AFTER eleven years of living in Australia without a permanent visa, employment, or access to the Medicare system, a Sri Lankan refugee and asylum seeker based in regional Victoria is beginning a new journey.<\/p>\n
Neil Para set off on a \u201cwalk for freedom\u201d on Tuesday, and is travelling on foot from Ballarat to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese\u2019s electoral office in Marrickville, Sydney.<\/p>\n
His aim is to promote the experience of asylum seekers in this country who can\u2019t legally earn money, and he plans to complete his fourth day of walking in Heathcote today, Friday 4 August, heading towards Graytown tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m calling on the government to end the uncertainty for all the waiting refugees,\u201d he said. \u201cPlease grant us permanent visas and the right to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am walking so that refugee children such as my children can have certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n
The walk began outside the office of Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government and Member for Ballarat, Catherine King, and Mr Para expects to deliver a petition when he arrives in Sydney in September, before attending a rally.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fled war and persecution in Sri Lanka and arrived in Australia in 2012,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHundreds of asylum seekers like me from different parts of the world were seeking safety in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, we experienced years of detention in offshore and onshore detention centres that almost broke our spirit, but we are resilient, and we carry the hope that we\u2019ll call Australia home one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Para does not want to return to Sri Lanka due to safety concerns, however he was not one of the 19,000 refugees granted a Resolution of Status visa in February.<\/p>\n
He was a hairdresser in Sri Lanka and said he and his wife Sugaa have a desire to work, as a police officer and aged care worker respectively.<\/p>\n
Alongside their daughters, Nivash, Kartie, and Nive, the couple are embedded in the Ballarat community, which they consider home.<\/p>\n
They receive financial support from the community, friends, family, and the local branch of Rural Australians for Refugees to live.<\/p>\n
The family gives time to various charities, and have volunteered with the SES, Ballarat Health Services, and tourist information centre. Mr Para is also the man behind the newly established Union of Australian Refugees.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ADF Navy took us to Christmas Island, a refuge from the turmoil we were escaping,\u201d Mr Para said. \u201cToday, I stand with refugees as part of the union.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Para\u2019s daughter Nive was born in Australia, is a citizen, and has a Medicare card, but she doesn\u2019t have the same rights as other Australian children.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are tired of living in limbo for more than a decade,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have spent years in detention, the harshest time of our lives, but it doesn\u2019t end.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot return to a country where we don\u2019t feel safe and we don\u2019t feel at home. We yearn to contribute to the society we now call home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Visit change.org\/endtheuncertainty for more information on the petition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AFTER eleven years of living in Australia without a permanent visa, employment, or access to the Medicare system, a Sri Lankan refugee and asylum seeker based in regional Victoria is beginning a new journey. Neil Para set off on a \u201cwalk for freedom\u201d on Tuesday, and is travelling on foot from Ballarat to Prime Minister […]<\/p>\n