The first of a series of talks designed to encourage community unity was held on Tuesday September 29 at the Reginald Murphy Community Centre in Potts Point. People Just Like Us invited displaced peoples who have become refugees in Australia to share their stories. Among a panel of six sat two Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, one Rohingya refugee from Myanmar and three advocates of refugee rights in Australia.
Rebecca Langford, from the Refugee Council of Australia, said, “What we are doing is not only morally bankrupt, it is illegal. Seeking asylum is not illegal; our current policies are.” One such policy is the indefinite detention of refugees who have received adverse security assessments from the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). In July 2013, this policy was found by the UN Human Rights Committee to be in breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Ms Langford continued that Australia’s offshore processing policy is not working. “More people have died in detention than have been resettled … At the moment we are resettling no Rohingya people from Malaysia. How can they come the right way when we’ve stopped the right way?”
Salemul Kalam, a 24 year-old Rohingya man, born stateless in Myanmar, said, “Those who are lucky like me reach Australia.” Mr Kalam and his family had fled Myanmar to Malaysia in 1997. However, with no documents, no chance for education and no future there, Salemul brought his brother with him to Australia as refugees three years ago. He doesn’t show despair. He shows pride, at being able to offer his 10 year-old brother a new life full of opportunity in the country we are lucky enough to call home.
