REFUGEE SUPPORTERS TO PROTEST AT FEDERAL LABOR CAUCUS MEETING, MONDAY 9.30am This Monday, 22 July, 9.30am, refugee supporters will be outside the Balmain Town Hall to protest against Labor’s “Manus Island Solution”. “Hundreds of refugee supporters have already attended rallies at cities across Australia over the weekend to express their outrage at Rudd’s shocking policy,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition. “We will be outside the Labor caucus meeting in Balmain to take the message to the Labor MPs themselves that anti-refugee policies are not welcome in the electorate. We want to encourage those MPs that disagree with the policy to take a stand inside, and especially outside, the caucus. “Kevin Rudd has posed as a white knight for the Labor Party, but his anti-refugee policy may well be the albatross that hangs around their candidates’ collective necks at the election. “If the Labor leaders thinks the party can slide back into office over the broken lives and the bodies of asylum seekers, it should think again. Refugee groups already have plans for more rallies next weekend. “John Howard’s Pacific Solution collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions. There is everyone reason to believe the Manus Island solution will go the same way. Papua New Guinea needs foreign aid, not a detention centre. “We will also have a special message for Tony Burke. The fate of scores of refugees is sitting on his desk waiting for his signature. Some of them have been waiting years for the Minister to finally make a decision. Unless he makes a decision before the election, he will be putting their future in the hands of Scott Morrison. “In particular, we are calling on the Minister to lift the bar and allow Sayed Abdellatif and his family to apply for a protection visa. Sayed has been wrongly vilified by the media and by the Opposition as an “Egyptian terrorist”, but he is still waiting for the Minister to allow him to make a protection claim. “The family has been kept in detention for more than a year on the basis of incorrect information. And still they are separated in Villawood detention centre. Minister Burke has the opportunity to right a fundamental wrong.” The Refugee Action Coalition will be holding a refugee rally on 11am Saturday, 24 August in Marrickville in the seat of Grayndler, presently held by Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 05:51:45 +0000
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