Sarah Stephen
& Andrew Hall, Albury NSW
In one of the few national gatherings of any of the refugees' rights organisations which formed in the wake of the Tampa affair at the end of 2001, 320 people attended the second conference of Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) in Albury on the weekend of February 7-8.
Participants came from regional centres around Australia — from Bright, Kerang and Bendigo in Victoria, from Bellingen and Bowral in NSW, from Murray Bridge in South Australia, Narrogin in Western Australia, and from the newest branch of RAR in Queensland's Darling Downs. About one third of those attending came from Albury-Wodonga.
Many refugees' rights activists who are not members of RAR came to the conference to get an energy boost for the coming year. Prominent Melbourne QC Julian Burnside, who mounted a legal challenge against the government's actions towards the Tampa, admitted during his speech that he had been so horrified with the direction Australia was taking that he had contemplated leaving for New Zealand. However RAR, which he called "a magnificent organisation", had demonstrated that there was a considerable body of public opinion opposed to the government's refugee policy.
Other speakers included Kate Gauthier from ChilOut, Dr Louise Newman from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Michel Gabaudan from the Canberra office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, author and psychologist Steve Biddulph, SIEV X whistleblower Tony Kevin, Margaret Reynolds from the UN Association of Australia, Sister Carmel Leavey from the Edmund Rice Centre and Eureka Street editor Morag Fraser.
RAR has grown from strength to strength since its founding in the southern highlands of NSW in October 2001. Horrified by Australia's treatment of refugees, as highlighted by the Tampa events, RAR's three founders held card-table stalls outside the Bowral shopping centre and organised a public meeting in advance of the 2001 federal election. Much to their surprise, 500 people turned up; and a flood of requests to join the RAR network started to come in.
Within a few months, 50 RAR groups had been set up. The number has now grown to 67. According to one of the group's founders, Helen McCue, "RAR tapped into a sense of social justice that's alive and well in country Australia".
Sally Rose from Bright, a town with 3000 inhabitants 90 kilometres south of Albury, told the conference that her RAR group had gotten 20 people to its first meeting, and a public meeting had attracted 70 people.
Ian Skiller, a horticulturalist from Tooleybuc, a Murray River town with 260 inhabitants, joined RAR after employing and getting to know a group of Afghan refugees. Skiller told participants in a workshop on temporary protection visa (TPV) holders, "If you introduce refugees to people, they'll change their attitude".
RAR's TPV campaign was launched on World Refugee Day 2003, under the slogan "refugees deserve a permanent future". According to campaign coordinator Lara McKinley, one of the campaign's first victories was winning over National Party federal MP John Forrest, who was invited to a regional conference of RAR groups in Victoria last May.
Along with other parliamentarians, Forrest was questioned about his knowledge of refugees by Burnside. Forrest confessed to knowing little about how TPVs worked. He is now a supporter of TPV refugees being able to stay in Australia.
RAR is looking at setting up a network of TPV employers to lobby the government. Dr Nicholas Procter, a specialist in mental health who has spent time working with Afghans on TPVs in Murray Bridge, told the conference how the uncertainty of TPVs make life a living hell for refugees, and that many contemplated committing suicide.
The February 7 Albury Border Mail daily pre-empted a planned debate at the conference with its own version of what was going to happen. Splashed across the paper's front page was the headline "Refugee Showdown". Local Liberal federal MP Sussan Ley told the paper that she was expecting a "hostile reaction" at the conference.
Despite being asked by conference organisers to be respectful of the views of the other speakers in the debate, Ley was provocative enough with her comments to incite plenty of shouts of outrage from the largely polite audience. This gave the February 9 Border Mail just what it wanted, covering the conference under a headline reading "Hostile crowd heckles Liberal".
The conference decided to intensify RAR's work in several areas. While there were some differences of opinion about what approach RAR should adopt to the 2004 federal election, it was decided that RAR not endorse any of the contesting parties, and work simply to keep refugee issues on the public agenda.
A proposal was adopted that, in order to engage with their local communities, RAR groups endeavour to organise public forums with all candidates speaking about their refugee policies.
A proposal to expand the TPV campaign included a suggestion from RAR national co-convener Susan Varga that RAR groups advocate an amnesty for all TPV holders, echoing calls by National Party MP Kay Hull. There was widespread opposition to the use of the word "amnesty", which many felt implied that TPV holders had done something wrong. The proposal which was finally adopted reiterated RAR's support for permanent residence for TPV holders.
Following debate over the course of the conference, in which some participants argued there was a need for a small period of mandatory detention, RAR also reaffirmed its demand for the federal government to end mandatory detention.
Other decisions taken by the conference included a more concerted effort to visit local schools and clubs to talk about RAR, and a plan to double the number of RAR local groups by the next conference.
The conference decided that RAR focus on the issue of TPVs on World Refugee Day (June 20), with 10,000 trees to be planted across the country to represent the number of TPV holders who have "put down roots" in the general community and should be given permanent residency.
Other campaigns agreed on included supporting the SIEV X memorial project to remember and humanise the 353 refugees who were drowned when the SIEV X sank. RAR plans to use "people in cages" street theatre displays as a way of dramatising the experience of holding refugees in detention, as well as conducting a 48-hour hunger strike in support of detained asylum seekers.
There was considerable support for the idea of a national convergence on Canberra, perhaps to coincide with the third anniversary of the Tampa affair.
There was also strong support for the idea of pushing for a "truth and integrity commission" which would cut through the secrecy and lies surrounding the treatment of refugees, allow an opportunity for refugees to tell their stories, and for public servants who have been silenced by the Howard government to speak out.
From Green Left Weekly, February 18, 2004.
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