Dear Friends
Following is the electronic version of Sanctuary Network's latest
newsletter. If you wish to receive a paper-version via snail mail, please
email us or call me on
03 9481 6414!
Thanks for your support.
Elizabeth
Sanctuary Network
PO Box 547
Northcote 3070
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Editorial
Thank you to all those people who have restated their commitment to
supporting the East Timorese Asylum Seekers. Your acts of solidarity -
whether words of good cheer or generous donations - have spurred us on.
Donations to Sanctuary Network have ranged from $10 to $500. We are very
grateful to everyone who has contributed money. $10 more than covers the
costs of mailing your newsletter. $25 is a significant contribution to the
cost of our post office box. We are a volunteer organisation and our
activist members undertake all their writing, phone calls and other
activities in their own time at their own cost.
On the topic of fundraising, you might like to hold your own fundraising
activity for Sanctuary Network. This could be for your parish, your union or
just for a group of friends. Maybe you could share the proceeds of
fundraising between your own organisation and Sanctuary Network. There are
plenty of venues that offer discount tickets for big groups, and the
difference could be donated to help in the ongoing campaign for permanent
residence for the East Timorese Asylum Seekers. Call us if you'd like some
ideas on where / how to start.
People continue to call to ask what else they could be doing to maintain the
pressure to grant the East Timorese Asylum Seekers permanent residence.
In addition to the ongoing need to write to papers, lobby local MPs and
raise funds, we would like you to give positive feedback to the ALP for
their continuing stance in favour of granting permanent residence to all of
the 1600 East Timorese Asylum Seekers currently in Australia. As a Federal
Election gets closer, maintaining support for the ALP's policy on East
Timorese Asylum Seekers becomes vital.
Your feedback to the ALP could take the form of a letter, a phone call, a
card or a fax. In these high-tech days, some people worry that their letter
may not be as highly regarded if it is handwritten. You may be surprised to
know that in fact it is the reverse. Your hand-written letter is often
accorded much more importance: it probably took longer to write, it's
perceived as less likely to have been mass produced, and it's often seen as
more personal. Scribble on we say!
Elsewhere in this newsletter you will read of the shameful situation in
which a member of the Refugee Review Tribunal has manipulated the system to
ensure he can sit with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in a hearing of a
test case. We call on Mr Nygh to withdraw from the AAT panel to avoid the
conflict of interest which otherwise arises.
Thanks again for your support. The award featured on page 2 is for everyone
who has made acts of solidarity with East Timorese Asylum Seekers. We're
pleased and proud of us all!
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* * * *
No victory (yet), but vindication
The Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria has awarded one of two Community
Services Awards to the Sanctuary Network in recognition of contributions to
Victoria's East Timorese community. The decision to award Sanctuary Network
was made on advice from the Refugee Council of Australia and the Australian
Council for Overseas Aid.
The Victorian Premier Mr Steve Bracks presented the Award to East Timorese
Asylum Seeker Ms Lisa Hi and Sanctuary Network representative Ms Carolyn
Graydon.
President of the ECCV Mr George Lukakis told ECCV members at the
organisations' AGM that Sanctuary Network had played a "crucial role in
practical, direct support to East Timorese Asylum Seekers over a long period
of time". He noted that "Sanctuary Network has built relationships and
alliances with a range of individuals and organisations to engage their
support to collectively and effectively resist any attempt to deport East
Timorese Asylum Seekers".
The audience heard that there are 1,650 East Timorese Asylum Seekers who
have been seeking permanent residence in Australia for up to ten years. Many
ECCV members expressed dismay at this appalling treatment of East Timorese.
Receiving the award on behalf of Sanctuary Network, 18 year old Ms Lisa Hi
spoke of her flight from East Timor to Australia. "We came to Australia
because the Australian Government told the East Timorese people after World
War 2 that Australia would honour its war-time debt." Ms Hi's father was
killed in East Timor and she left the country after the Santa Cruz massacre.
She has been waiting six years for determination of her application for
permanent residence.
Ms Hi noted that the East Timorese Asylum Seekers are in a similar situation
to many Kosovar refugees. "We have nothing to return to in East Timor. If we
were sent back, we would face unemployment, homelessness, ill-health and
hunger. Australia is now home and it is inhumane for the Minister to say
otherwise."
Sanctuary Network spokesperson Elizabeth Wheeler said "We have been honoured
to work with East Timorese Asylum Seekers over the past five years, and are
pleased and proud to now receive this support from the Ethnic Communities'
Council. The award provides all of us with inspiration and encouragement at
a crucial time in our campaign."
Ms Wheeler warned "Anyone who is concerned about the Government's treatment
of the Kosovars should keep a close eye on the situation for East Timorese
still here in Australia. We fear that the recent round of deportations was a
practice run for pushing out the East Timorese Asylum Seekers."
"There is a very high level of support for East Timorese Asylum Seekers. If
Mr Ruddock thinks resolving the Kosovar situation has been difficult, he
should start worrying now about the resistance he'll face if he tries to
deport the East Timorese Asylum Seekers."
Sanctuary Network has vowed to step up its campaign for permanent residence
for the East Timorese Asylum Seekers on humanitarian grounds.
We congratulate the Australian Albanian Association for an award recognising
its support of Kosovars during their stay in Puckapunyal.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * *
Shame!
You may remember the story of Mrs Po Jung Lai in our September newsletter.
Mrs Lai was recognised by the Refugee Review Tribunal to be a refugee in
1996, despite the "processing freeze". The Tribunal decision found that Mrs
Lai did not have effective protection in Portugal and that her fear of
persecution in relation to East Timor and Indonesia was well-founded. Mr
Ruddock appealed this decision to the Federal Court.
Since her ASAS had been cut off, Mrs Lai was homeless and attended the St
Matthias Anglican Church on a weekly basis to collect food vouchers and
emergency relief. She did not have access to Medicare and was in poor
health. In January 1999 Mrs Lai was diagnosed with lung cancer. As this
diagnosis had been so late, her condition was untreatable and her health
deteriorated very rapidly. She died on 28 March 1999.
One of our members recently received a very belated reply from Philip
Ruddock, about the case of Mrs Lai. In part, his letter said:
"I was saddened to hear about the difficult circumstances and recent death
of Ms Lai Program Officer Jun. However I cannot agree with your view that I
should not have appealed the RRT decision in Ms Lai's case, in view of her
advanced age.
As you are aware, under current arrangements, applicants have a right to
seek judicial review of RRT decisions that appear to involve errors of law.
I am sure that you would agree that the Government should have the same
right as these applicants to appeal such decisions, and on the same basis,
as applicants. In this regard, I note that two of the twenty-eight East
Timorese Asylum Seekers who appealed adverse RRT decisions were well over 70
years of age at the time and have been allowed to remain in Australia while
their court cases were under consideration. If age were to be a
consideration in whether cases could be appealed, these applicants might
have been denied their right of appeal. Moreover if the Government were to
decide cases to appeal on the basis of these individual considerations,
rather than on broader legal considerations as currently, the result would
be a selective application of law to asylum seekers. This would be contrary
to the fundamental principles of law and administration in Australia which
require that the same law be applied equally to all persons.
Thank you for bringing your views to my attention."
The Minister for Immigration appears to have forgotten that he has
discretionary powers that would have enabled him to set aside the RRT
decision and grant Mrs Lai permanent residence on humanitarian grounds.
We would also like to point out that Mr Ruddock's "points of law" are
actually points of politics. His and previous Governments held firmly to a
set of political positions that recognised Indonesia's occupation of East
Timor, denied the persecution of East Timorese people and reinforced the
Indonesian Government's stranglehold on East Timor via military training and
support.
These policies, not points of law, determined the Governments' responses to
the East Timorese Asylum Seekers.
Either the Liberal or Labor Governments could, at any time, have decided to
create a Special Visa Category to allow the East Timorese Asylum Seekers
permanent residence in Australia, thus obviating the need for any further
court action.
In future, we hope that Mr Ruddock will at least have the courage of his
convictions to stand up and take responsibility for the tragedies that arise
from his Government's policies and laws.
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* * * *
Test case news
Following the Government's withdrawal from Kon Tji Lae's test case before
the Full Federal Court last October; the same test case was then remitted
for re-hearing to the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT). It was remitted to the
Principal Member of the Tribunal, Mr Peter Nygh.
Under the Migration Act, the RRT can refer a case to the Administrative
Appeals Tribunal (AAT) where the case "involves an important principle, or
issue, of general application." Mr Nygh decided to take this course of
action, referring the test case to the AAT. In effect, he asked the AAT to
make a decision that could be used to resolve all the outstanding East
Timorese Asylum Seekers' applications.
Having made this referral, it was then pointed out to Nygh that as the test
case had been initially heard by him at the RRT, he would be not be eligible
to sit as a member of the AAT to hear the referral!
Shortly after this was pointed out, the AAT declined the referral. Hmm!!!
Within a very short period, the AAT accepted a different referral from the
RRT. This was another East Timorese case, for an applicant living in Darwin,
which had not been constituted to the Principal Member of the RRT.
Mr Nygh is free to sit as part of the AAT for this hearing, but his
determination to sit on the hearing as part of the AAT does raise certain
questions about the properness of the referral process.
The issues of general application identified by the RRT for consideration by
the AAT are:
1. Whether there still exist in East Timor any circumstances which would
cause the applicant to have a well founded fear of persecution, should he
now return to East Timor
2. Whether he has the nationality, effective or otherwise, of the Republic
of Indonesia in the light of the changed circumstances
3. Whether he has the nationality, effective or otherwise, of the Portuguese
Republic in the light of the changed circumstances.
4. If the answer to questions 2 & 3 is negative, against what country or
authority should his claims be assessed?
The Tribunal commenced its hearing on 17 July. We'll be in touch as soon as
a decision is announced.
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* * * *
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