Labor’s proposed East Timor regional processing centre:
Why we should say no
Speakers:
Luis Belun, Citizens against an Austalian Asylum Seeker Processing Centre in Timor Leste, via phone from Dili.
Sr Susan Connelly, Mary MacKillop East Timor Mission
Ian Rintoul, Refugee Action Coalition
6pm Monday March 14
NSW Teachers Federation building, 23-33 Mary st, Surry Hills, walking distance from Central station
Julia Gillard’s proposed Regional Processing Centre for asylum seekers was Labor’s answer to Tony Abbott’s election mantra about stopping the boats. The regional processing centre is all about the Labor government avoiding its obligations to asylum seekers arriving by boat.
If Gillard gets her way, East Timor will get a detention centre and risk becoming the next Nauru or Christmas Island. All boat arrivals in Australian waters would be transferred to East Timor to be processed off-shore, with no guarantee of resettlement in Australia. This forum will hear from a range of speakers about why the plan should be opposed, and what the refugee movement can do to stop it.
