The A Just Australia campaign is managed by the Refugee Council of Australia. The core mission of the campaign is to campaign for positive changes to government policy on refugee and asylum seekers. By working together with prominent Australians and community groups and thousands of concerned individuals, A Just Australia aims to achieve just and compassionate treatment of refugees, consistent with the human rights standards which Australia has developed and endorsed.
3 May 2013
No decency in detaining innocent children
In July 2010, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Australia’s basic decency did not accept the idea of punishing women and children asylum seekers by locking them up.
Latest figures show there are 1062 children in closed detention facilities.
Now, the Australian Government is sending children to immigration detention facilities in Wickham Point near Darwin. There are also plans to send more to the remote Curtin facility in Western Australia.
In 2008, the Government declared that detention should be used only as a last resort and for the shortest practicable time.
Two years later, the Federal Government said it would remove most children out of immigration detention facilities and into the community.
The number of children in detention is at an all-time high.
A detention facility is no place for a child, let alone a vulnerable child whose life experiences have been shaped by conflict, war or persecution.
The Australian Medical Association has described the detention of children as a form of child abuse.
Living in an environment where adults are involved in self-harm damages a child’s mental health and sense of well-being.
As Australians, we are better than this.
Increasing the capacity of detention facilities to accommodate more children is unacceptable.
Moving more children into community care and support is the answer.
How you can help
- Outline your concerns to your local MP and call for the Government to release children into community care.
- Write letters to the editor making it clear that no child should grow up behind bars when there are successful community models available.
How to contact your local MP
http://aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Guidelines_for_Contacting_Senators_and_Members
Essential reading
Latest immigration detention statistics
For research and experiences of children in detention in Australia
http://www.chilout.org/
Out of Sight Out of Minds campaign
http://www.outofsight.org.au/
For international research about alternatives to detention
http://idcoalition.org/children/
Media statement by the Prime Minister and Minister for Immigration, announcing the removal of most children out of immigration detention facilities
http://bit.ly/w3yxeR
Speech by Prime Minister opposing the detention of women and children
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/julia-gillards-speech-to-the-lowy-institute-on-labors-new-asylum-seeker-policy-for-australia/story-e6frgczf-1225888445622
Article 37(b) of the convention on the Rights of the Child states that: “No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1991/4.html
Evidence given by Dr Peter Morris from the Northern Territory AMA to the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Immigration Detention Network
http://bit.ly/wr5lHV
Refugee Council of Australia media release on Government plans to send children to Wickham Point and Curtin
http://refugeecouncil.org.au/n/mr/130501_ChildrenDetention.pdf
Refugee Council of Australia Policy Brief
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/r/pb/PB1303-Children.pdf
Feedback is encouraged
Please share any responses you receive through your advocacy work. Send any feedback to media@refugeecouncil.org.au
11 March 2013
Right to work a fundamental human right
No-one can question the determination of asylum seekers. Having fled persecution and terror, they are highly-motivated to rebuild their lives.
Asylum seekers want to work – it builds self-esteem, resilience and provides vital connections in the community.
But not all asylum seekers in the community have the right to work.
For asylum seekers on bridging visas who arrive by boat after 13 August, there is no right to work.
Under the “no advantage” test, the denial of this right to work is another punishment based on their mode of arrival.
Australians are rightly critical of non-Refugee Convention countries in the Asia-Pacific region that deny asylum seekers and refugees the right to work.
But Australia is a signatory to the Refugee Convention. All asylum seekers should enjoy the right to work as a fundamental human right.
It’s in no-one’s interests to force asylum seekers onto welfare without any training or skill development for years.
Some 90.8 per cent of asylum seekers who arrive by boat become permanent residents – so why are we denying thousands of productive people the right to work?
How you can help
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre has brought together more than 50 agencies and 1200 individuals to support a campaign to:
- Extend the right to work to all asylum seekers released into the community on bridging visas, regardless of mode or date of arrival or stage in the refugee determination process.
- Ensure the right to work is accompanied by the provision of basic employment support services to increase the asylum seekers chance of employment.
Sign on to the Right to Work campaign at http://righttowork.com.au/
Essential reading
Right to Work campaign background
http://righttowork.com.au/resources/
Refugee Council of Australia media release on the Government’s “no advantage” test
http://refugeecouncil.org.au/n/mr/121121_Noadvantage.pdf
Feedback is encouraged
Please share any responses you receive through your advocacy work. Send any feedback to media@refugeecouncil.org.au
If you no longer wish to receive this bulletin, please email unsubscribe@refugeecouncil.org.au
23 November 2012
Dear Coalition MP – it’s time to talk
The Federal Opposition today vowed to inflict more punishment on asylum seekers who arrive by boat to ask Australia for refugee protection.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison have confirmed:
- 6250 places would be cut from Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program (from 20,000 to 13,750)
- Temporary Protection Visas would be used for asylum seekers who arrive by boat, denying them any access to a permanent protection visa
- Asylum seekers who arrive by boat will be conscripted into the Opposition’s work-for-the-dole scheme
For more information about these policies please read our media releases
http://refugeecouncil.org.au/n/mr/121123_ResettlementOppn.pdf
http://refugeecouncil.org.au/n/mr/121123_Publicdebate.pdf
How you can help
Ring your local Coalition MP (or State Senator) to protest this cruel denial of compassion for some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
Write them a letter or email, outlining your concerns and appeal to them to restore decency and fairness to people who have asked Australia for refugee protection.
How to contact your local MP
http://aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Guidelines_for_Contacting_Senators_and_Members
Essential reading
ABC News coverage
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-23/abbott-plans-to-reduce-refugee-intake/4387948
Feedback is encouraged
Please share any responses you receive through your advocacy work. Send any feedback to media@refugeecouncil.org.au
If you no longer wish to receive this bulletin, please email unsubscribe@refugeecouncil.org.au
22 November 2012Australia 2012: Punishing asylum seekers who ask for protection
On 22 January 19 4, Australia became one of the first signatories to a landmark agreement to protect the world’s asylum seekers and refugees.
Under the Refugee Convention, refugees deserve as a minimum the same standards of treatment enjoyed by other foreign nationals in a given country and, in many cases, the same treatment as nationals.
On 21 November 2012, Australia introduced a new level of unfairness in the way Australia treats asylum seekers who arrive by boat.
Under its “no advantage” test, asylum seekers who arrive by boat after 13 August, and all future arrivals, will wait years before being granted a protection visa – even after they have been found to be a refugee.
The arrangements for people on Bridging Visas under this “No advantage” test will be little different to the Howard Government’s Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) arrangements and will deliver extreme disadvantage, leaving asylum seekers, already deeply traumatised by their refugee journey, with:
- No work rights
- The lowest level of financial support available
- No access to family reunion
- The threat of being sent to Nauru or Manus Island at any time
- A possible wait of about five years before they are granted a protection visa
It is not illegal to seek asylum by boat, yet the Australian Government is punishing asylum seekers for their mode of arrival.
Is this the way we treat vulnerable asylum seekers who ask Australia for protection?
How you can help
Please contact your local MP and let them know your concerns. You could tell them:
- Withholding a protection visa to a recognised refugee for years under “no advantage” is a cruel and humiliating punishment of innocent, vulnerable people
- Denying boat arrivals access to family reunion will cause more grief and actually encourage whole families to travel by boat
- Denying recognised refugees work rights and providing the lowest social security support available is a very poor introduction to a new life in Australia and will undermine their capacity to contribute to Australian society
- If the Government’s motivation is to save lives at sea, the answer is in encouraging safer pathways to protection, not by deterring desperate people who have few options but to seek asylum in Australia by boat
- The answer lies in building stronger refugee protections in countries throughout Asia, as the Expert Panel has recommended
How to contact your local MP
http://aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Guidelines_for_Contacting_Senators_and_Members
Essential reading
Refugee Council of Australia media release on “no advantage”
http://refugeecouncil.org.au/n/mr/121121_Noadvantage.pdf
Minister for Immigration media release on “no advantage”
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/cb/2012/cb191883.htm
Refugee Council of Australia analysis of the Expert Panel report
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/r/rpt/2012-Expert-Panel.pdf
The Refugee Convention
http://unhcr.org.au/unhcr/images/1951%20Convention%20Q%20%20A.pdf
Feedback is encouraged
Please share any responses you receive through your advocacy work. Send any feedback to media@refugeecouncil.org.au
If you no longer wish to receive this bulletin, please email unsubscribe@refugeecouncil.org.au
20 July 2012
No more quick fixes – regional refugee protection is game breaker
The Government and the Opposition remain deadlocked on asylum seeker policy and an Expert Panel has been formed to find a new way forward.
Both sides of politics are sticking to policies we know will not work and will undermine the human rights of desperate asylum seekers needing protection.
We need your help to convince MPs about how to provide safer pathways for refugees to discourage them from making dangerous journeys by boat.
Asylum seekers are arriving in Australia by boat to seek basic levels of protection they can not find in countries in South East Asia. Improving refugee protection in nations like Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh will take away the need for these dangerous journeys by sea.
It is in Australia’s national interest to help create a more effective regional response to those people who need protection from persecution.
Australia can support our neighbours to ensure the basic needs of refugees and asylum seekers are met, through education and basic access to health services.
This could lead to lasting reforms such as developing domestic asylum laws and procedures for refugee status determination.
It’s not the quick fix that politicians want but it’s the best policy we have to improve human rights for refugees in our region.
A regional protection framework is the game breaker that can lead to a long-term solution for asylum seekers and refugees in our region.
How you can help
Write to MPs and Senators, particularly Expert Panel Reference Group members Wayne Swan, Chris Bowen, Stephen Jones, Tony Windsor and John Madigan and tell them:
- The Pacific Solution, TPVs and towing back boats are old policies that punish innocent people – they have been tried and they failed
- The Malaysia refugee swap deal is bad policy that undermines the human rights of asylum seekers and refugees
- A new approach is needed to tackle the issue at its source – if refugees feel safe and protected in South East Asia, they don’t need to search further afield to Australia for protection
How can the Australian Government do this?
- More emphasis on the Bali Process to build regional refugee protections in South East Asian countries
- Breaking the link between the onshore and offshore resettlement program and increasing Australia’s humanitarian intake from 13,750 to at least 20,000 places
- Increase funding for UNHCR to bolster Refugee Status Determination assessments in Malaysia and Indonesia
- Urgent cooperation between Australia and Indonesia on intelligence sharing and maritime resources to save lives at sea
How to contact MPs and Senators
Critical MPs to target include:
Treasurer Wayne Swan at wayne.swan.MP@aph.gov.au
Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Bowen at chris.bowen.MP@aph.gov.au
Independent Member for New England Tony Windsor at tony.windsor.MP@aph.gov.au
Labor Member for Throsby Stephen Jones at Stephen.jones.MP@aph.gov.au
Democratic Labor Party Senator John Madigan at senator.madigan@aph.gov.au
Independent MP for Lyne Rob Oakeshott at robert.oakeshott.MP@aph.gov.au
Liberal Member for Pearce Judi Moylan at J.Moylan.MP@aph.gov.au
Nationals WA Member for Kalgoorlie Tony Crook at tony.crook.MP@aph.gov.au
Liberal Member for Moore Mal Washer at mal.washer.MP@aph.gov.au
Labor Member for Hindmarsh Steve Georganas at steve.georganas.MP@aph.gov.au
http://aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Guidelines_for_Contacting_Senators_and_Members
Essential reading
RCOA submission to the Expert Panel http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/r/sub/120720_RCOA.pdf
Other submissions to the Expert Panel http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/r/sub.php
Opinion by RCOA CEO Paul Power following the tragedy off the coast of Christmas Island
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-makes-people-get-on-a-leaky-boat-from-Indonesia/
Why the Pacific solution will not work
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3886792.html
Statistics from the UNHCR explain how poorer countries shoulder the most responsibility for welcoming asylum seekers
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/n/media/120618-Global-Trends.pdf