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Fighting for justice and fairness for refugees

June 25, 2021 BY

Children show their support for refugees. Photo: PETER MARSHALL

TORQUAY refugee advocate Laura Connor says the only way Australia will make progress on the issue is if everyone walks a mile in the shoes of refugees.

The theme of this year’s Refugee Week (June 20-26) is “Unity – a way forward” and Ms Connor, a member of the Surf Coast Rural Australians for Refugees, said the theme resonated especially strongly given recent developments surrounding the Tamil refugees known as the Biloela family.

“What we do need to do is find a way forward, because it’s obvious the people of Australia are having a fresh look at the whole refugee/asylum seeker situation, and I think we have to find a way forward, otherwise this will go on and on and on, and we need to find a solution,” Ms COnnor said.

“It’s this family, and it’s been four years, but there are so many thousands of others in that situation, and the world is a very different place than it was when this whole thing started so long ago, when people first started coming here.

“We should embrace unity, to find a way that is just and fair, and to show a little bit of compassion and maybe just walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, because these people have fled war-torn countries, and famine.

“We’re not far off people who are going to be escaping environmental dangers, it’s going to be part of our future, so we’re going to have to find a way to deal with it and take our responsibility in the world that need our help.”

SCRAR started in 2002 and now has about 70 members and supporters.

Ms Connor joined the group about eight years ago, and the Corangamite Grandmothers Against Refugee Detention (CGRAD) more recently.

“I just got to the point where I thought it was so unfair and unjust that I felt that I couldn’t keep just being angry about it; I had to do something constructive and encourage our politicians to create policies with justice and fairness,” she said.

“Of course there are laws, but we can approach this in a more humanitarian way.”

She said the several local refugee advocacy groups – including SCRAR, CGRAD, Aireys Inlet RAR, Queenscliff RAR, and the Combined Refugee Action Group – had helped many refugee families across the region.

“A lot of these visas are very cruel, because people can’t work, they can’t study, they can’t earn money, they don’t have benefits; there are so many different visas.

“Particularly during COVID, there are families that just rely on the goodwill of people who are helping them with food and money donations; just keeping them going.

“So I think it’s lovely to see that there is goodwill out there, and many of these families that we’ve met have been the most lovely people, and their courage to keep going against all adversity is just extraordinary.”

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