A lot of angry voters want action not pretence

25 July 2004

Public meetings in the marginal electorates of Richmond and Page this weekend show that the mistreatment of refugees is a live issue for the Federal election in key parts of the country, Mr Howard Glenn, National Director of A Just Australia, said today.

Patron of A Just Australia, Ian Chappell, and Howard Glenn addressed meetings in Byron Bay, Tweed Heads and Lismore this weekend, at the start of A Just Australia's national election campaign.

"People at the meetings have acknowledged we've come a long way since the last Federal Election, with the Government now pretending that there is no longer a problem, rather than boasting about how tough they were on asylum seekers.

"But there is real anger when we explain that there are still at least 80 children in detention, a couple of hundred people detained since at least 2001, that thousands of refugees still have no permanent security, and that over 120 people remain on Nauru.

"Larry Anthony, Member for Richmond, was dubbed Minister for Children in Detention - unlike some of his National Party colleagues, he has not gone on the record to get kids out of detention. Richmond voters have formed into groups to campaign on this issue directly", Mr Glenn said.

Commenting on the start of the campaign, Greg Barns, spokesperson for A Just Australia said that candidates in many parts of the country will need to have a good answer to the question - 'what did YOU do to get the kids out of detention?'

"There's plenty of room to move for the Government yet:
· 80 children and their families to be removed from detention,
· get the last 120 off Nauru,
· find some alternative solutions for the hundreds of long term detainees, and
· remove the threat of removal from proven refugees.

"Pretending that there's no problem is not enough though - the message from these meetings is 'Make it so, Minister Vanstone!', Mr Barns said.