Forgotten 505 need resettlement options
Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) estimates there are 505 refugees and people seeking asylum who are still trapped in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Nauru and Australia in the offshore processing system with the prospect of nowhere to go.
- Some of them have been in detention for almost a decade now.
- Some have lived without hope for so long, in brutal and inhumane conditions, that they have been broken by the experience.
- Fourteen have died on Australia’s watch.
Currently there are 1,384 people trapped in the offshore processing system. Even if the resettlement arrangements for the USA, Canada and New Zealand are fully taken up, it is estimated that 505 people will be left behind.
When the Australian Government announced the completion of the offshore processing agreement in PNG in late 2021, remaining refugees are relying on the PNG Government and charities for support.
Many of the 505 likely to be left behind are deeply traumatised. It is the uncertainty, and the lack of dignity and hope that destroys people.
RCOA, as the peak body representing the organisations working in refugee support, advocacy and policy in Australia is working to put the case to both the broader Australian community and decision-makers to accept that the 505 need a bespoke strategy to assist them.
These people need resettlement and safety and our support.
Our new Government and the new Senators and Members of Parliament need to know that we want them to find humane resettlement options for the forgotten 505.
9 Years of Harm - Can it come to an end?
End Indefinite Detention - Settle the Refugees
When: Sunday 17 July 2022 2:00pm ACST
Where: Leave from Tarntanyangga/Victoria Square - walk to Vietnamese Boat People Monument (end of Kintore Ave)
Adelaide Vigil for Manus and Nauru are organising a 9-Year event, since the resumption of offshore indefinite detention, on Sunday 17 July.
The anniversary on July 19th (Adelaide event on the 17th) as a significant opportunity for Labor to move to finally bring this tragic harm to a close.
Download: pdf FLYER_9 Years of Harm - Can it come to an end? (103 KB)
Please let Adelaide members/contacts know of the event.
Temporary Protection Visas in Australia:
A reform proposal
Providing permanency to the 31,000 men, women, and children living in limbo in Australia for almost a decade is an urgent concern, and a new Kaldor Centre policy brief sets out how to do it.
Temporary Protection Visas in Australia: A reform proposal offers a relatively simple, swift, and practical pathway to permanency, within existing legislative provisions and with only minimal changes to policy and regulations.
The policy brief is co-authored by Murdoch University Associate Professor Mary Anne Kenny, University of South Australia Professor Nicholas Procter and Emeritus Professor Carol Grech.
Produced in consultation with refugees and asylum seekers living on temporary protection visas and bridging visas, civil society, and legal groups working with refugees, the recommended measures would help reduce mental distress and re-traumatisation for people in this group and support them to flourish. Crucially, these individuals would also be enabled to see their family abroad, and their applications for family members to join them in Australia would be prioritised.
‘These reforms allow everyone to move forward – the Australian community and people in the “legacy caseload”, who could finally begin to live full lives in the community they’ve been part of for so long,’ says co-author Mary Anne Kenny.
The Albanese government has committed to ending temporary protection. At this pivotal moment, this Kaldor Centre policy brief maps the way, with 17 inter-related recommendations to resolve the status of people in the so-called ‘legacy caseload’ so they can settle and give back to Australia.
Read the brief: Temporary Protection Visas in Australia: A reform proposal
Kaldor Centre Resources: understand temporary protection and its impacts on individuals
Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce (ACRT) is an activity of the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA).
We believe our faith calls us to welcome the stranger and care for the people who find themselves displaced, marginalised or homeless, and those in need of protection. We want to see a compassionate and generous response to welcoming refugees into Australia.
