Dear Parliamentarian, Trade Union, Church group, Town Council, or
Community group,
The following letter, based on the case of Ali Bhaktiari, is soon to be
faxed to Phillip Ruddock, and members of the government and opposition.
It has the signatures of the ACTU, the NSW-Trades and Labor Council, the
Victorian Trades and Labor Council, and the SA Trades and Labor council
(UTLC-SA), as well as a number of major unions.
It also bears the signatures of green and Democrat senators, church
groups, and community groups including Chilout, the Edmund Rice Centre,
the Coalition for Justice for Refugees, the Lebanese Moslem
Association, and the Australian-Arabic Council.
Now is the last chance for organisations and parliamentarians to sign
this letter.
If you support a just and compassionate refugee policy, and are a
parliamentarian or the head of a community organisation, church, or
trade union, you are urged to sign.
To sign, please email [EMAIL PROTECTED], fax 02-9567-7166, or ring
02-9567-7533
John Hallam
THE HON. PHILIP RUDDOCK,
6273-4144, 9482-7018
THE HON. JOHN HOWARD,
9251-5454 6273-4100, 9816-1349
CC
THE HON. SIMON CREAN 6277-8444, 03-9545-6299
JULIA GILLARD MHR, 6277-8457, 03-9741-6213
TANYA PLIBERSEK MHR 6277-8513, 9550-3820
DARYL MELHAM MHR 6277-4476, 9774-5461,
SENATOR BOB BROWN 6277-3185, 03-6234-1577
SENATOR NATASHA STOTT-DESPOJA 6277-3235
SENATOR LYN ALISON 03-9417-1690
RE: ALI BHAKTIARI/MANDATORY DETENTION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS
Dear Minister Ruddock and Prime Minister Howard,
The undersigned organizations are writing to you to ask that you allow
Mr. Ali Bhaktiari and all others who have been recognised as refugees
but have been granted only temporary protection visas, to remain in
Australia.
We urge you to end the system of mandatory detention and temporary
protection visas.
Mr. Bhaktiari and all others who find themselves in a similar situation
to his should be given the right to seek Australian citizenship, as
would have been done almost automatically only a few years ago.
The organizations signed at the foot of this letter understand that
there may be a need for proper processing and assessment of people who
arrive on Australia's shores without documentation.
However, this is a process that should be undertaken in a non - punitive
and efficient manner, and should be completed swiftly.
Processing centres should be, as migrant reception centres were some
years ago, places in which people find a first home before integration
into the wider community. They should not be envisaged as places of
punishment, run by a company whose business is to run prisons, and
ringed with razor- wire.
Those accommodated in such places should be free to come and go as they
wish, on the presumption that they may at some time in the future become
Australian citizens.
Mr. Bhaktiari's situation illustrates the contradictions and injustices
in the current punitive policy.
His situation as the holder of a temporary protection visa allows him no
access to social security, medical care, English lessons, or any other
of the facilities that Australian citizens take for granted. Above all
he has been denied the possibility to re-unite with his family. The
possibility to reunite with one's family must be considered a
fundamental human right, and it is of paramount importance that he be
able to do so.
Life for him and for other TPV holders must verge on the impossible. At
best they must be considered second-class citizens. To treat a class of
people as second- class citizens, or to arbitarily make their lives
impossible contradicts the Australian tradition of a 'fair go' and is
morally indefensible.
At the least, TPV holders should be accorded medical and social security
access on the same basis as other Australian citizens. The TPV system
should be abolished and TPV holders given permanent residence and the
right to seek citizenship, the right to work, and importantly, the
ability to reunite with their families.
It is unlikely that Mr Bhaktiari and others like him will ever be able
to safely return to their countries of origin. Australia has a broader
moral and legal responsibility to afford asylum to those who need it.
As TPV-holders, they continue to be in limbo for an indefinite period
under current policy. This prevents these people getting on with their
lives and making a genuine contribution to Australia. Their situation if
they are denied TPVs, is even worse, as they are still unlikely to be
able to safely return to their original country. Separation from family
as has happened to Mr Bhaktiari, is intolerable and must be remedied
immediately.
Mr. Bhaktiyari's situation and that of his children illustrates the
injustice that is inherent in the current policies of mandatory
detention and use of TPVs instead of permanent residence.
All those who are in this situation, or in any similar situation in
which it is no longer possible for them to return home and in which they
are separated from their families, have a legitimate call on
Australia's hospitality without regard to their technical fit with the
criteria of the refugee convention, though it is arguable that
Australian policies may be in breach of that and other instruments of
international law.
Accordingly it would be a first step towards the remedy of a great
injustice if you as minister would excercise your prerogative to give Mr
Bhaktiari and his family permanent residence on humanitarian and
compassionate grounds.
Mr. Bhaktiari should be re-united with his family as Australian
citizens, along with all others who are unlikely to be able to return to
their countries of origin, and are likely to remain 'in limbo' for
indefinite periods.
Current policies are matters of shame before the entire international
community and should be abandoned forthwith. We await your urgent
response to the issues we have raised.
(Signed)
John Hallam, Friends of the Earth Australia,
Natalie Stevens, People for Nuclear Disarmament NSW,
Irene Gale AM, Australian Peace Committee, Adelaide, SA,
Joan Shears, Rally for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, Brisb,
Farida Iqbal and Annmarie Hindinger,Community Anti-Nuclear Network of
Western Australia, Perth, W.A.,
Father Claude Mostowik MSC, Director, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
[Australia] Justice and Peace Office,
Margaret Hinchley, Catholic Coalition for Justice and Peace (CCJP),
Rev. Greg Thompson, Rector, St Johns Darlinghurst,
Rev. Ray Richmond, Pastor, Wayside Chapel (Uniting Church in Australia)
Vanessa Griffiths, Australian Churches Against Racism,
UK Jesus Christians, London, UK.
Junie Ong, Chilout (Children Out of Detention), NSW,
Maqsood Alshams, Coalition for Justice for Refugees, Homebush NSW,
Marty Morrison, Great Lakes Rural Australians for Refugees,
Grace McCaughey, RAR Castlemaine,
Anne and Rob Simpson, Bellingen Rural Australians for Refugees,
Margaret Tonkin , Ballarat Refugee Support Group,
Amanda Tattersall, Labor for Refugees NSW,
Kevin Peoples, Coordinator, Labor Coalition of Friends of Asylum Seekers,
Jamal Daoud, Philippe Moreau, Refugee Action Collective, Sydney,
Paul Benedek, Free the Refugees Campaign, Sydney
Dave Mc Kay, Refugee Embassy, Woomera/Newcastle,
Edda Lampis, Lismore Refugee Action Collective,
Sarah D'Astoli, Refugee Action Collective - Victoria,
Friends of TPV Refugees
Erika Stahr, Indo-China Refugee Assoc,
Keysar Trad, Lebanese Moslem Association, Lakemba, NSW,
Alexander Koutthab, Secy, Australian-Arabic Council, Melb,
Thea Calzoni, Northern Parent Support Program,
Pip Hinman, Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific,
Anne O'Rourke, Liberty Victoria, Vic,
Nicholas Bark, SKA TV, Melbourne,
Lyn Freeman, Committee member, Project Safecom Inc, Perth WA.
Peter Murphy/Dr Beverley Symons, SEARCH Foundation, Surry Hills, Sydney,
NSW,
Melita Grant, National Campaigns Coordinator AID/WATCH, Erskineville,
Phil Glendinning, Edmund Rice Centre,Homebush, NSW,
Sharan Burrow, President, Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU),
John Robertson, Secy, Labor Council of New South Wales,Sussex St, Sydney,
Leigh Hubbard, Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC), Melb,
Janet Giles, Secy, United Trades and Labor Council of SA, (UTLC-SA),
Daney Faddoul, National Union of Students NSW Branch,
Duncan McLaren, CFMEU - NSW Construction and General Division,
Dr Mike Donaldson, NSW State Secretary, NTEU,
Anastasia Polites, Organiser, Independent Education Union, NSW,
John Tully, Socialist Democracy,
Cr Maire Sheehan, Mayor, City of Leichhardt,
Ian Gilfillan MLC, Leader, Democrats, SA State Parliament,
Sandra Kanck MLC, Deputy Leader, Democrats, SA Parliament,
Lee Rhiannon MLC Greens, NSW,
Ian Cohen MLC, Greens, NSW,
Robin Chapple, MLC Greens, Mining and Pastoral Region, W.A.,
Senator Kerry Nettle, Greens Senator for NSW,
Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja, NationalLeader, Australian Democrats, SA,
Senator Andrew Bartlett, Australian Democrat Senator for Qld,
.
--
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