Letter Writing – End Offshore Processing
Kit July 2025
It is twelve years since on the 19 July 2013, Australia imposed a ban on resettlement in Australia for asylum seekers arriving by boat, and condemned them to offshore detention and processing. International and Australian human rights bodies have long criticised Australia’s offshore program and, as recently as January 2025, the United Nations confirmed that under international law Australia continues to be responsible for the people it sends offshore.
Now, in 2025, approximately 130 people are still trapped in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. In addition, thousands of men, women and children in Australia continue to live in limbo, with no permanent resettlement and limited rights to work, education and health care.
We are (again) calling on the Australian Government to:
- immediately medically evacuate to the Australian mainland all those who are critically ill in PNG and Nauru;
- provide safe resettlement to all those who are currently or have been held offshore;
- abandon the policy of offshore processing.
The attached letter writing kit contains further background information, a sample letter, and tips for writing letters to the editor. Because this issue is no longer at the forefront of the news most Australians have assumed it has been resolved. Writing letters to the editor can assist in raising awareness among the public of the urgent need for reform of refugee policy.
I am also attaching some very useful letter writing tips from the Refugees Off PNG working group relevant to this topic.
Letters to Editor
The Canberra Times letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. (Send from the message field, not as an attachment.)
City News Magazine editor@citynews.com.au
The Saturday Paper letters@thesaturdaypaper.com.au
Sydney Morning Herald letters@smh.com.au
The Age letters@theage.com.au
The Australian letters@theaustralian.com.au
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese https://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke
Assistant Minister Matt Thistlethwaite
ACT region MPs and Senators:
senator.katy.gallagher@aph.gov.au;
senator.david.pocock@aph.gov.au
