Palm Sunday Walk – Justice for Refugees - Wonthaggi
Preparations are underway for this year’s Palm Sunday (2 April pro-refugee and anti-war rallies in every capital city and many regional towns).
The rallies are demanding permanent visas for all refugees and no war.
The rallies will have particular importance and are expected to attract bigger crowds this year in the wake of two controversial announcements by the Albanese government. On 12 February the government granted permanent visas to 19,000 refugees in Australia but left an even bigger number – those on bridging visas because they have been rejected under the fast track system, and the refugees brought from Manus and Nauru – with no pathway to permanency.
The second was the announcement that the government intends to spend more than $368 billion dollars on nuclear submarines under the military AUKUS agreement between Australia, United Kingdom and the US.
The government is under pressure because of both announcements.
Over 1000 asylum seekers and refugees rallied outside the federal Parliament House on Monday, 6 March with hundreds maintaining the protest for the whole week of the parliamentary sittings.
Big turnouts are again expected at the rallies next Sunday as refugees have been left waiting, many in the hell-holes of Manus and Nauru, or without rights in Australia, for 10 years and longer, have no secure future.
The outcry over the AUKUS agreement and nuclear submarines is also expected to boost the number at the Palm Sunday rallies, as the decision has been denounced by senior Labor figures, Left and Right and has been opposed by many unions. Labor branches are already carrying resolutions against the nuclear submarine deal.
“The connection between foreign policy, war and refugees doesn’t need to be spelled out,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, “Many of the asylum seekers left on bridging visas are victims of Australia’s foreign policy failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.
“Labor is also maintaining Morrison’s ban on accepting refugees from Indonesia - 7,000 of them are Afghans. The huge amounts of money being wasted on nuclear submarines could be spent providing safety and a secure future for refugees, with hundreds of millions left over for improving education, health, housing and welfare rights for all.”
Wonthaggi – Palm Sunday Walk – Justice for Refugees
Sunday 2 April 2.00pm
Meet under the Wonthaggi Mine Whistle, Apex park
For further details contact: Felicia Di Stefano via email
Organised by South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees
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