NEWCASTLE — After a week of determined campaigning by students, academics and staff, the refugee sanctuary referendum on Newcastle University finished at 3pm on September 20. More than 700 students voted in the week-long referendum and there were 477 votes in favour and 130 against.

The referendum campaign was organised by university students who wanted to show support for the courageous breakout of refugees from the Woomera detention centre last Easter. The purpose of the campaign was to get a statement of support from the student body for this breakout and for those refugees who face persecution and discrimination from the federal government.

The referendum gave students a chance to call on the university to provide legal and medical assistance to refugees in need, English classes free of charge and to support the student association in giving assistance to escaped refugees.

Support for the yes case in the referendum was aided during the week when recently retired Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld gave a lecture at Newcastle University on the issue of asylum seekers. Einfeld compared the abusive behaviour of the guards at the Woomera detention centre to the “SS thugs of the Nazi regime”. He also condemned the mean-spirited nature of Australian refugee policy, noting that “a country like Sweden, with a third of our population, takes in four times as many refugees as Australia does”.

Einfeld's September 19 lecture was organised by the Newcastle University Equity and Diversity Unit and attracted over 500 people.

Following the lecture, the university's deputy vice-chancellor, Brian English, expressed a desire to hold a similar referendum for staff and post-graduate students.

From Green Left Weekly, September 25, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page. 

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