ACRT asks Minister for Income Support for Asylum Seekers |
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26 MARCH 2020 The National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) and the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce (ACRT) have written to Acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alan Tudge MP, and the Prime Minister, calling for the Federal Government to urgently extend income support and access to Medicare to asylum seekers under the corona virus support package to vulnerable groups. ACRT request that:
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CONTACT US Telephone: (02) 9299 2215 Address: Locked Bag Q199, QVB NSW 1230 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
ACRT Submission |
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10 June 2020 ACRT made a submission to Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee inquiry - Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2020 [Provisions]. ACRT’s submission sought to remove the proposed new statutory search power which would give the Australian Border Force power to confiscate mobile phones from people in detention. We argued primarily on mental health grounds and the ability to be in contact with legal assistance, family and friends. We also noted that mobile phones are one of the strongest mechanisms for transparency about conditions being faced by people in detention. CLICK HERE FOR ACRT SUBMISSION
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CONTACT US Telephone: (02) 9299 2215 Address: Locked Bag Q199, QVB NSW 1230 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
ACRT Media Release |
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20 July 2020
Churches Taskforce seeks assurances to reduce detention health risks In an urgent letter to the Acting Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly and the Minister for Health, Mr Greg Hunt, the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce (ACRT) has sought urgent assurances from the responsible government public health authorities that the people at detention centres have safe accommodation during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. The NCCA and the ACRT released a combined Media Statement on Monday 20 July appealing for guaranteed access to COVID-19 testing when any symptoms are present in immigration detention centres and an assurance that people moving in and out of these locations in a staff role are both trained and monitored with regard to the highest standards of infection control and prevention. Mr Rob Floyd, Chair of the Australian Churches’ Taskforce said that “With the recent infections of staff assigned to the Mantra Hotel at Preston in Melbourne’s COVID 19 lockdown area, and Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney, we believe that the public health risks mean that those moving freely in and out of these centres pose the highest public health risk at this time.” Read the full Media Release: CHURCHES TASKFORCE SEEKS ASSURANCES TO REDUCE DETENTION HEALTH RISKS
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AN UPDATE ON CRISP |
| Taskforce meeting Thursday 28 July 2022 | |
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Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) UPDATE At the recent ACRT meeting a presentation was given by Blaise Itabelo, CRSA's Community Engagement Manager, giving an update on the CRISP program. The presentation was followed by a Q&A with Blaise and Lisa Button. This presentation was recorded and can be viewed by clicking the link below or left. Watch the recording here (27 mins) |
| CRISP - Community Refugee Integration & Settlement Pilot | |
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The new Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) program enables everyday Australians to play a key role in welcoming and supporting refugee newcomers in line with other international community sponsorship programs. |
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Group Mentorship Program |
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CRSA welcomes further groups interested in joining this national program, especially in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. A group of al least 5 adults who live near each other welcome and support a refugee household The household is on a refugee or humanitarian visa with full access to Centrelink, Medicare, Work Rights etc The group volunteers 10+ hours of support per week between them Group provides ongoing practical support as required e.g. social connection, assist with driving lessons, finding employment Since June 2020 CRSA has mobilised and supported more than 80 mentor groups around the country (comprising around 600 individuals) to work with refugee households in need of additional support. |
| Background: | |
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Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) is an incorporated Australian charity. Visit the CRSA website: www.refugeesponsorship.org.au |
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CONTACT US Telephone: (02) 9299 2215 Address: Locked Bag Q199, QVB NSW 1230 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
ACRT Media Release |
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20 June 2021 Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce shares vision of new season of community support for refugees and asylum seekers In a meeting at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday 17th June, a delegation from the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce (ACRT) met with the office of the Hon Alex Hawke MP Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs to share the churches’ vision for a new partnership and a new season. At the simplest level, the ACRT is calling on the Australian Government to:
Ms. Elizabeth Stone, General Secretary at the National Council of Churches in Australia explained that “Our churches, and other faith communities, are willing and able to be more involved in supporting refugees in our communities, and there is an existing groundswell of activity in many parts of Australia supporting people on temporary visas living and contributing to our communities. But we need government to make the changes to end detention and to support and encourage this community movement by giving permanent protection. It is good for Australia in so many ways.”
Read the full Media Release: pdf 20210620 NCCA ACRT Media Release Meeting with Minister Hawke office (176 KB)
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CONTACT US Telephone: (02) 9299 2215 Address: Locked Bag Q199, QVB NSW 1230 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
ACRT Media Release |
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30 June 2021 7,000 are waiting in limbo, need safety Currently, there are over 7,000 refugees waiting offshore. These people have already been granted permanent humanitarian visas to enter Australia but are still waiting offshore after been denied entry when the borders closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stuck in transit, many live without the right to work, study or travel freely. Families with sick children cannot access the healthcare they desperately need. Many have been stuck in this uncertainty for years, frightened and hoping for a better future. Little has been done by the government to change the barriers to entry for the vast majority of these 7000 people. The Refugee Council of Australia (RCA) and UNHCR have called on the government to apply a blanket travel exemption for humanitarian visa holders, advocating for all of them to be allowed into Australia to start a new life – as they were promised. Since August 2020, Australia has rejected 1,251 out of 1,826 applications for travel exemptions from refugees already granted protection by the government, according to Department of Home Affairs data obtained by SBS. Australia’s human rights record The latest tracker by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) showed no improvement in Australia’s human rights record in 2020, in particular relating to those most at risk of rights abuses. A HRMI spokesperson said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people with disabilities, people with low socioeconomic status, and refugees and asylum seekers were shown to be at risk of violations of every right measured by the tracker.
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CONTACT US Telephone: (02) 9299 2215 Address: Locked Bag Q199, QVB NSW 1230 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
NCCA-ACRT Letter to the Prime Minister |
| 17 August 2021
The NCCA-ACRT request commitment for Afghan refugees Like us, you must be feeling desperate about the situation in Afghanistan. We have heard reports from many of our Afghan people who have family in Afghanistan or worrying about the related issues they see as emerging in Pakistan Therefore we are all praying for a generous response from Australia to the situation of the Afghan people, in-country and in Australia, at this time. As part of ACRT, The Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (BASP) is writing letters as are Taskforce members separately and severally to their supporters with the asks below. The NCCA-ACRT letter to the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison can be downloaded here - pdf 210817 NCCA ACRT PM AFG (193 KB) The NCCA-ACRT have also sent one to Minister Hawke and Trent Zimmerman MP for North Sydney, Dave Sharma MP for Wentworth.
We give what comfort we can to those who are so traumatised by what is happening and we extend our love and support to them.
You can help too Please consider writing to the Prime Minister, the Minister for Immigration, the Labor Leader (addresses below) and your own MP. You may include the three asks below from The Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (BASP) Dear ..., We ask that Australia:
Email addresses: Prime Minister of Australia: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The Minister for Home Affairs: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Leader of the Opposition: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
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CONTACT US Telephone: (02) 9299 2215 Address: Locked Bag Q199, QVB NSW 1230 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia- CSRA |
| January 2022 New program commencing July 2022 In December, the federal government announced two important new measures that herald a new era for community sponsorship of refugees in Australia.
While these programs won't expand the size of Australia's humanitarian migration quota in the short term, this remains an important goal to achieve in future years, building on these new foundations. Thank you to the church groups and individual Australians across the country who rallied to help trail-blaze this new approach by signing up to be a part of the Group Mentorship Program for newly arrived refugees (most, but not all, being Afghan evacuees). Mentor groups are providing much needed welcome, orientation, friendship and practical support, supplementing the role of government-funded settlement services. Groups have hosted dozens of welcome picnics and other events in communities around Australia and provided families with donated laptops, phones, scooters, toys and household goods to help fill gaps. Mentor groups are helping evacuees inspect and secure suitable housing in a very challenging housing market (with some successfully negotiating significant discounts with landlords), sort out hiccups with the registration of families with Medicare and Centrelink, provide advice on employment and educational opportunities and advise on the steps that people need to take to have overseas qualifications recognised here. For more information about joining with the groups involved in a new era of refugee protection in Australia, contact Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA).
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CONTACT US Telephone: (02) 9299 2215 Address: Locked Bag Q199, QVB NSW 1230 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
Australian Government Budget 2021-22 |
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12 May 2021 The Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce notes that refugees and people seeking asylum are no better off from the budget with the Australian Government continuing to invest in offshore and onshore detention. “It seems crazy that we are continuing to pay millions more for detention rather than providing meaningful solutions,” said Rob Floyd, Chair of the Churches Refugee Taskforce. “And there is the absence of any new reforms to the community sponsorship program where church groups have put their hands up as partners,” he added. Read the Eternity News article: A BOTTOM UP VIEW OF THE BUDGET See also: Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) budget media release: Govt chooses detention over hope for world's refugees in budget - Read the full budget summary from Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) here: The Federal Budget: What it means for refugees and people seeking humanitarian protection
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CONTACT US Telephone: (02) 9299 2215 Address: Locked Bag Q199, QVB NSW 1230 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
