BY OSCAR JUKES
DARWIN — Two-hundred people attended a March 23 public forum to discuss the federal government's plans to deport 84 East Timorese refugees living in the Northern Territory.
Organised by the East Timor Action Network, the forum was addressed by NT deputy chief minister Syd Stirling, legal aid lawyer Jonathon Kneebone, East Timorese refugee spokesperson Oscar Nunes, NT Labor senator Trish Crossin, NT federal Labor MHR Warren Snowden and Michael Hodson from the Refugee Action Network.
Stirling said the NT Labor government "is doing everything in its power to try and assist these people. They have made a valuable contribution to our community." He acknowledged that several people had now been cut off from financial help, provided by the Red Cross's Asylum Seekers Assistance Scheme. This also means that they are not allowed to work or receive Medicare benefits.
During discussion from the floor, East Timor solidarity activist Sibylle Kaczorek challenged Stirling to commit the ALP to giving a public apology to the East Timorese for the substantial delays in the processing of visas when Labor was in power.
Stirling passed the question on to Crossin, who said: "Something more should have happened sooner than 1996. We set about the task hoping that ALP would retain power that year, but that didn't happen."
$344 were raised in donations for the refugees at the forum.
From Green Left Weekly, April 2, 2003.
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