Rural Australians For Refugees Supports The Release Of Long-Term Detainees
A national conference for the group Rural Australians for Refugees this weekend coincided with the announcement that
long-term detainees in immigration detention may be allowed to live in the community while their visa applications are
being processed.
Long-term detainees in immigration detention include many people who have professional work skills and people who would
be very happy to work and live in rural and regional Australia. Rural Australians for Refugees supports -
• the release of asylum seekers in detention on the mainland and on Nauru and Christmas Island
• faster and more just processing of all future asylum claims
• the granting of permanent protection rather than temporary protection and bridging visas.
Rural Australians for Refugees welcomes the announcement and urges all Cabinet members to support this change. We would
like long-term detainees to be allowed to live in the community with full rights to work and to social services such as
Medicare, education and financial support. We believe that not only are they being severely harmed by long-term
detention, but also that they will make a positive contribution to Australia. The recent experience with Afghani TPV
holders in Young, NSW, shows that they contributed in excess of $2 million to the local economy in an eighteen month
period.
The Conference was told that the numbers of people seeking asylum in industrialized countries has fallen considerably.
The current policies of locking up asylum seekers under harsh conditions can not even be justified as a way of "stopping
the boats".
A recent report into the costs of the current policy by A Just Australia gives a saving of $120 million per year to
Australia for ending mandatory detention and ending the so-called Pacific solution. Not only do the current policies
cause physical and psychological damage, they are economically unviable.
The national RAR Conference was attended by a number of refugees now living and working in rural and regional Australia
who spoke very positively of their experiences. Members of local RAR groups who had helped the men with needs such as
accommodation also spoke about the bonds of friendship that the men had made within their new communities, and how they
had been made welcome. Rural and regional areas in Australia historically have found it difficult to attract people for
work, and refugees are now contributing to the rural and regional economies and social life.
" I was so moved to hear one young man from the Hazara minority, which is persecuted in Afghanistan, speak about the
peace and sense of belonging that he has found since beginning work in the Southern Highlands area of NSW. His
Australian friends there clearly feel that he is contributing a lot to his workplace and to the community." said Mira
Wroblewski from Rural Australians for Refugees.
" Ian Skiller from Tooleybuc, in country NSW, was featured on ABCs "Australian Story" in 2004. Ian also spoke warmly
about how the refugees now working and living in his area have been accepted as part of his community and his family. I
am now hoping to attract refugees to work and live in my local area. We would welcome anybody who is released from
detention after this announcement" said Ms Wroblewski