Palm Sunday Rally 2024 – Justice for Refugees
Date/Time
Date(s) - Sun 24 Mar 2024
13:00 - 14:30
Location
Garema Place
Categories
Permanent Visas Now
Palm Sunday Rally
1pm Sunday 24 March Garema Place
(To march with a church, union, community or other organisation, meet at 12.30pm at Petrie Plaza – near the merry-go-round.)
Australia’s policies continue to punish and harm refugees and asylum seekers. About 10,000 people who came to Australia more than 10 years ago to seek a safe home are still without a clear path to permanent residency.
They have been denied a fair assessment of their claims for refugee protection under the ‘fast track’ process, designed by a previous Liberal government to make applicants for asylum fail. While Labor has committed to abolishing this inadequate and flawed process, it remains in place. There is no commitment to accept these people.
Another 1,000 who were imprisoned for years on Manus Is. and Nauru and were brought to Australia for medical treatment have been told that they will never, ever be able to settle here permanently.
All these people face ongoing uncertainty for their futures and those of their children. Many are denied work rights. They cannot apply for family reunion with loved ones overseas. Young people who have completed secondary school are unable to attend university from the age of 18.
Some refugees – now very ill – are still in PNG and others are on Nauru.
After 10 years, it is time for a fair process and pathway to permanent residency and citizenship for all these people. It is time for justice.
Join the conversation #PermanentVisasNOW
Speakers:
Kylea Tink, Federal Member for North Sydney.
Kylea Tink won the seat of North Sydney from the Liberal Party in 2022. She has been a strong advocate for the rights of refugees and people seeking asylum and a vocal critic of the current cruel policies supported by both major parties.
She has recently introduced legislation in the Parliament which would limit immigration detention to 90 days – rather than the current average of 708 days. She has also led the call for a Royal Commission into the Australian Immigration Detention to shine a light on this shameful part of our national history. Recently, she wrote that “From the demonisation of ‘boat people’ in the early 90s to the offshore detention of asylum seeking ‘queue jumpers’, consecutive governments of both political persuasions have chosen to turn their backs on tens of thousands of people who have needed our help”.
Ghulamreza Haidari
Ghulamreza (Reza) Haidari is a Hazara refugee from Afghanistan. He arrived in Australia in 2012 seeking asylum. Since then, he hasn’t been able to visit his family and hasn’t seen his son and wife for the past 12 years.
He has been on temporary bridging visas for the past 12 years, with limited work rights and no access to Medicare. Long family separation and fear of deportation has been harrowing for him. He says that his only hope is to save his family and have a peaceful life here in Australia.
Fr. John Woods
Father John Woods is a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. Born in New Zealand, he has spent most of his life in Canberra. Father John is the Parish Priest of Transfiguration Parish, North Woden. He has held a number of Archdiocesan appointments and is also currently the Vicar (or Archbishop Christopher Prowse’s representative) for Social Services and Welfare. As a Christian and grateful citizen, he supports initiatives to improve the plight of asylum seekers.
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