MEDIA RELEASE
REFUGEE COVERGENCE ON CANBERRA
Rally on Parliament House lawns, 12.30pm Monday 8 September
Speakers include: Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett; The Greens; Carmen
Lawrence; Peter Malone, secretary ACT Labor Council; Anne Coombs, Rural
Australians for Refugees; Pat Power, Auxilliary Bishop Canberra and
Goulburn; Diana Abdulrahman representing ACT Muslim community; Refugee
Action Committee, Canberra
Hundreds of refugees on temporary protection visas will converge on
Parliament House, Canberra, Monday 8 September.
A convoy of cars carrying mostly Iraqi refugees will depart from
Campbelltown, Sydney at 7.00am.The Sydney convoy will be joined by
Afghan refugees. They will be joined in Canberra by Iraqis TPV holders
travelling from Melbourne.
"The uncertainty has become too much," said Ian Rintoul, a spokesperson
for the Refugee Action Coalition. "Thousands of TPV's have expired, but
there is no indication of the government processing Iraqi applications
for further protection. Those Afghan applications that have been
processed have all been rejected."
The central concerns of the rally are permanent protection, the right
for family re-union, the right to travel, and the right to study.
An appeal from the Iraqi TPV holders will be read to the rally and
handed to Parliamentarians. "Most of us have been in Australia for more
than three years without any capability to travel or to be re-united
with our families or to apply for other visas," the appeal says in part.
"Our questions have long been left without any response… Please do not
keep us in trauma," it continues.
The rally comes at the beginning of the parliamentary sitting in which
Immigration minister Philip Ruddock is to introduce new regulations to
entrench the temporary visa regime.
If accepted, the new regulations would also widen the minister's
discretionary powers to grant refugee visas. This use of ministerial
discretion is already the subject of a Senate inquiry over the cash for
visa scandal. The refugee movement is calling for the new regulations to
be disallowed in the Senate.
"The situation with the Iraqi and Afghans shows why we do not the
temporary visa regime to be extended," said Ian Rintoul. "Under the
present system Iraqis could be left on temporary visas indefinitely.
There is no way that Iraq is safe or stable, yet the refugees are denied
permanent residency. The Iraqis are being used as pawns in the
government's political game of border protection," he said.
For more info contact: Refugee Action Coalition Ian
Rintoul 0417 275 713 or Iraqi representatives Mueen 0412 209 997 or
Kamal 0422 334 893
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