Month: July 2025

A consultation draft of Labor’s National Platform is being released in the lead up to the 48th ALP National Conference, which will be held in Adelaide on 16, 17 and 18 December 2018.

The consultation draft is the work of Labor’s National Policy Forum, which over the past 12 months has engaged more than 3,000 Party members in the Platform Development process through workshops, policy submissions and surveys.

The consultation draft is available for download here.    https://www.alp.org.au/national_platform

On Tuesday 2 June 2020, Labor for Refugees held a Q&A, What is Labor doing? with the shadow minister via Zoom. The recording of the event can be found here.

Senator Keneally sent the following letter after the event:

Thank you for attending the Zoom Q&A session. The insights from Labor 4 Refugees are always valued and I value the open dialogue we have on migration, refugee and asylum issues.  

Australians are enthusiastic supporters of migration and as I said the other night we are one of the most successful multicultural nations on earth. We can be proud of the role migration has played in our past – and will play in our future. Our identity as a nation of migrants is unifying and we have welcomed people from every corner of the globe. Refugees and asylum seekers continue to – and will always play – a key part in Australia’s story. 

We covered a wide array of topics which canvassed the implications of COVID on temporary migrants, the additional powers for Australian Border Force officers in detention centres, Medevac, and a range of other topics. The questions were brilliant, and I thank everyone who took the time to draft and submit one. I’m sorry we couldn’t get to them all. 

A prominent issue for the community and one we spoke about the other night is the lack of financial relief or income support for temporary migrants in Australia, including SHEV and TPV holders and the hundreds of thousands of students and other visa holders with work rights – but no work – who have been left without any support.    

As I mentioned during the call, we are collecting case studies of people on temporary visas who are facing difficulties here in Australia. I am concerned that the Government does not understand the situation many temporary migrants are currently facing and believe that the Treasurer and Minister Ruston need to hear about the contribution migrants make to our country. If you have a story to tell about temporary migrants you know or know a temporary migrant who wants to tell their story,  please contribute here. 

Your perspective is appreciated. You can sign up to my regular stakeholder newsletter here, or if you have any additional thoughts or ideas please don’t hesitate to contact me at senator.keneally@aph.gov.au.  

Kind regards

Kristina

Facebook post by Andrew Giles MP 

The Albanese Government has made a commitment to transition those who have been found to be owed our protection on temporary protection visas to permanent protection – we will keep this promise, and meet our commitment as soon as possible.

In working towards this, we have met and consulted with TPV/SHEV holders, legal experts & members of the crossbench. To put in place a mechanism that is effective, which can be applied to all members of the cohort consistently, and which is enduring.

We recognise that over the last 10 years, those on TPVs and SHEVs have been living in limbo.

Temporary protection visa holders deserve stability and assurance for their futures – to grow their businesses, buy houses, study and gain secure employment – many of them in regional areas.

6^th September 2022

Book Launch  – The Drownings’ Argument

On Saturday 21 February 2015 at Balmain Town Hall meeting room, Julian Burnside QC launched this small, but significant volume of essays! He began by apologising for the book’s title, not so much the stray apostrophe as for the fact that it should have been The Drownings Excuse…..and for the fact that we need such a book at all. The room was packed; no where near enough chairs to go round. He told us of the misery of particular individuals; he told us about people having their medications and hearing aids etc taken from them; he told us about the mammoth task he had undertaken to get letters from Australians to asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus, and how , after 12 months, the Dept had returned all the mail to him as sender, unopened. Where has our humanity, where has our basic decency gone?

Verity Firth, Labor candidate for Balmain, chaired the meeting, and she and Shane Prince, Co-convenor of Labor for Refugees, told audience members about Labor’s appalling record in government on this issue, Labor’s timidity currently in opposition, and the efforts of Labor members to change this and set the refugees free. Read Verity’s welcome here.

Please send your name and postal address, and your order to our Treasurer and she will advise the total cost (T-shirts plus postage). T-shirts (all black with yellow lettering), sizes XS, S, M, L, Xl, XXL, are $20 each. Our model is wearing L.

Email: jennhain@bigpond.com