Refugee supporters will stop traffic outside Flinders Street Station this afternoon and blow whistles for four minutes to remind Australia it has been four years since we began imprisoning refugees on Nauru and that the violence of our refugee policies remain unchanged.

The Tampa Anniversary Rally commences at 5pm at the State Library today and is part of a weekend of action around Australia to commemorate the rescue by the MV Tampa, a Norwegian freighter, of 438 asylum seekers off the coast of Australia in 2001.

The Tampa's traumatised human cargo — mostly Afghans fleeing the Taliban — were vilified and treated as criminals by the Australian government for exercising their right under international law to claim asylum in Australia.

In an act of piracy, the Australian Navy was ordered by the federal government to commandeer the Tampa and force its passengers to be taken to detention camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

Four years on, many asylum seekers still languish in Australia's notorious detention centres, including 32 on Nauru. The government still demonises and persecutes refugees and is spending hundreds of millions on new detention centres. Yet more and more ordinary Australians are opposed to their cruel and inflexible policies.

The nationwide rallies will celebrate the release of many long-term detainees but will also focus on the huge battle that lies ahead to bring true justice and freedom for all refugees.

“Continuous public pressure, media exposure, and the tragic Cornelia Rau and Vivian Solon scandals have forced the Government to release some detainees. Yet the brutal core of the mandatory detention regime remains intact,” said Lauren Ireland of Victoria's Refugee Action Collective (RAC).

“With people still in detention, many refugees living in limbo on temporary visas, and new detention centres being built, the fight to end the Tampa era remains as urgent as ever,” she said.

“RAC-Vic joins thousands across Australia in saying: end this dark chapter in history — dump mandatory detention, close the camps — here and off-shore — and grant full rights and permanent protection for all refugees,” she concluded.

SPEAKERS WILL INCLUDE : Mustafa Najib (Tampa survivor and TPV holder), Senator Lyn Allison (leader, Australian Democrats), Robin Rothfield (Labor For Refugees), Kon Karapanagiotidis (Asylum Seekers Resource Centre), Jerome Small (Refugee Action Collective) and a representative from the Stop the War Coalition.

THE RALLY HAS BEEN ENDORSED BY: Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Australian Democrats (Vic), Australians Against Racism, Australian Education Union (Vic branch), the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project, The Greens (Vic), Labor For Refugees, Maritime Union of Australia (Vic branch), PEN International (Melbourne), Researchers for Asylum Seekers, University of Melbourne, Socialist Alliance, Socialist Alternative.

For more information or interviews, contact:
Lauren Ireland 0401 635 072
or Tim Petterson 0438 399 973