Biloela return is welcome but many more need help

Facilitating the Nadesalingam family’s return to Biloela was just and welcome but it also highlights the situation of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers still unable to call Australia home.

Commenting on the injustices faced by so many refugees and people seeking asylum, the chair of the Vincentian Refugee Network (VRN) Tim McKenna said, ‘Vinnies welcomes the Labor Government’s promise to give permanent protection to the 19,000 refugees in our community who have been stranded on temporary visas for nearly a decade.’

‘However, it needs to quickly announce the implementation plan for this policy, including a date for its completion and fair access to family reunion for all these people.’

Dr McKenna was speaking in advance of Refugee Week 2022 (19-25 June) whose theme of “Healing” focuses on the need to address the damage inflicted by Federal Government policies and actions in recent years. Health issues and psychological distress are among the many impacts.

‘During last year’s Refugee Week, Vinnies asked the then government to return the Nadesalingam family to their home in Biloela,’ Dr McKenna said.

‘At last this has happened, but these folk, much loved in their community, are but one example of the thousands of people from many countries who are rightly seeking our protection.’

‘Vinnies has put this case directly to senior ministers and we ask all Australians to contact their MPs to seek justice for people who have suffered so much.’

‘It is ALP policy to abolish the so-called ‘fast-track’ refugee assessment process, which has been condemned as unfair by the Australian Human Rights Commission. We urge that this process be replaced by a fair one that re-assesses those denied protection under the fast- track process, protects them from the threat of deportation and releases those currently held in detention.’

The VRN notes that people seeking asylum also need a proper safety net.

Since 2017 the number of people on the Status Resolution Support Service (SRSS) has dropped from around 13,000 to under 2,000. Funding has been reduced by 85 percent over five years and successive changes to eligibility criteria have resulted in making thousands of people who seek asylum destitute.