Next L4R Meeting
I hope you had a good break over the festive season.
Unfortunately, we have now had to return to the reality of a depressing world filled with a lot of ugliness and suffering.
I find the best way to deal with feelings of despondency, is to get active and work with like-minded people to try and address some of these challenging issues over which we have some control.
The federal election will be upon us very soon and as disillusioned as some of us feel about some of the Labor Government’s policies, it would be a tragedy if the Coalition headed by Peter Dutton, formed government. We cannot afford to allow the Coalition to win. It was difficult enough trying to unscramble the mess that the Coalition left for Labor to fix when Labor formed Government. A decade of retrograde policies. Imagine if we had to go through that again!
Asylum Matters
The minutes for October 2024, were sent to you last year, with our notice for our Fringe Event special meeting called “Asylum Matters”. This event took place on the 27 November 2024, in lieu of our normal monthly meeting.
Thirty people attended the November special Fringe Event to view the presentations made by our three guest speakers.
They were Frances Rush OAM, CEO of the Asylum Seekers Centre, Dr Graham Thom, international refugee specialist (now working for the Refugee Council of Australia) and Thouraya Lahmadi, refugee and writer.
They unpacked the trends, insights and experiences that they believed must shape refugee policy in Australia. They also explored the High Court’s ruling on immigration detention and highlighted the stark reality for a person seeking safety without a safety net. The session highlighted what we must do in order to provide protection for those who need it.
Plenty of time was put aside at the end of the presentations, to accommodate questions from members.
People with Disability in Immigration Detention
At our October meeting 2024, we discussed a motion re people with disability in Immigration Detention who had greater than usual challenges confronting them. The motion urged the government to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. On the 2 November, 2024, we wrote to Immigration Minister Tony Burke as well as to three other key Federal Ministers (Giles, Rishworth and Shorten), and to the Australia & the World Policy Committee (Int Affairs Policy C’tee in the ACT), requesting their support.
Please read our letter here PeoplewithDisabilityinImmigDetentionL4Rmotion2Nov24 and the response received on the 27 November 2024 from Immigration Minister Tony Burke herePeoplewithDisabilityinImmigrationDetnResponsefromMinBurke27Nov24
Photo Exhibition on Afghanistan
We held a successful meeting in September last year with guest speaker Muzafar Ali, who is the Co-CEO of the Cisarua Learning Centre in Indonesia. Muzafar updated us about the dire situation for refugees in Indonesia and spoke about finding pathways for trained refugees stuck in Indonesia.
Muzafar is also a Hazara photographer from Afghanistan. He has made films on Afghans in Australia and Indonesia. You may have seen the film on the school in Cisarua “The Staging Post”.
There is a new photographic exhibition by Muzafar at the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Nowra which runs from 15 February until the 8 March. He secretly returned to his homeland to photograph the realities of daily life under the Taliban. Since the Taliban captured Afghanistan in 2021 girls have been banned from high school education along with many other restrictions. This exhibition includes images of the underground schools where girls are risking their lives to get an education.
Here is the link https://www.shoalhavenregionalgallery.com.au/Whats-on/Exhibitions/Finding-Hope-in-Afghanistan
I hope you can make it to the exhibition.
I also hope we will see you at our meeting next week.
| Regards Nizza Siano Secretary L4R NSW email: contact@labor4refugees.com |