Refugees are welcome, no deportations Permanent visas for all refugees

On the 12th anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s ‘PNG Solution’ of 19 July 2013, when Tony Burke was Immigration Minister, we protest to say ‘refugees are welcome’. We demand an end to more than two decades of cruel policies. The defeat of Peter Dutton and all he stands for provides an opportunity for Labor to end the downward spiral in refugee policy that we’ve witnessed since mandatory detention was introduced by the Keating government in 1992. Our protest occurs against the backdrop of multiple wars, of record numbers of people displaced (123.2 million according to the UNHCR’s new global trends report), and of an uprising in Los Angeles and across the US against Donald Trump’s raids on migrant workers and freeze on refugee resettlement.

We say:

• Refugees are welcome, no deportations
• Permanent visas for all refugees
• End Morrison’s ban on resettlement from Indonesia
• Study and work rights, Medicare access and income support for all asylum seekers