Dear L4R Member
Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday 25 March at 6.30pm
Anyone who supports our goals is welcome to attend.
Minutes of our last meeting on the 25 February 2026 follow L4RNSW-ACTMinMtg25Feb25
| The next four months is crucial We have both a National and State ALP Conference coming up in July this year. These conferences will dictate the future of government policy for refugees and people seeking asylum L4R has to ensure that refugees/people seeking asylum, are not ignored at these forums. We are concerned that the obsession by Labor to try and avoid debate on refugees because of the fear of being wedged by the Coalition and One Nation, will mean that the most vulnerable people on this planet, will be ignored. L4R Submission to the ALP National Policy Forum Our L4R National Co-ordinating Committee (NCC) was made aware last week, that if we wished to amend, delete or add anything to the 2023 ALP National Platform, for consideration for the draft 2026 Platform, we had to get these proposals to supportive National Policy Forum (NPF) members by the deadline of 8pm on Monday 16 March. Our role as advocates for refugees and people seeking asylum, is to lobby hard to ensure that hard won policies negotiated at the last 2023 National Conference, remain in the 2026 Platform. In addition, L4R wishes to see improvements made to existing policies.We worked right up to the end of last weekend and managed to complete our submission (plus talking points). On Sunday night, we sent our documents to supportive NPF delegates, one each from Victoria, NSW and the ACT. We were asked to narrow down our submission to a few priorities that were value-based, short and without money values attached. The NPF next met with Ministers in Melbourne yesterday, to debate these proposed edits to the Platform. Two delegates lodged our L4R amendments and the mover spoke in support of them. We were informed that Richard Marles, Penny Wong and Tony Burke attended the session on Chapter 7 “Australia’s Place in a Changing World” . Chapter 7 deals with the issues of migration, Australia’s humanitarian intake, settlement services and refugee assessment, Australia’s border and immigration detention. We expect and hope that after this meeting, a revised draft Platform will be released at some point prior to the July ALP National Conference, with enough time to provide an opportunity for members to comment. The draft will then be debated at National Conference allowing Delegates to vote on the contents to create a 2026 National Platform. The submission we made to the NPF can be read at L4RNPFSbmtoPlatformReview15-3-26 National Conference Delegate – elections A number of ALP FECs are currently in the process of electing their Delegate for the National ALP Conference. Each FEC is entitled to send one Delegate. The ballot opened on the 9 March and closes at 5pm on the 30 March. A number of candidates care deeply about the plight of refugees and people seeking asylum. Nizza Siano is the National and NSW/ACT Secretary of Labor for Refugees and nominated for Conference Delegate from Wentworth FEC. Nizza has made refugees/people seeking asylum, a priority. If she is elected, Nizza will make sure that she advocates/votes for policy reform on behalf of refugees. Meeting with NSW Minister Rose JacksonL4R NSW/ACT has secured a meeting with Rose Jackson, the NSW Minister for Water, Housing, Homelessness, Mental Health and Youth. Our meeting will take place on Tuesday 31 March. The purpose of our meeting is to advocate for our campaign on homelessness on behalf of asylum seekers and non-residents. The name of our campaign is HOMELESSNESS SUPPORT SHOULD BE BASED ON NEED AND NOT VISA STATUS.Since early this year, we have asked branches to support our campaign by moving our motion and ensuring it’s submitted to the NSW Labor Conference. The NSW ALP Conference takes place on the 4/5 July 2026. The deadline to submit motions is the 3 April so if your branch has not yet held its meeting, you can still support it. The Secretary of your Branch/SEC should ensure that if the motion is carried, it’s submitted, using the Online Policy Motions Portal as well as sending a copy of the motion to Rose Jackson.Labor for Refugees supports the assertion in the NSW Labor Government Homelessness Strategy 2025-2035, which acknowledges that the right to housing is a basic human right. The Strategy estimates that more than 35,000 people are experiencing homelessness in NSW. There is an increase of 27% between the censuses carried out in 2011 and 2021. The Refugee Council of Australia reported in 2025 that in the City of Sydney alone, nearly 20% of people sleeping rough are non-residents on uncertain visas, including asylum seekers. This motion is about giving all non-residents and asylum seekers access to homelessness support. We say that no one should be excluded based on their visa status! |
| You can access a PDF copy of the motion at L4RNSWStateConferenceMotion2026 Hope to see you online at our 25 March meeting. |