellholes. It was the most secret, most isolsted and the most brutal. Curtin is 28 hours by road from Perth. It is 1/2 hour by road from Derby and 6 hours from Port Hedland. The Rudd government may think that they can detain and hide people in an isolated hellhole but they underestimate the decency and determination of the human rights community in Australia.

Geography: 
Promotion: 

Asylum seekers protest long processing delays on Christmas Island

"The mass protest of 350 Sri Lankan asylum seekers that has continued overnight in the Christmas Island detention centre can be directly traced back to the lowest political behaviour of all time by Prime Minister Kevin last year when he started a nasty period of political posturing, and when he started playing "refugee football" with the asylum seekers on the Oceanic Viking," WA human rights group Project SafeCom said.

Promotion: 

Saying No to the "Indonesian Solution" - Rally at State Library 18 January 2010

Melbourne's Tamil community and supporters joined others around Australia and the world in a day of action on 18 January to highlight the plight of 254 Tamil asylum seekers who have now spent 100 days on a boat in Merak, Indonesia, following the Australian Prime Minister's request to the Indonesian President to have the vessel intercepted in Indonesian waters to prevent it from reaching Australia.

Geography: