Adelaide-based advocates for refugees and asylum-seekers have called on the Albanese Government to “stop moving the goalposts” and implement policy changes that will assist the “forgotten people” who remain in limbo. Source: The Southern Cross.
Addressing the Justice for Refugees SA (J4RSA) annual meeting earlier this month, chair Chris Keating said the organisation had taken every opportunity over the past 12 months to remind the Government that it had a “moral and political obligation” to fulfil its promise to put Australia’s refugee policy “back on the right course”.
“We recognise there are no simple solutions for some of these problems but we are convinced that small changes in policy can have a huge impact on the lives of so many refugees,” Mr Keating said.
“This year we have visited, picketed and written to SA Ministers and Members of Parliament to register our support for the steps the Albanese Government has taken toward reforming refugee policy. These changes have been both important and welcome.
“Again, we have stressed over and over that much more needs to be done before Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers can be described as fair and compassionate.
“We have shared our disappointment that the system for processing claims for protection continues to inflict crippling uncertainty and very real suffering on the people subject to it, while burdening Australian taxpayers with an unjustifiably high moral and economic cost.”
Mr Keating said J4RSA was particularly concerned about the plight of refugees and asylum-seekers living in detention in Papua New Guinea – many held there for 10 years.
FULL STORY
Advocates call for action on ‘forgotten’ refugees (By Lindy McNamara, The Southern Cross)
