MEDIA RELEASE
Community re-groups under the banner of refugee rights
Wednesday, 2 December 2009

Local community groups, The Greens, the Australian Tamil Congress, the Victorian Trades Hall Council, the Islamic Council of Victoria, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and the Maritime Union of Australia are among many who have endorsed a Refugee Rights demonstration planned for 5 December 2009.

More than 30 community groups and organisations have joined a growing list of endorsements for Saturdays rally, a spokes man for the Victorian branch of the Refugee Action Collective Liam Ward said today.

Speakers from the Greens, the MUA, as well as Tamil and Afghan refugees will address an expected crowed of up to 1000 people this Saturday at the State Library of Victoria.

“With an election next year, we want Kevin Rudd to be on notice. The refugee issue has not gone away and the public will make sure that the cruel policies handed down from the Howard government and effectively continued on by the Rudd government, will be challenged every step of the way”.

“The issue of refugee rights is back in the public sphere and there is a groundswell of support growing again in the community.”

“There are more than 1,200 men, women and children currently locked up in a maximum security detention centre on Christmas Island. The centre is packed to capacity and is far from being a solution”.

“The community is steadily regrouping around this issue, and we say- fair shake of the sauce bottle Mr Rudd, it’s time to once and for all acknowledge that the notion of an orderly queue is a fallacy and it is well and truly time to start processing asylum seekers in Australia in a humane and dignified way.”

“Mandatory detention, together with the interception and processing of asylum seekers offshore is a legacy of the Howard era. Rudd has misread the Australian public if he thinks that we are foolish enough to believe that his policies are any different from Howard’s- the days of kids in detention and refugees taking desperate measures to reach Australia are still with us and we will stand up, once again for basic human rights” Mr Ward said.

Media contact :   Liam Ward    0407 474 313