The Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce has signed the community petition to the Prime Minister urging the Government not to proceed with reported changes that would take away work rights from people seeking asylum, reduce appeal rights and make it harder for migrant and refugee families to stay together.
At a time when multiculturalism and migrant communities are facing growing attacks and scapegoating, Australia needs leadership that brings people together, upholds fairness and ensures our policies do not further harm communities already being targeted. The letter states:
“This is not the Australia we want to be and it is not the answer to the growing challenges facing our community.
We are deeply concerned the proposed changes would have profound and foreseeable consequences for thousands of people who are already part of our communities and who are currently working to support themselves and their families.
Removing work rights would strip people of their income and their independence, leaving them unable to pay rent, buy food or meet their most basic needs.
If this happens, the consequences will fall directly on already overstretched charities and communities who will be left to keep people fed and housed.
We implore you not to put us in the position of needing to meet the needs of people who are willing, capable and keen to work, and who are doing so right now.
Removing the right to work would also push people towards cash-in-hand employment and make them more vulnerable to wage theft, unsafe working conditions, exploitation and abuse. This is fundamentally at odds with Labor’s values.
We recognise that Australia’s protection system is facing serious backlogs. Those delays undermine confidence in the system and cause real harm and distress to people who can spend years living with uncertainty, waiting for a final decision. We all have an interest in a protection system that is fast, fair and effective.
However, the solution to lengthy processing times is to improve the speed and quality of decision-making, not to push people into complete poverty while they wait.
We urge you to wind back any planned punitive measures, and to protect the integrity of the protection system by implementing the following measures:
a) Invest in timely, high-quality decision-making at the Department of Home Affairs to make sure applications are properly assessed at the start;
b) Fund access to free and independent legal assistance to ensure people are able to explain their circumstances effectively at the initial and merits stages;
c) Ensure that the Administrative Review Tribunal and the Federal Circuit and Family Court are adequately resourced to decide matters without unnecessary delay; and
e) People seeking asylum should be able to work, support their families, and have a fair chance to make their case.
Taking these rights away won’t fix problems with the protection system. It will push people into poverty and exploitation, while weakening safeguards designed to prevent people being returned to danger.
This is a choice about the kind of country we want to be. We urge you to choose a fairer and more effective path.”
Write your own letter calling for fairness to refugees see Refugee Council of Australia resource.