Hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers will rally at Parliament House, Canberra from 11am, Tuesday, 6 September, to demand that the government acts on its promise to grant permanent visas to all refugees on temporary visas. Cars and buses are bringing refugees from Melbourne and Sydney.
Speakers include: Senator Nick McKim Greens), Andrew Wilkie MP, Tahereh Nassrat Afghan Peace Foundation, Mostafa Faraji, (TPV refugee who arrived as a 15 year-old unaccompanied minor, Iranian artist) and other representatives of Bangladeshi, Rohingya and refugee communities.
There are 19,000 people living in Australia on temporary protection (TPV) or Safe Haven Enterprise (SHEV) visas. Another 10,000 were refused a visa under the fast-track system – that is neither fair nor fast – and are living on even more precarious bridging visas.
While Labor has announced an increase to the skilled migration program of 35,000, refugees on temporary visas, many of whom were the cleaners and warehouse pandemic front-line workers, are still waiting for Labor to make good on its election promise to grant them permanent visas.
For ten years and longer, they have led precarious existence on temporary visas that have had to be renewed; they have struggled to find permanent jobs, not been able to travel, denied family reunion and the right to tertiary education.
Despite the promise to grant them permanent visas, TPV holders are still being denied the right to travel, and there are delays in processing expired temporary visas. Labor has also promised to scrap the fast track system.
“All that we ask is that the government works out the details of moving people off TPVs onto permanent visas, so our life in limbo ends sooner rather than later,” said one of the rally organisers, Iranian TPV holder, Arad Nik.
“There are hundreds of Nadesalingham families who need safety and the security of a permanent visa. They could be granted a permanent visa as easily as the Biolela family was,” said Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, “We hope Immigration minister, Andrew Giles, will take the opportunity of the rally to announce the date that TPVs will end.”
For more information, contact: Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713;
Arad Nik 0427 762 361
Mostafa Faraji 0477 147 856;
Tahereh Nassrat, Afghan Peace Foundation 0432 186 002.
