{"id":278,"date":"2010-08-19T06:10:31","date_gmt":"2010-08-19T06:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/refugeeactioncoalitionsydney.wordpress.com\/?p=278"},"modified":"2010-08-19T06:10:31","modified_gmt":"2010-08-19T06:10:31","slug":"forum-where-to-for-refugee-rights-after-the-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/?p=278","title":{"rendered":"Forum: Where to for refugee rights after\u00a0the\u00a0election?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Come along to this post-election forum organised by the Refugee Action Coalition to discuss what the result means for refugee rights<\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

2pm Saturday September 11,\u00a0 Sydney Uni, New Law bldg rm 100
\n[enter main City rd entrance, look for signs]<\/p>\n

Speakers include:<\/p>\n

David Shoebridge (Greens candidate state election)
\nNick Riemer (Refugee Action Coalition)
\nOthers to be confirmed<\/p>\n

Shamefully throughout this election campaign both major parties have been using refugees as political footballs. One thing is clear, whichever party forms government after this election, we are going to have to keep up the fight for a genuine \u201cWelcome Refugees\u201d policy.
\nTony Abbott wants to turn the clock back to the worst days of the Howard government, boasting that the Liberals will turn boats back, refuse processing to asylum seekers without documents and introduce temporary protection visas. They want to deny refugees travel rights and family reunion, and re-open a detention centre on Nauru.<\/p>\n

But we cannot be blind to Labor\u2019s role in government or their willingness to compete with Abbott in a race to the bottom to deny rights to refugees. Tragically, Labor\u2019s policies have added to the fear-mongering. Gillard\u2019s East Timor solution\u2014a plan for a regional processing centre for all asylum seekers intercepted on their way to Australia\u2014is just a way for Labor to avoid Australia\u2019s obligations under the Refugee Convention to welcome and process asylum seekers. It is nothing more than a version of Howard\u2019s Pacific Solution with East Timor substituted for Nauru. Rather than stand up for principled humanitarian policies, Gillard told the National Press Club that on refugee issues there was \u201ca growing consensus between the two sides of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with the re-election of a Labor government and The Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate, we will need to continue to campaign against offshore processing and mandatory detention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Come along to this post-election forum organised by the Refugee Action Coalition to discuss what the result means for refugee rights 2pm Saturday September 11,\u00a0 Sydney Uni, New Law bldg rm 100 [enter main City rd entrance, look for signs] Speakers include: David Shoebridge (Greens candidate state election) Nick Riemer (Refugee Action Coalition) Others to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-past-actions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t