DARWIN — “I'm here because I don't like injustice, and I don't like being ashamed of my country”, declared Jack, one of the 250 people who attended a public meeting in support of the East Timorese asylum seekers on November 17. The meeting was the biggest event ever organised by the Refugee Action Network.

“The people we are rallying for here have contributed to the community for more than a decade. It's not fair to send them back. They are proud to be Australian and help to make Darwin a better city”, another participant told Green Left Weekly.

Domingos da Silva received a letter from the immigration department stating that he, his wife and five children must leave Australia within 28 days. Da Silva told the crowd that his family wanted to remain in Australia. He said it was very hard for his children to understand why the government was forcing them to leave the only country they have ever known.

Joe Mulqueeny, a popular speaker at refugees' rights rallies, told the meeting that the East Timorese had lived in Darwin longer than he had: “Why doesn't Ruddock send me back to Ireland — or my beautiful wife back to Italy — but most of all why doesn't he go back to England — the land of his forebears!”

Delia Lawrie, Labor MLA for Karama, pledged that the NT Labor government would help fund the asylum seekers' legal aid and “lobby at the highest levels to obtain permanent residency for the East Timorese”. Lawrie's pledges were greeted enthusiastically by the crowd.

The final speaker was Jose Gusmao, who thanked the people of Darwin for their support for the Timorese cause.

From Green Left Weekly, November 27, 2002.
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