I am deeply concerned about the welfare of asylum seekers - desperate people seeking our protection who have bravely and desperately fled from unimaginable suffering and persecution, people who have feared for their lives and have seen getting on a boat to be their only option. Asylum seekers are people. People like you or I who deserve compassion, dignity and kindness. They ARE NOT illegal. Australia is a signatory of the UN Refugee Convention, which means these people have every right to seek asylum in our country.

I am appalled, outraged, and deeply upset by the way our country has been treating asylum seekers.

Tony Abbott & Scott Morrison we want you to know:

> The use of the term 'illegal arrivals' for asylum seekers IS NOT OK.

Asylum seekers have a right to seek asylum here in Australia regardless of how they arrive. These people are fleeing for their lives and often see no other option but to come by boat. This language portrays a false image of genuine asylum seekers to the community and I am deeply angered and ashamed that our nation's leaders would use such language to describe people in such a dehumanising way.

> Your party's policy to 'stop the boats' IS NOT OK.

I am outraged at the reports of boats being turned away and towed back to Indonesia. Asylum seekers are in desperate need of our protection, not rejection.

> Asylum seekers being referred to by boat number rather than by name in detention centres IS NOT OK.

This is completely dehumanising and no one should be treated this way.

> Locking up asylum seekers in onshore or offshore processing centres (such as Christmas Island, Nauru, or Manus Island) IS NOT OK.

These places have been reported to be unhygienic and in urgent need of basic health and sanitation improvements; and I am horrified at the lack of adequate medical care being provided to asylum seekers on Christmas Island and offshore processing centres. I am also deeply concerned for the mental health of all asylum seekers locked up in detention and I urge you to release them to the community, they have suffered enough trauma and don't need to suffer any more.

> Detaining women and children in any form of onshore or offshore detention centre IS NOT OK.

I urge you to allow all asylum seekers currently detained to be released to live in the community in Australia. I urge you to allow all asylum seekers to be processed in the community and I urge you not to send any further asylum seekers to Nauru, Manus Island, Christmas Island or any other detention centre.

> Sending pregnant women to detention centres where they are not receiving adequate medical care IS NOT OK.

This is dangerous for both the women and their babies, especially for women with high-risk pregnancies.

> Your attempt to axe complementary protection IS NOT OK.

Women fleeing honour killings and genital mutilation deserve protection, and should not be denied protection in Australia.

> Attempting to reinstate temporary protection visas IS NOT OK

I urge you to allow permanent protection for all genuine asylum seekers.

> Women in detention centres having to request sanitary items from male guards IS NOT OK.

This is humiliating and unnecessary and I urge you to stop this practice.

> The confiscation, and often destruction, of asylum seekers’ glasses, medication, hearing aids, prosthetics and their own medical records in detention centres IS NOT OK.

This is completely dehumanising, unnecessary and a risk to their safety.

> Forcing asylum seekers to sign a code of behaviour and threatening the reduction of their income support, cancellation of their visas, or returning them to immigration detention or offshore processing centres as a consequence of breaching this code IS NOT OK.

I urge you to please consider if this were you and your family desperately seeking protection from horrendous circumstances, would you be happy with the way Australia is currently treating asylum seekers?

> Secrecy regarding asylum seekers and how they are being treated IS NOT OK.

We, the Australian public, deserve to know; and you as our leaders have the responsibility to be accountable.

> I am 100% supportive of better treatment for asylum seekers.

I am asking for you and your government to show compassion and treat all asylum seekers with the dignity and humanity they deserve as equal human beings.