Category Statement

7 September 2024

In July last year, when the final refugees were removed from Nauru, there was some hope that it would signal the beginning of an end to the abhorrent practice of offshore detention.

A few months later, the Labor government started secretively transporting and locking people up again on Nauru.

It is now 12 months since the first new groups of asylum-seekers were sent to immigration detention on Nauru by Australia and we know as little about their health and welfare as the government cares about the lives of any refugees.

Refugee Action Collective condemns the Australian government for keeping offshore processing in place when it has had such a disastrous history of causing the worst forms of harm and cruelty.

There’s no resettlement plan, no legal transparency about the processing of the claims. It’s just an expensive political exercise in flexing muscles for its own sake.

People escape war and persecution so they can live free and in safety. It doesn’t matter if they arrive by air or sea, their treatment should not be discriminatory, secretive or fundamentally unjust.

RAC calls for the asylum-seekers on Nauru and in Papua New Guinea to be brought here and offered protection.

We also call for the government to abolish offshore detention and mandatory detention.

The Refugee Action Collective (Vic) stands in solidarity with the refugees who have been protesting for permanent visas around the clock in Oakleigh and now the Docklands for almost three weeks.

Many of them have spent up to 12 years in limbo, on six-month visas and facing the potential threat of deportation. They are experiencing intense mental anguish thanks to Australia’s cruel border protection policy.

We admire their courage and determination. We have visited the protests many times and will continue to do so.

However, we were alarmed and saddened to hear that the refugees were harassed by three racists on the night of Friday 2 August while they were marching on Harbour Esplanade.

One former refugee suffered a dislocated shoulder in the scuffle and needed hospital treatment.

The racists shouted hurtful insults about visas. Such slurs ultimately come from successive governments that have demonised asylum-seekers who arrived by boat as “illegals”, “queue jumpers” and as some kind of undefined threat to the community.

The three men carried out the harassment but they were fuelled by the kind of arguments voiced by Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton, Clare O’Neil and now Tony Burke.

We urge all refugee supporters to visit the ongoing protest outside the Department of Home Affairs at 808 Bourke Street, Docklands. You are welcome at any time, day or night.

The protesters tell us they don’t need blankets or other supplies – what they value most is solidarity.

Our strength of numbers and our unity is the best response to the racists, whether they are random passers-by or ministers in suits.

4 August 2024

Open letter to Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong from Refugee Action Collective – Vic

Re: Urgent call to continue funding United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)

Dear Minister Penny Wong,

The recent decision to suspend aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is wrong and funding must be resumed as a priority.

We note the suspension is in relation to unproven accusations of the involvement by a small number of staff members in the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, an attack that UNRWA condemned.

This decision is both unjustified and will result in further needless suffering by the Palestinians in Gaza.

UNRWA employs approximately 30,000 people, 13,000 in Gaza alone. Why should the organisation and the people of Gaza be subjected to collective punishment because of the alleged actions of a handful of people?

UNRWA provides aid and service to millions of people, how is it expected to continue to support those who are suffering, starving and in desperate need of medical services if funding is cut?

While this decision may be popular in some quarters, it is times like this that Australia needs to show that it is there to support the vulnerable, the dispossessed and those living through a critical humanitarian crisis.

We urge you to immediately reverse the decision to suspend aid.

Regards

The Refugee Action Collective, Victoria