“I was pleased to see a significant cohort of my fellow ALP members in attendance at the rally led by member for Canberra Alicia Payne and, from the Legislative Assembly, Rachel Stephen-Smith and Tara Cheyne,” writes columnist JON STANHOPE. 

ON Palm Sunday, I again attended the Refugee Action Campaign (RAC) rally against Australia’s abhorrent treatment of asylum seekers.

I have been going most years in the last decade and I applaud John Minns, convenor of RAC, and his team for their determined and passionate support of asylum seekers in Australia. 

In a recent opinion piece published in “CityNews”, John provided an update about the thousands of asylum seekers in Australia whose status is yet to be determined, whose lives remain fractured and whose future is uncertain.

As an example, he used the random cruelty and heartlessness of the current policy in the treatment of a young woman from Iran who arrived, with her family, at Christmas Island in 2013, was transported post haste to Nauru where they were detained for five years before being evacuated to Australia on medical grounds. 

Her name is Sahar Ghasemi. The fact that Sahar and her family arrived in Australia in late 2013 is of relevance because of the policy of mandatory and indefinite offshore detention introduced by the then prime minister Kevin Rudd and his deputy, Anthony Albanese, which was given effect on and from September 19, 2013. 

Under that policy, any person who arrived in Australia by boat, from that date, would be automatically denied both asylum and the opportunity of ever settling in Australia. In a cruel twist of fate, Sahar and her family arrived at Christmas Island on that day.

Despite having earned a scholarship to study arts/law and having begun her studies at an Australian university earlier this year she was, a few weeks ago, on turning 18, effectively expelled from university because of her immigration status. 

At the RAC rally Sahar’s mother, Zarah, spoke at length about the devastating impact the treatment that she and her family have experienced at the hands of the Australian government over the last 10 long years is having. 

This is some of what Zarah had to say about her family’s passage, by boat, to Australia: “I am a mother, a mother who gambled the life of her children by taking them on a boat, to the heart of the ocean to save them. A mother who had a fear of losing her children every second of the journey… Please, put yourself in my shoes. Imagine what it’s like to be a desperate mum, risking everything to save your children.

“The situation in Iran is heartbreaking, even worse than when we left, especially for women. My daughters and I could have lost our lives just for wanting freedom.

“In this world, parents are always worried for their children… parents put all their efforts into helping their children. But the worries of myself and other families in my situation are way beyond this. 

“Constantly there is a question in my mind: ‘Why? My God tell us why? What crime did our children commit? It is not illegal to seek asylum. Where is the end of all this misery and suffering?'”

Zarah also talked of Sahar’s recent expulsion from university: “After five years of being deprived of education in Nauru, once we got to Australia, my older daughter started going to school and worked hard to catch up with her studies. She knew she had no choice but to be successful. She wanted to make up for the past and its hardship. She wanted to become a lawyer, to help people like us, something she had dreamed of since childhood.

“She got a full scholarship to university, and again the seed of hope was planted in her heart. She thought she would become the angel of rescue that had never come to rescue her. She felt the doors of heaven were opened for her, and her world became colourful, not black anymore. She thought she was a normal person, able to build her own life.

“However, after seven weeks of joy the government kicked her out of heaven. Her crime? Turning 18. They took away her study rights. They said university is not a human right. Once again, I witnessed my daughter’s spirit melt away. Her hope has once again been replaced by pain and hopelessness.”

I was pleased to see a significant cohort of my fellow ALP members in attendance at the RAC rally led by member for Canberra Alicia Payne and, from the Legislative Assembly, Rachel Stephen-Smith and Tara Cheyne. 

Their attendance at a rally, the purpose of which was to condemn and demand the repeal of a policy introduced and still supported by the ALP, a party to which they and I belong, is to be applauded. I admire their courage and commitment to principle over party. 

I was also impressed by the stoicism that each of them displayed during the frequent chanting of all those in attendance at the rally of “Shame, Shame, Shame” as the policy was rightly and roundly condemned for its inhumanity.

Jon Stanhope was ACT chief minister from 2001 to 2011 and the only chief minister to have governed with a majority in the Assembly. Read more of his columns on citynews.com.au