Refugee rights activists demanded permanent visas for all refugees on World Refugee Day, June 20.听
The rally at the State Library, organised by the Refugee Action Collective (RAC), demanded permanent visas for the 8000 victims of the failed 鈥渇ast-track鈥 system and those who came to Australia under the now defunct Medivac law.
It said the remaining refugees and their families in Port Morseby must be brought听to Australia, as well as the 100 asylum seekers on Nauru. It said the ban on bringing 12,000 refugees marooned in Indonesia should be lifted and the Trump-style laws, passed last December, that threaten up to 80,000 people with deportation to danger must be repealed.
A statement from 16-year-old Danushka Sangeethan, originally from Tamil Eelam, was read out by Tamil refugee activist Rathi Barthlote. She said she faced 鈥渋mmense uncertainty鈥 and 鈥渄espair鈥, having been born in a refugee camp in India and coming to Australia when she was 12 but is still waiting for a permanent visa.
Over the past few months, only a handful of families, including those who arrive as unaccompanied children, have received permanent visas, through 鈥渕inisterial intervention鈥.
Sangeethan said people like her, who have grown up, gone to school here and raised families here, are still treated as though 鈥渨e don't belong鈥. 鈥淲e need a collective solution, one that leaves no one behind,鈥 she said.
Sangeethan works as a community organiser with refugees, based at the United Workers Union (UWU), which is leading the campaign for permanent visas for those impacted by the fast-track process.
She highlighted how one group the government continues to ignore are 鈥渢he men who fled war zones鈥 by boat but 鈥渨ho didn鈥檛 risk bringing their families by boat鈥.听Many haven鈥檛 seen their wives or children for 鈥渙ver a decade鈥. They missed everything, first steps, birthdays, graduation. Their children have grown up without them. 鈥淭his is not just about visas, it鈥檚 about deliberate permanent family separation and it鈥檚 inhumane.鈥
She said many young people like herself have dropped out of school because they have 鈥渓ost hope鈥. 鈥淭hey feel unwanted. They feel like this country has no place for them.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 not right for anyone, let alone kids, to live under constant threat, with no rights, certainty, no pathway forward,鈥澨齋angeethan said, adding that the Albanese government is hypocritical. 鈥淟abor has been in power for more than three years. They know our stories. Many of their MPs talked with us at rallies when they were in opposition. They said they believe in justice. But since coming to power, they have given us nothing but silence, delay and new deportation laws. We have to make them act.鈥
Josephine Langbien from the Human Rights Law Centre told the rally we must 鈥渞efuse to be silenced鈥 by Labor's 鈥減aper promises鈥. She said the fight needed to continue 鈥渦ntil everyone has a safe and permanent future鈥.
Musician Taqi Azra, a Hazara refugee who came to Australia by boat in 2010, and who is now an Australian citizen,听described his recent experience organising a big music concert in Jakarta.
鈥淭housands of people, including children ... are living in limbo because they cannot go back to Afghanistan ... and they are living in Indonesia without basic rights.鈥 He said the concert was designed to bring a 鈥渟mile to their faces鈥, to help them 鈥渟tay strong鈥.听
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Azra sang a song he composed titled 鈥淚 am a migrant and my homeland is on my shoulder鈥. He said it conveys the message that 鈥渞efugees are not criminals; they are leaving their homeland because of the war. And they are coming for their safety.鈥澨
Azra, who is an UWU official,听 said 鈥渢housands鈥 of refugees from Afghanistan have been sent to a third country, like Indonesia, and many have families in Australia.听鈥淭heir family members are paying taxes here in Australia. But the Australian government and the immigration department are forgetting them there and ignoring them. It鈥檚 been more than 10 years that they have been living in Indonesia.鈥
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