LET’S #KEEP THEM SAFE

Australia can do better in its treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Yet another Inquiry into our Regional Processing Centres, this time Nauru, has found that:

• the conditions are “not adequate, appropriate or safe for the asylum seekers detained there”
• the running cost is “extraordinary”
• it is “not well run, nor are the operators properly accountable to the Commonwealth”
• the average time for processing claims (402 days) is damaging the wellbeing of asylum seekers
• this is not safe places for detainees, especially for women and children.

More specifically, we believe it is unacceptable that:

• The Australian Government is planning to spend $8.3 billion over four years for the purpose of detaining asylum seekers offshore
• The cost of detaining an individual on Nauru is $400,000/year
• The average refugee status processing time is 402 days
• 725 complaints of mistreatment of asylum seekers were reported in a 14 month period
• There were 253 incidents of self harm, plus:
• 45 allegations of child abuse and sexual assault since 2012
• 15 cases of sexual assault or rape
• 1 death on Nauru 
• 2 deaths on Manus Island - with no justice for the murder of Reza Berati.

Australia is a rich nation that is wasting billions of dollars in offloading its human rights obligations to poorer nations that don’t share our resources or our values. It’s time to bring these asylum seekers back to the mainland and provide them with the chance for a healthy and safe future in Australia.

Escalating wars and conflicts mean we are experiencing a global refugee crisis. At current refugee camp resettlement rates, the UNHCR “queue” – if no more people were to join it – is estimated to be 117 years long.

While the Government has announced an increase to our refugee quota, Australia can do more.

Australia currently ranks 67th out of 161 countries for refugees per capita of population and, even with an additional 12,000 places, our refugee intake still remains low by comparison.

We also call on the Government to stop its planned bombing raids in Syria. 

According to Human Rights Commission Professor Gillian Triggs: "We know that [bombing campaigns] in fact kill far more civilians than they do targets, they are extremely dangerous and they do lead to civilians panicking and leaving their homes, which creates another round of refugees.”

Please sign the petition to let our Government know that these injustices against desperate and vulnerable people cannot continue.

As our national anthem states: "For those who've come across the seas, We've boundless plains to share, With courage let us all combine, To advance Australia fair."

To the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, Qld Senator Glen Lazarus and and Member for Fisher Mal Brough: Australia must enact fairer, more compassionate treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. I call for the following immediate policy changes, to allow asylum seekers and refugees the chance for a safer future here in Australia:

1. Closure of the Manus Island and Nauru Regional Processing Centres and enactment of a faster and more humane system of housing asylum seekers and processing their refugee status claims on the mainland.
2. Authorisation of genuine refugees, currently in offshore detention centres, to be permanently settled in Australia.
3. While we commend the Government for increasing the refugee intake from Syria by 12,000, we ask that Australia’s refugee quota be increased by a further 10,000.
4. We call on the Australian Government to cease involvement in bombing Syria, as bombing may lead to more destruction, suffering and refugees.
 Buddies Refugee Support Group Inc.