15 October 2025
Welcome to our October newsletter!
Our next meeting will be held on WEDNESDAY 22 OCTOBER 2025 AT 6.30PM.
Minutes of our September meeting can be accessed via thelink L4RNSW-ACTMinMtg24Sep25
The Anti-Fairness Act – L4R campaign
The Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2025 Measures No 1) Act 2025, better known as the Anti-Fairness Act, was passed by the Government on the 4 September 2025.
L4R opposed this Bill, which has the potential to remove basic legal protections for non-citizens, as well as undermining our ALP National Platform.
The Asylum Seekers Resource Centre (ASRC) recently reported that when the Government moved to pass the Bill that stripped refugees of their human rights and legal right to natural justice, it mobilised a massive community response.
Over 25,000 emails were sent to MPs and senators, thousands of people called their MP. Community leaders, cross-bench MPs and thousands of their supporters stood up and spoke out.
Unfortunately, this dangerous Bill passed the Parliament with the support of the Coalition. However, because of community pressure, there was intense media scrutiny and this forced a Senate Hearing where critical information was unearthed, including that Labor’s deal with the Nauruan Government will cost tax payers over $2.5 billion.
In response, L4R developed a motion that branch members could use, to express their opposition to this law. Our concern about the implications of this new law, is set out in the background to our motion.
The link to our motion follows Anti-FairnessActL4RMotionSep25
Since urging our members to take this motion to their branch, we’ve had a a number of branches pass it unanimously and they have forwarded the motion to the relevant Ministers, as well as to their FECs.
Once again, we ask that you take this motion back to your next branch meeting and urge your branch members to support it. If you succeed in having the motion carried, please send me an email to let me know at contact@labor4refugees.com
| Meeting with Immigration Minister Tony Burke Our L4R National Co-ordinating Committee, managed to secure a meeting with the Immigration Minister which will take place this morning the 15 October. |
| We have prioritised the issues we wish to raise with the Minister and will follow up some of the topics of concern we have conveyed to him through our letters over the past 12 months. The outcome of our meeting will be reported to members at our Zoom meeting next Wednesday evening. Please try to attend. Increase Australia’s humanitarian intake On the 23 September last, we wrote to the Immigration Minister Tony Burke, in support of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s (ASRC) campaign to increase Australia’s humanitarian intake to 50,000 places within 5 years. Currently, Labor’s National Platform states “Labor aspires to progressively increase Australia’s government funded humanitarian intake to 27,000 places per year”. We believe that there is a critical need for increased intake given the record numbers of displaced people globally. Our reasons for urging this increase, can be read in our letter to the Minister L4RIncreaseRefugeeNos23Sep25 Financial Assistance Sought Some of those refugees who are being transitioned by the Government from Temporary Protection and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas to permanency, are experiencing financial hardship. There are a number who are not eligible to access Medicare or claim Centrelink benefits for four years after receiving permanent visas so are experiencing poverty and are struggling. We have written to the Immigration Minister, asking him if there is a possibility of short-term access to special benefits for those demonstrating hardship. Our letter follows L4RFinancialHardship1Oct25 We hope you can make it to our meeting next week. |