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Boundless
Plains To Share
“please look after this child.” These children were returned to their
parents at the end of the war. Almost all had been fed and cared for,
sometimes by strangers, for up to 4 years. Society, generally, cared
for children. Four weeks ago there were 128 children without their
parents living in Nauru.
A recent
UN
investigation condemned Australia for gross abuse
of children and human rights violations. This is
OUR
country
committing those crimes! To use Atticus’ words: ‘There is one way
in which all men are created equal – there is one human institution
that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, and the ignorant
man the equal of any college president. That institution, is a court.’
If Australia will not uphold the laws of equality then we cannot
trust our legal system.
One argument for detention is that asylum seekers are a security
risk. Here are the facts: In 2010,
ASIO
labelled 1 person as a security
risk of 7181. One! We are breaking the law
AND
reducing our
multicultural richness due to a false perception of risk!
Another argument is that processing refugees onshore is too
expensive. Offshore processing on Nauru costs $350,000 per
person per year! More than 4 times the cost of the old, integration
into society system. Many asylum seekers are families whose entire
life savings have been paid to people smugglers to save the lives of
their children! I am sure your parents would do the same.
So… what can you do to help right now?
1. Take part in the Run4Refugees, an event that is part the
MelbourneMarathon on the 16
th
ofOctober. It funds 30 support
programmes for asylum seekers.
2. The Youth Action Project targets youth to change Australia’s
negative approach to refugees and asylum seekers.
3. The #RightTrack campaign promotes fair refugee and asylum
seeker support in the courts.
4. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International cast shame
on us worldwide to shine light on Australia’s failure to provide
refuge.
A small change of circumstance and we could be the ones seeking
refuge. We need to treat others as we would wish them to treat us.
We are Australians, as our our national anthem says: we have a
land of “boundless plains to share” …and yet for “those who come
across the sea” all we have is barbed wire and fear.
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