Local Group News

CVRSN – at Bendigo’s Easter Parade … obviously we teamed up with the purple “Grandmothers”

Central Victorian Refugee Support Network (CVRSN)

meets in Castlemaine bi-monthly with representatives from 6 local Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) groups –

Ballarat, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Daylesford, Macedon Ranges and Maryborough.

For further information - email: rarbendigo@gmail.com

The CVRSN currently has 2 main functions:

1. Sharing of information, etc. between local RAR groups 2. To initiating local projects … for example …

➢ Forum in Bendigo - 2013 ➢ Wannon Project - 2014 ➢ National RAR Network – 2014-2017 ➢ The Accommodation and Employment Working Group – 2015-2017

May 2018

Castlemaine: Vigil - every Wednesday - Information Centre, 44 Mostyn Street, Castlemaine - 5-6pm

Bendigo: Rally - Friday following the 2nd Tuesday of every month - cnr View St and Pall Mall – 5.30pm

Castlemaine: Welcome Dinner

A Welcome Dinner will be held on Sunday, 20 March in the Ray Bradfield room at 5.30pm. The food will be several Vietnamese dishes, prepared by an RAR member. The dinner is part of the Council grant awarded to LCMS and RAR Castlemaine

Bendigo: Schools Debate

Tuesday, 20th June, during Refugee Week, Bendigo RAR will again host a debating competition between three local secondary schools: Bendigo Senior Secondary College, Girton Grammar, and Catherine McAuley College. The debates will be staged in one of Bendigo's historic law courts, adding drama to the proceedings. We hope that the debates will cause the Year 11 and 12 students to think seriously about issues relating to refugees and people seeking asylum.

RAR National Press Release - Community Sponsorship

• Rural Communities Want to Welcome More Refugees – 23 April 2018 - here

• Open Letter to Mark Butler, President of the ALP here

Dept of Home Affairs Humanitarian Program 2018-19 Discussion Paper (410KB PDF)

• The Dept invites Submissions from all interested people and organisations putting forward views on the composition of the 2018-19 Humanitarian Program.

• NB: “Regional processing arrangements and Australia’s management of the illegal maritime arrival legacy caseload are not within the scope of this discussion paper."

• Send your submissions to humanitarian.policy@homeaffairs.gov.au by 25 May 2018

Richard Flanagan’s keynote address at the National Press Club, Recommend listening.

CRSI Community Refugee Sponsorship Initiative is a joint project of the Refugee Council of Australia, Amnesty International Australia, Save the Children Australia, Welcome to Australia, Rural Australians for Refugees and the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce.

• Download RAR Press Release on Community Sponsorship – 23 April 2018 here

Cuts to SRSS program (Status Resolution Support Service) – Have you sign RCOA’s petition calling on Malcolm Turnbull to #ChangeThePolicy of cruelty and save these life-saving supports for people seeking asylum? If we can show him there is strong community support, we could save these life-saving supports.

• Download RCOA’s Briefing Note: Drastic Reductions to Income Support for People Seeking Asylum

– Australian Refugee Action Network

ARAN Petition, Justice for Refugees, at the end of this Newsletter.

National ARAN Conference: Melbourne: 7-8 July, 2018 - Conference details here

ARAN Billboard of Events ARAN Facebook

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The 2018 Tampa Award 2018

was presented at the RAR National Conference to Behrouz Boochani for his courage under extreme difficulties.

The Tampa Human Rights Award, was originally proposed by active RAR member Brother Clancy of Chevalier College in Bowral in 2001, to be an annual event, presented to a group or individual who has made a selfless and substantial contribution to the welfare of refugees.

2001 - Capt Arne Rinnan, Captain of the MV Tampa; 2002 - Mount Isa City Council; 2003 - Elaine Smith; 2005 - Rob and Anne Simpson.

Maryborough RAR

Not much to report from our meeting. It was mainly Jeanne’s report on the National RAR Conference, and planning for Refugee Sunday. Also, one of our supporters gave us a donation of $200 which was very kind.

Bendigo RAR & GADRC

Palm Sunday Rally in Bendigo – about 50 people attended locally, some even coming from Ballarat. Other Bendigo members went to the Melbourne rally, where, though numbers have been down in the last couple of years, there were over 6,000.

Bendigo Easter Parade –very successful – and many thanks to members of other groups who joined us.

Monthly Rallies “30 minutes of Support” – Monthly rally on the Fri following the 2nd Tues - 5.00pm.

Letter Writing Group – 10am - 3rd Tuesday of each month at Corner Store View St, Bendigo

Shev sub-committee – First 2 men have already been Bendigo for a “Short-Stay” to meet local people and potential employers, explore Bendigo, its community facilities and education opportunities. Learning curve for all involved

Market Place Shopping Centre RAR/GADRC/Amnesty Information Stall – first Saturday in every month

Film Nights – 1. “Hope Road” – Thurs, 3 May at Mackay Theatre, LaTrobe University, Bendigo

2. “Human Flow” - Thurs, 21st June at The Star Cinema, Eaglehawk

Forum – postponed till June 2018 - a focus on Businesses this year. Services/professions will be invited.

Fundraising – over $2,000 was raised at Drew Lawson’s Art Exhibition - Colours of Silence

Bendigo RAR & GADRC continued …

Refugee Week - planning well under way –

• Sunday Community Celebration Dinner (Bendigo RAR with LCMS)

• Monday Event for school aged children (Bendigo RAR with GADRC & YPR)

• Tuesday The Schools Debate (Bendigo RAR)

• Wed Launch of the RAR Bendigo Business/Refugee Innovation Award (Bendigo RAR/COGB)

• Thursday Afghani Speaker at the Library (Bendigo RAR with YPR) & then Film Night at The Star Cinema – “Human Flow” (Bendigo RAR)

• Friday An activity for children (Bendigo Friends and Mentors)

Castlemaine RAR Community Picnic

Welcome Picnic (Castlemaine Botanic Gardens) - a great success and well-attended. A total of 60 people came from two groups who travelled up from the Lentara House of Welcome to Refugees in Brunswick and the Brigidine Asylum Seeker Project in Middle Park. Very positive feedback from the coordinators of Lentara and BASP saying that those who came really enjoyed the day. The next picnic will be held 2 years from now; the plan is to apply for a council community grant to cover costs.

National RAR Conference

Four members of RAR Castlemaine attended the RAR Conference on the weekend of 6, 7, 8 April. Ellen O’Gallagher reported that the Conference was excellent, with extremely good speakers, workshops, other activities and an abundance of food.

Support for new family

A Tamil family recently moved to live in Castlemaine and are settling in well. They are in the early stages of the visa application process, and do not currently receive any financial assistance from the Government. BASP provides a small stipend; meeting ongoing expenses is a challenge. People in the Castlemaine community have been very generous donating food, household items and soccer gear.

Good Friday Concert

Castlemaine Uniting Church held a concert of sacred music on Good Friday, a wonderful event, with over 100 people attending and donating generously. $1260 in donations was handed on to RAR Castlemaine to transfer the funds to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. Jo Gumly, Events Manager at ASRC, was very pleased with the donation and asked for a photo of the concert to put on their Facebook page.

Vigil

The vigil continues to be held every week on the Market Building steps, from 5-6 pm on Wednesday. A regular group of 8-10 people are present each week. People often stop to chat or to donated to the ASRC food Fund tin.

Attendance at rallies

Some RAR members attended the Palm Sunday Rally in Melbourne, the Palm Sunday gathering in Bendigo and the Easter Sunday Parade in Bendigo.

Ballarat RAR

Weekly Vigil: Ballarat RAR continues with weekly vigil outside Catherine Kings Office. We encourage people to sign petitions, open letters to Politicians etc. More and more people are giving positive responses.

Sausage Sizzle Saturday 21st RAR held its 3rd sausage sizzle outside Coles in Bakery Hill. Almost a quarter of the money raised is by donations. RAR banner displayed.

FM Radio Spot: RAR has a regular monthly time spot on FM Radio 2nd Thursday of the month at 11am.

RAR Conference: Two RAR members attended the RAR Conference in Wodonga.

SHEV News: About two months ago a family on a SHEV (Safe haven enterprise Visa) settled in Ballarat. The father is struggling in finding suitable work. The family is being supported by BRASSN, and members of RAR have donated food and money for the family. Several families have settled in Ballarat in the last 6 months.

Refugee Week: BRASSN (Ballarat Refugee and Asylum Seekers Network) is busy organising and coordinating a large programme to celebrate Refugee Week.

• RAR will be having an evening with Sr. Brigid Arthur co-founder of the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (BASP) on Wednesday 20th June at 7pm at the BRMC Welcome Centre.

• The House of Welcome will have its annual Luncheon at Nazareth House on Wednesday June 20th

Visiting detention: The 7 people from Ballarat who visit MITA on a weekly or fortnight basic are still being frustrated by the online booking system and having to get ABF approval to see multiple detainees. It took over 2 weeks to get ABF approval for the 1st May, usually takes 2 to 3 days.

Art Exhibition: In June 2018 the City of Ballarat’s ContainArt mobile gallery will feature art from a person held in immigration detention. It is titled See My Humanity, Dreams of a Life Beyond Detention.

• Where: Pearces Park Golden Point, Cnr Barkly and Gladstone St

• Special guest for the Official launch on Saturday 16 June 2-4 is Comedian Tom Ballard. Tom visits this man in detention. Art will be displayed 2-27 June.

• There will also be a display of this man’s art work and poetry at the Back Space Gallery, Camp St, (behind Art Gallery) from Mid - May.

• These paintings are sometimes quite confronting and evocative of the despair that is the life of someone in detention. At other time, it expressing the life he hopes for.

Palm Sunday Rally:

The Ballarat RAR group at the Melbourne Palm Sunday Rally,

and members of the Ballarat Grandmothers attended the Bendigo Rally.

Macedon Ranges RAR

• Refugee Welcome Zone / SHEV postcodes – Request to Macedon Ranges Shire to declare SHEV zone: Response was to put it out to community consultation. Decision of meeting was that a community consultation will be a waste of money and counter-productive at best. Decision reached was that unless council is prepared to move a decision, without the proposed community consultation, MRRAR will withdraw the requests.

• Work to start on a post winter plan about proposed picnics or hosting events. It is hoped that support spreads out into the wider refugee community after contact with the refugees previously involved.

• Bendigo Easter Parade - Members attended

• MRRAR Welcome Group - $300 achieved from sale of donated of which $150 allocated to meeting MRRAR costs. Small committee appointed to draft guidelines for financial distribution.

• Odyssey performance by Peter Fernon raised $860 split between Dandenong $425 & ASRC $435.

• Furniture group: Continues to accept donations and MRRAR has been transferring goods onto the West Welcome Wagon.

• Letter writing continues to have letters published in National and local paper

National RAR RAR National

RAR National Conference Wodonga April 6th – 8th 2018 – Full Report on Website. Everyone declared the conference was a success with a number of people from Central Victoria in attendance. A total of approximately 350 people in all. The Speakers were inspiring, the workshops generated enthusiasm, and the food was amazing.

But most of all the people we met were … well, for once, words fail me.

A call for Australia for a “Bill of Rights” – see last page of this newsletter. National RAR AGM was held at the conclusion of the RAR Conference with Marie Sellstrom be re-

elected unopposed as President. List of all members of 2018-19 National RAR Committee on website. More conference details on the website - www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org.au

More Conference photos RAR Conference Report

Australia in breach of Convention Against Torture by Julian Burnside | Apr 24, 2018 http://www.julianburnside.com.au/australia-in-breach-of-convention-against-torture/

The Human Rights Council, which we have struggled so hard to join, has just received the latest Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Page 9 of the report carries special criticism of Australia, by reference to several cases in which Australia failed.

Page 9 includes the following: 27. The Human Rights Committee has repeatedly considered that “the combination of the

arbitrary character of the […] detention, its protracted and/or indefinite duration, the refusal to provide information and procedural rights to the [detainees] and the difficult conditions of detention are cumulatively inflicting serious psychological harm upon them, and constitute treatment contrary to article 7 of the Covenant.” 44

Indeed, the experience of being subjected to detention that is neither necessary nor proportionate to serve any legitimate purpose, particularly in conjunction with its prolonged and potentially indefinite duration, and with the absence of any effective legal remedy has been shown to add significant mental and emotional stress to the already extremely vulnerable situation of irregular

migrants, with many cases reported of self-harm, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.

Thus, even factors that may not necessarily amount to ill-treatment when applied as an isolated measure and for a very limited period of time – such as unjustified detention, delayed access to procedural rights, or moderate physical discomfort – can cross the relevant threshold if applied cumulatively and/or for a prolonged or open-ended period of time.

28. In the view of the Special Rapporteur, as a general rule, the longer a situation of arbitrary detention and inadequate conditions lasts, and the less affected detainees can do to influence their own situation, the more intense their mental and emotional suffering will become, and the higher is the likelihood that the prohibition of ill-treatment has been breached. Depending on the circumstances, this threshold can be reached very quickly, if not immediately, for migrants in situations of increased vulnerability, such as children, women, older people, persons with disabilities, medical conditions, or torture trauma, and members of ethnic or social minorities including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons.

In particular, the Special Rapporteur endorses and reiterates the view expressed by his predecessor that the deprivation of liberty of migrant children based solely on their own or their parents’ migration status is never in the best interests of the child, exceeds the requirement of necessity, is grossly disproportionate and, even in case of short term detention, may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

29. In the view of the Special Rapporteur, detention based solely on migration-status, as such, can also amount to torture, most notably where it is being intentionally imposed or perpetuated for purposes such as deterring, intimidating, or punishing irregular migrants or their families, coercing them into withdrawing their requests for asylum, subsidiary protection or other stay, agreeing to voluntary repatriation, providing information or fingerprints, or with a view to extorting money or sexual acts, or for reasons based on discrimination of any kind, including discrimination based on immigration status.

Footnote 44 contains references to three cases against Australia.

Paragraph 18, on page 6, includes this:

“In practice, the possibility to leave must not be a merely theoretical option to be exercised at some point in the future, but must be practicable and available at any time. For example, holding migrants at an international border, an offshore facility or an airport transit zone and refusing their immigration while granting them the theoretical right to leave to any other country or territory of their choice still amounts to deprivation of liberty for such time as they are being held, …”

Sounds just like Manus and Nauru, doesn’t it?

More News

On the RAR Website Refugee Week to have your refugee week events posted on this page - send an email with information to rar.australia@gmail.com

Ration Challenge Australia 2018 Eat the same rations as a refugee for one week

Fifty more refugees approved to leave Manus and Nauru for US – The Guardian, 18 April

Cameroon team chief says he’s heard nothing from missing athletes – ABC News, 16 April

The failings of super-minister Dutton by Julian Burnside: – The Saturday Paper – 28 April 2018