As parliament meets to debate offshore processing
Rally to welcome refugees
Tell Gillard and Abbot:
Full inquiry into boat sinkings
End mandatory detention & free the refugees
Following the latest asylum seeker boat tragedies, there is a clamour for a solution to deaths at sea. But both political parties insist on proposing offshore processing to “stop the boats”. Labor simply prefers its Malaysia Agreement while the Coalition prefers re-opening Nauru.
Gillard has so far failed to get Tony Abbott to agree to vote for new legislation to revive offshore processing. But she wants to try again when parliament resumes on August 14, and has set up an "expert committee" to propose a "solution".
This rally will be held just before parliament resumes. We need to raise our voices to say that any form of offshore processing is no solution, and that violating asylum seekers' rights is not the way forward.