Have you ever despaired about our country’s public discourse on refugees who arrive by boat? Have you ever looked at policies like the bi-partisan support for offshore detention and the ramping up of rhetoric like “stop the boats”, and wished you could change it? More than 130 people gathered at Paddington Uniting Church to develop a range of advocacy strategies and protest actions that aim to do exactly that.
The Asylum Seeker Policy Forum: From Despair to Action was organised by Paddington Uniting Church in partnership with a range of like-minded groups, including Amnesty International, ChilOut, Welcome to Australia, the Coalition to End Immigration Detention of Children and the Refugee Action Coalition.
“We focused on ‘action’ because so many forums are just about information sharing, or the perspectives of certain ‘important people’,” said organiser Justin Whelan. “Those events have their place – but often end without anything actually happening. This forum is all about giving ordinary people tools and resources for taking concrete action to advocate for a more humane response to people fleeing persecution.”
The evening began with four Tamil refugees sharing why they left their home countries, what it’s like to be on an asylum-seeker boat, and about their current realities in Australia.
Then Siobhan Marren, from the social justice arm of the Uniting Church, gave an overview of the policy terrain. She concluded that it is entirely possible for concerned citizens to change some of the most disturbing aspects of asylum-seeker policy, including offshore processing, kids in detention and bridging visas that forbid asylum seekers to get paid employment.
“I have highlighted the areas where change is possible,” she explained, “based on what can only be described as a fundamental disconnect between what the government says it will do – or what the law says we must do – and what we are actually doing. This is where the cracks are. With persistence, solid advocacy and sound education – this is where we can break through and bring about genuine change for the lives of asylum seekers.”
The energised audience then broke up into six different groups to talk about positive action they could take. A wide variety of responses was considered: everything from becoming better informed to allow constructive conversations with friends and colleagues, to ideas for non-violent direct actions that will use humour or irony to get media attention. The conversations focused on having an impact in an election year and changing the national conversation towards compassion and hospitality.
One participant, who has recently been granted refugee status after seeking asylum in Australia, told the SSH that the government should consult with asylum seekers, not use them for political gain. “When a boat comes the politicians pick up the story and make it a political tool for campaigning. But both government and opposition should consider consulting with refugees about better policies, including security issues and social integration.”
“First and foremost, we are human beings,” he said. “If you criminalise asylum seekers you make the situation much worse. That’s how we lose all self-esteem and hope. Once people have been destroyed, then how can they become constructive citizens?”
