A petition with over 3600 signatures is being delivered to Labor members of Parliament over the next few days calling on the Labor politicians to support a resolution being to the Federal Labor parliamentary caucus opposing offshore processing of asylum seekers. (The petition can be viewed at: https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/bill-shorten-oppose-offshore-detention-of-asylum-seekers)
Federal Labor politicians ignored official Labor policy and restarted the Pacific Solution Mark II in August 2012; an even more draconian policy, denying resettlement to any boat arrivals, was implemented by the Rudd government in July 2013; a policy that has since been more cruelly pursued by the Abbott government.
The federal Parliamentary caucus is set to debate and vote on a resolution opposing offshore processing at its meeting in Canberra next Tuesday, 17 June.
The Victorian state Labor conference voted unanimously to call on Federal Labor politicians to oppose offshore processing recently.
Yesterday (Thursday, 12 June), Opposition leader Bill Shorten attempted to pre-empt next Tuesday’s discussion with his declaration that the next Labor government would not dismantle the Pacific Solution, and that Labor believed that ‘regional resettlement is the best way to handle people who try to come to Australia’.
“But Bill Shorten knows very well that there are no ‘regional resettlement’ arrangements. Nauru has said that it will not resettle, while it is obvious that PNG is both unwilling and unable to provide secure resettlement,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“A commitment to ‘regional resettlement’ is nothing more than a commitment to maintain the horror of Manus Island. Despite Reza Barati’s murder and the horror of detention on Manus Island, Shorten is unwilling to even commit Labor to closing Manus Island. It will have more families condemned to the misery and uncertainty of Nauru,” Rintoul said.
“It is a parody of commitment to compassion to say that Labor is concerned to save lives at sea while supporting a detention regime that has killed Reza Barati, blinded two others, and continues to put the mental and physical health of hundreds of others at risk.”
“As long as Labor remains committed to mandatory detention and offshore processing, it cannot be considered a compassionate alternative to the Coalition government. Tuesday’s vote will mark the beginning of a debate inside Labor to restore a commitment to humanitarian refugee policy.”
One Western Australian signatory to the petition commented, “I have seen the harm caused by offshore detention. This policy is completely immoral and a great risk to our countries reputation in our region. We are creating hell for people who have already endured unimaginable suffering and practicing a perverse colonialism on poorer nations in our region! It must stop!”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul mob 0417 275 713
