18 April 2018
Dear <<First Name>>
L4R Annual General Meeting is being held on Tuesday 8 May @ 6pm
PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR USUAL MEETING DATE & VENUE HAS CHANGED
Anzac Day falls on the day L4R usually meets (ie the 4th Wednesday of the month). We have therefore deferred the meeting to TUESDAY 8 MAY and booked the UNIONS NSW TRAINING ROOM 1, 377 SUSSEX ST SYDNEY (NEAR CNR GOULBURN ST) at 6PM for our Annual General Meeting.
Guest speaker: George Newhouse
George is an Australian human rights lawyer and principle solicitor of the National Justice Project, a human rights and social justice legal service. He is well known for his human rights work with refugees, former Immigration detainees and Aboriginal Australians. George is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at Macquarie University.
COME ALONG AND HEAR GEORGE SPEAK ABOUT THE IMPORTANT WORK HE HAS BEEN DOING.
Minutes of our last meeting follow - L4RMinutes28/3/18
Cutting Support Benefits - Why is Malcolm Turnbull cutting support to thousands of people?
There is a support program for people seeking asylum in Australia called the Status Resolution Support Service or SRSS. It provides a basic living allowance, casework, and access to torture and trauma counselling.
While the support is minimal it is still lifesaving for many people.
The Government is now in the process of taking away this vital support and unveiling a new, reduced support model of SRSS. From June 4th, the Australian government is moving to cut support payments to 7,000 asylum seekers living in the Australian community who will be exited from the program and are expected to find a job. The only assistance they will get is access to a computer at a local employment agency.
Please sign the petition calling on Malcolm Turnbull to #ChangeThePolicy of cruelty and save these life-saving supports for people seeking asylum.
If we can show him there is strong community support for this program ahead of the May Budget, we know he can find the minimal $250 a week for those on the payment.
Asylum Seekers will become homeless - Help stop cuts to life-saving supports.
More bad news - Australia's service cuts threaten migrants detained on Nauru
Earlier this month, the United Nations sounded an alarm over Australia's decision to to stop providing services to migrants detained on the island of Nauru, saying the move would put vulnerable people at heightened risk. 80 percent of people detained there have been clinically diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, trauma and depression. It is therefore vital that adequate services are provided by trained, qualified individuals, particularly in mental health.
Australia had previously taken responsibility for providing basic care for refugees held on the island but has decided to let Nauru's authorities take over, with some financial support from Canberra.
More than 300 men, women and children are being held in a camp on Nauru according to recent Australian immigration detention figures.
They are already lacking "adequate care" but their plight could worsen if Nauru's authorities take charge without being properly supported.
Another issue is Nauru's decision to abolish links with Australia's highest court, which for four decades, had been available to migrants as the final venue to appeal against adverse rulings on asylum claims.
Nauru pledged to set up its own local court of appeals but there is a fear that people seeking asylum will be deprived of their basic legal rights until Nauru's system is up and running properly.
We must ensure that Labor in Government, will not abandon these refugees and people seeing asylum on Manus and Nauru and restore all services to those remaining on Nauru.
Better still, let's close Manus and Nauru and find these people a home.
Refugee Community Sponsorship Programme
Many neighbourhoods and Councils already welcome refugees. Many Australians are ready to receive their new neighbours. Amnesty International is asking the Australian Government to expand and improve their community sponsorship programme (CSP) so that businesses, the community and families can also help.
Community sponsorship would allow people seeking safety, to rebuild their lives and set up a home here, where they can prosper and thrive as new arrivals.
For more information about the CSP programme please go to the following link -
How you can help
If you want to see a fairer approach to refugee sponsorship in Australia, sign our petition calling on the Federal Government to expand and improve the CSP.
THE PETITION:
To the Honourable Minister Dutton and Members of the House of Representatives,
We recognise there are currently only a few pathways for refugees to find a safe home in Australia.
One of them is community-led resettlement through community sponsorship.
To fully harness community generosity that can help refugees, Australia’s sponsorship program needs to be designed in a way that encourages, not hinders, more people to take part, and that expands Australia’s current refugee intake.
It needs to be expanded.
It needs to be improved.
Right now, we have the opportunity to help celebrate the refugees in our communities and call for sponsorship of others who want to call our community home, when it is no longer safe for them to continue living in theirs.
These are people who are like us. Refugees are our neighbours. Refugees play in our teams. Refugees volunteer in our communities. These are people who have lost their homes, their loved ones and life as they knew it.
Our new neighbours are asking for our help. We are calling on you to build a more generous and more accessible Community Support Program. It must:
1. Not take places from others in need
2. Provide adequate support and services
3. Limit costs
4. Allow community, family and businesses to act as sponsors
5. Create more places for people in need of protection to settle in Australia
As a generous country we can and should do more.
You can also start discussions in your community to encourage sponsorship or even lobby your council to pass a motion for the Federal Government to enhance the programme.
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, keep an eye on the Department of Home Affairs website for details about how to get involved.
REFUGEE EVENT:
Documentary film - "Border Politics"
"Border Politics" is a new documentary, all about the treatment of people seeking asylum and refugees.
The film follows Barrister and refugee advocate Julian Burnside, as he traverses the globe talking to various leaders and human rights activists about the cruel and unfair treatment of asylum seekers. The aim is to bring this important issue to the attention of the public.
You can go to a Facebook page to find a link to the trailer. Go to Facebook and type in “Border Politics”. The World Premiere will take place at the Human Rights and Arts Film Festival in Melbourne on May 12.
The Sydney release is aimed for Refugee Week in June. The website for Rymer Productions, which produced this documentary is www.rymerchilds.com where you can also access the trailer.
When released in Sydney, it would be good if L4R members attended a screening of the film and helped to promote it.
Nizza Siano
Secretary L4R NSW
email: contact@labor4refugees.com
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