By Farid Farid in Sydney
THOUSANDS are expected at nationwide Palm Sunday rallies calling on the federal government to grant permanent visas for refugees stuck in limbo.
Advocates lauded the government’s granting of permanent residency visas to 19,000 asylum seekers on temporary protection visas in February, but say it has left about 12,000 other refugees and asylum seekers in a legal grey area.
Some 10,000 refugees who were rejected under the previous government’s fast-track process remain on bridging or expired visas, the Refugee Council of Australia says.
Added to that cohort is more than 1000 refugees who have been transferred from offshore detention camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea to Australia with no pathway towards permanent resettlement.
About 20 rallies are planned including in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane.
“The connection between foreign policy, war and refugees doesn’t need to be spelled out,” said Sydney rally organiser Ian Rintoul of the Refugee Action Coalition.
“Many of the asylum seekers left on bridging visas are victims of Australia’s foreign policy failures in Iraq and Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.”
“Labor is also maintaining Morrison’s ban on accepting refugees from Indonesia – 7000 of them are Afghans,” he said, referring to former prime minister Scott Morrison’s policies.
Independent federal MP Monique Ryan, who will speak at the Melbourne march, said lengthy visa processing robs refugees of their dignity.
“We need to give refugees timely and transparent adjudication of their claims, and surety about their futures. It’s only fair and just.”
The advocates also argue against the government’s policy of purchasing eight nuclear-powered submarines costing $368 billion over the next three decades as part of the AUKUS security pact, saying the funds could be better spent on accepting asylum seekers and in other policy areas.
The Canberra Palm Sunday Rally: Permanent Visas for All is on Sunday, at Garema Place, in Civic from 1pm. Contingents to gather at Petrie Plaza, near the the merry-go-round, at 12.30pm.
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