17 September 2026 

Our next L4R meeting will be held on Wednesday 23 September at 6.30pm 

Minutes of our August meeting follow:  L4RNSW-ACTMinMtg26Aug26

Australia’s migration and refugee protection system Australia’s migration and refugee protection system has been facing significant proposed changes that would have serious consequences for refugees, people seeking asylum and migrant families. It’s been under attack by conservative/right-wing forces who are using migrants and refugees as scapegoats for the hardship being experienced by Australians, including the housing shortage. The policies announced by One Nation and the Coalition have consequences.  Some of these announcements will be impossible to implement.  Words are cheap and it’s a whole different story to come up with ways of implementing these policies without hurting refugees and damaging our society. The Federal Government has today, also proposed several sweeping changes to the migration system.  As we stated in our last newsletter, Australia needs a migration and refugee protection system that is fair, effective and well-managed.  We can address delays and backlogs without removing people’s rights, forcing people into poverty or creating additional barriers for families trying to reunite.  What the Government announced today It will take time for all of us to fully process the implications of the changes to the Government’s migration policies, which were announced today by Immigration Minister Tony Burke. The following summary has been provided by SBS News.  Tony Burke unveils major migration changes to tighten Australia’s visa system — as it happened Tougher visa rules, lower migration and a focus on skilled workers underpin the government’s new plan. These are the major points from his speech:The suite of measures includes removing unlawful non-citizens, cracking down on “visa-hopping” and “rogue migration agents”, introducing a ballot system for second- and third-year backpackers, restricting family applicants for most student visas, and prioritising processing for key sectors, such as healthcare, construction and education. The measures aim to reduce Australia’s net overseas migration (NOM) figure to 245,000 this financial year, and 225,000 in 2027-28. The NOM in the year to March this year was 292,000.Burke addressed “absurd” migration claims, saying Australia was not experiencing “mass migration”. He also rubbished claims that the government had been letting in yoga teachers over construction workers.He said the housing crisis was not caused by immigration, but immigration could be part of the solution. Construction workers will earn more points under the skilled migration pathway to boost housing construction in Australia. He acknowledged visa-hopping was a “genuine problem”, with the government to introduce a qualification scale. It means a bachelor’s degree student will only be able to move “up the scale” to a master’s degree. Processing of working holiday visa applications has slowed. Faster processing times will be restored for those in their second or third year who are required to work regionally. A “no further stay” provision will be applied to visitor visas, only applying to future visas.There will be tougher sanctions for visa overstayers. The government will return to a pre-2015 model in which visa overstayers will be detained. An additional 100 compliance officer roles and 250 beds will be made available. The government will also consider repurposing a former quarantine facility in Melbourne. Burke rubbished reports that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese didn’t want him to give the speech at the NPC. He said One Nation and the Coalition’s plans to cut migration would “trash the Australian economy”.  Labor for Refugees has a scheduled meeting next week with Tony Burke’s Senior Adviser. We plan to discuss the implications of these migration policies on refugees, as well as raising issues relating to letters we’d already sent to the Minister. Conditions for Detainees in the Regional Processing Centre in Naoero (Nauru) PEOPLE REMAIN TRAPPED IN NAERO L4R wrote to Tony Burke in August this year, copied to Pat Conroy, Penny Wong, Matt Thistlethwaite and Julian Hill, outlining the dreadful conditions being experienced by the detainees in the Regional Processing Centre in Naoero and referred them to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Report on hunger among the detainees as well as the huge costs to taxpayer.  We also wanted to ask the Australian Government,  if people are still starving, how is Australian taxpayer’s money being allocated?  The link to our letter follows L4RletterNauruLivingConditions7Aug26 We have not yet received a response.  Naoero Campaign  We are now asking our members to support our campaign and urge the Government to address the suffering of refugees trapped on Naoera.  We have drafted the following motion.  Please move it at your next branch/sub-branch meeting.   “To address the urgent situation on the island Republic of Naoero (formerly Nauru),   …………..  Branch/Sub-Branch demands:an immediate increase in the living allowance provided to asylum seekers;the immediate transfer of all refugees and people seeking asylum from Naoero to Australia;the end of the offshore detention of asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat.” Background This branch notes: (i) asylum seekers and refugees sent to Naoero are enduring intolerable living conditions including electricity blackouts, contaminated water and water shortages, as well as persistent hunger with many asylum seekers unable to afford to buy sufficient food and are surviving on one meal a day. (ii) there are growing mental and physical health problems tragically similar to those that have caused such serious problems endured by previous groups of asylum seekers sent to Naoero; (iii) Muslim asylum seekers and refugees are not allowed to publicly practise their religion; (iv) the indefinite offshore detention on Naoero represents a fundamental denial of asylum seekers’ human rights and a failure by Australia  to uphold the right of asylum seekers to seek protection in Australia and there are no enduring solutions on Naoero and no third country resettlement arrangements. (v) In 2025, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled that Australia is responsible for the arbitrary detention of asylum seekers redirected or transferred to offshore detention facilities in the Republic of Naoero. (https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/01/australia-responsible-arbitrary-detention-asylum-seekers-offshore-facilities) (vi) Labor does not need to pay Naoero a fortune to process asylum seekers.  Australia has its own processes it already uses to ensure people genuinely in need of protection from war and persecution are provided with safe legitimate pathways to safety.  It is more cost effective than paying Naoero, consistent with Labor values and removes them from the hardship they are experiencing on Naoero.  Administrative and Judicial Review Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 In early September, Labor for Refugees became aware of the progression of the abovenamed Bill being in its late stages, so decided to send an urgent letter to the Attorney-General.  This Bill had a very tight inquiry timeframe and we were not made aware of it.  We are very concerned that it has the potential to adversely impact on vulnerable non English speaking people seeking migration and protection application reviews. We recommended to Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, that the provisions of the Amendment Bill should be withdrawn as we believe they contravene principles of natural justice. Our letter follows L4RtoAtt-GenARTAmendBill7Sep26 I look forward to seeing you at our meeting next Wednesday evening.RegardsNizza Siano Secretary L4R NSW/ACT email:  contact@labor4refugees.com

Immigration and its impact on the country is shaping up to be a focus of the next federal election.

The challenge for future candidates will be getting the balance right — managing public sentiment while filling the holes of our modern nation, holes that have long been filled by immigrants.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-12/australian-migration-numbers-history-comparison/106396624?fbclid=IwY2xjawURglJwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5i1twRHWkb3ymtE1dCdsOwOpVkCjrgnlQHex0tzivTn5DSuuiRB94aG7h-Ng_aem_PaiYe_525Jq9mcm4PDfmKQ

“One Labor MP was frank about the chaos. The party would be at war if the cuts went ahead, they said. Members of Labor’s left faction were “pretty outraged”, and said caucus had not been consulted. More than a few MPs went straight to the offices of Albanese and the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, seeking an explanation. One Labor source said that Burke told MPs no decision had been made on cutting the intake. Labor for Refugees, a rank and file group, said in a statement released on Friday that it was “grateful” for the prime minister’s intervention in “ensuring Australia’s humanity hasn’t been forgotten”.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/28/labor-wrestles-with-migration-figures-but-opponents-struggle-to-find-the-target

LABOR FOR REFUGEES – MEDIA RELEASE (27/8/26)

Maintaining Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program
Labor for Refugees is grateful for the Prime Minister’s intervention to reverse a Government decision reported earlier today, to cut the humanitarian refugee program.

This intervention accords with the recent decision made by the Party at Labor’s National Conference in Adelaide in July.

L4R congratulates the PM on ensuring Australia’s humanity hasn’t been forgotten.

Australia is built on immigration and now more than ever we need immigrants, including highly motivated refugees to help build our most needed local industries, staff our services, staff our agricultural resources and meet the shortages of skilled and unskilled areas of employment.

Now is not the time to give in to the ignorance and bigotry of One Nation.

Labor for Refugees has worked within the Labor Party for 25 years to make the party a party of humanity and compassion for refugees. Now more than ever there is a need for a fair and just system of resettlement of refugees from countries torn by war, terror and starvation.

The nation recently celebrated the successful resettlement of a million refugees since 1947, contributing to every facet of Australian life including our much-loved Socceroos team.

Labor for Refugees recently proposed at Labor’s National Conference, the need to maintain the intake at 20,000 places per year while aspiring to achieve numbers up to 27,000 per
year.

Conference delegates approved an amendment to the ALP Platform, stating: “Labor will seek, in the short term, to maintain Australia’s government funded humanitarian intake numbers at 20,000 places per year while also continuing to aspire to achieving 27,000
places per year.”

This amendment was moved by the National Co-Convenor of Labor for Refugees and was adopted as part of the 2026 ALP National Platform.

Labor for Refugees appreciates very much the Labor MPs who respected the decision of Conference, worked hard to overturn the reported cut and ensured the PM was aware of the
depth of concern about this issue.

For more information contact Peter Lynch, Labor for Refugees National Co-Convenor 0401 141
359.

Alicia Payne MP (Labor) speaking on refugees and asylum seekers in the ACT Legislature 20.8.26

Our next L4R meeting will be held on Wednesday 26 August at 6.30pm 

Anyone who supports our L4R goals is welcome to attend.

Minutes of our July meeting follow:  L4RNSW-ACTMinMtg29Jul26

National Labor Conference:  the outcome National and NSW/ACT Secretary Nizza Siano attended the Conference in Adelaide as an Observer from Wednesday 22 to Saturday 25 July.  She spent most of her time at the L4R stall, together with other L4R volunteers. L4R was lucky to secure a stall at the last minute due to a cancellation by another group. The CEO of the Chifley Research Centre Emma Dawson, kindly offered the stall to L4R. Two L4R members, Nasrin Azzizi and Lynne Murphy staffed the stall over the two and a half days together with Nizza. We are very grateful for all the time they dedicated. L to R:  Nizza Siano, Peter Lynch, Nasrin Azizi, Lynne Murphy at the L4R stall ALP National Conference 2026. The stall was a great opportunity to promote L4R and a total of 19 ALP members from a number of states, applied to join and become members of L4R.  Five of them were from NSW/ACT.  We look forward to seeing these new members at our meetings.  The Secretary encouraged the new members from SA, to start a L4R group in their own state. Many connections were made with supporters.  Some were MPs who volunteered to provide support for a new group in their state. Nizza Siano and L4R National Co-Convenor Peter Lynch, represented L4R at the Conference.  Peter, who was a Proxy Delegate from Victoria, had ongoing discussions with Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs Julian Hill, on the sidelines of the Conference re the Platform amendments we had submitted to the Conference.  We had also submitted a Special Resolution about the humanitarian refugee intake numbers. This Resolution was reproduced in our last L4R newsletter. Our L4R national group (NCC) had decided to withdraw our proposed Platform amendments after meeting with the Senior Advisers to both Tony Burke and Julian Hill, the week prior to Conference as it was apparent that these amendments would not get up.  However, we decided to leave it until the last day before withdrawing them.   A Win  On the evening prior to Chapter 7 being debated on Day 3 of the conference, Julian Hill agreed to convert our Special Resolution (which Peter planned to speak to on the floor of Conference on Saturday morning), to a Platform Amendment.  This was good news and a positive outcome because at one stage, after meeting with Minister Burke late last year, we were concerned that the Government would drop this clause from the Platform, due to budgetary considerations and because Labor did not want to be targeted by the Right re the number of refugee intake. Peter spoke eloquently to our amendment on Saturday morning.  The speech follows – Speech on behalf of L4R delivered by Peter Lynch on Saturday 25 July 2026 in favour of amending the ALP National Platform to maintain Australia’s Humanitarian and Refugee Intake at 20,000 per year in the short term, whilst still aspiring to achieve 27,000 places per year   “Delegates: Australia is a successful multicultural country – as our Platform states – a “Nation built on Migration”.   We should be proud that this includes the now just over a million refugees who have joined us since WW2 have come to Australia through the refugee & humanitarian program.   Refugees are particularly well represented amongst the migrants who have helped shape modern Australia.   Australians who were refugees are statistically more likely to start a small business, work in the care economy or doing hard agricultural jobs than those of other backgrounds.   118 million people worldwide are currently displaced – meaning the need for resettlement has never been greater.   But in the past year the number of refugees resettled globally has actually dropped by more than a half to just 81,000 in 2025.   This drop means that even with an intake of 20,000 per year Australia is one of the world’s leading resettlement countries.   Thus, Australia’s contribution to refugee resettlement is more significant and more important than ever before.   We congratulate the Albanese Labor Government on lifting the humanitarian intake from the 13,500 places per year under the former Coalition government to 20,000 places per year which has been maintained for the four years since coming to government in 2022.   Despite the noise from some on the political Right, there is every indication that most of the population strongly support the Refugee humanitarian program. There are hundreds of refugee support groups around the country, and thousands participate in refugee community support programs like CRISP (Community Refugee and Integration Program) – especially in rural & regional areas.   Labor for Refugees understands the budgetary and other pressures the Government is under in relation to this program. The demand is high. Clearly there are limits to how much can be done. But delegates, this is not a big fiscal program!   $910 million has been allocated in the Budget for this program for 26/27 financial year – although actual 25/26 financial year spending was $1.1billion.   We’ve noted the forward projections in the Budget papers.   In the coming months the government will decide on the size of the program from July 2027. We understand there are pressures to reduce the intake back to the Coalition levels of 13,500 per year.   In the face of huge global need, maintaining the humanitarian intake at 20,000 places per year in the short term, whilst working towards the aspiration of 27,000 per year, will mean we will continue to enjoy the contributions to the nation of the diverse range of refugees who have joined us since 1947.   By doing this, Labor in government will not only enhance us domestically, but also will maintain Australia’s role as one of the great resettlement countries in a troubled and changing world.     Delegates, I commend the amendment to the Conference for endorsement.”         Secretary, Nizza Siano would like to thank Peter for all the hard work he did in negotiating with Julian Hill, right throughout the Conference up to the night before Platform 7 was debated. The Amendment which was adopted by Conference Delegates, follows:  Urgent follow-up action  Australia’s migration and refugee protection system is facing significant proposed changes that could have serious consequences for refugees, people seeking asylum and migrant families. The Federal Government has proposed several sweeping changes to the migration system. These changes include removing work rights for people seeking asylum, limiting appeal rights in refugee protection cases, increasing visa charges and creating additional barriers to family reunification. These changes risk pushing people into poverty, increasing vulnerability to exploitation, separating families for longer periods, and weakening fundamental safeguards within Australia’s migration system. Australia needs a migration and refugee protection system that is fair, effective and well-managed. We can address delays and backlogs without removing people’s rights, forcing people into poverty or creating additional barriers for families trying to reunite.  CAMPAIGN ON HUMANITARIAN REFUGEE NUMBERS In these uncertain and fraught political times, Labor for Refugees wants to ensure that our hard fought for and won amendment at the National Conference, which commits to maintaining Australia’s Humanitarian and Refugee intake at 20,000 per year in the short term, whilst still aspiring to achieve 27,000 places per year, will be honoured. We therefore ask for your support to contact your local MP and Senators and also send a letter to the Minister for Home Affairs, Immigration and Multiculturalism Affairs Tony Burke at Tony.Burke.MP@aph.gov.au and Assistant Minister for Multiculturalism Affairs Julian Hill at julian.hill.mp@aph.gov.au  urging them to honour this commitment in Labor’s National Platform.   Ask them to provide an assurance that the Humanitarian visa numbers in the Platform remain untouched and that the number of family reunions are also not reduced.  Find your nearest Labor MP or Senator here. Thank you for your support. Living Conditions for Detainees in the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru  1.      The Senate Committee Inquiry into Offshore processing and resettlement arrangements report was released on the 2 July 2026. To quote the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre –  “For more than a decade, people who survived the Australian Government’s offshore detention regime have been waiting for justice and certainty. A report released by the Senate was an opportunity to finally deliver that – instead, it fell far short”.It goes on to say –“After hearing evidence from people who survived offshore detention and whistle-blowers who witnessed it first-hand, you’d expect the report to confront the devastating harm caused by this policy.Instead, it barely does. In fact, the word “harm” appears just once in the Committee’s official report, and only when referring to harm to Australia’s international relationships.It says almost nothing about the lasting harm inflicted on the people Australia sent to its brutal offshore processing centres.That matters because people remain trapped in PNG and Nauru, and more than 700 people evacuated from offshore detention are still living with its consequences in Australia today.Many have spent more than a decade rebuilding their lives in Australia. They’ve become part of our communities, working, studying and raising families. For them, Australia is the only home they’ve ever known.Many are still trapped on short-term Exit Visas. Instead of being able to rebuild their lives, they’re repeatedly forced to reapply just to stay in Australia, living with the constant fear that they could be told to leave. No one can truly rebuild their life while living with that uncertainty”.  We say this was a lost opportunity.”  At our last L4R meeting,  it was decided to write to Tony Burke, copied to Pat Conroy, Penny Wong, Matt Thistlethwaite and Julian Hill, outlining the dreadful conditions being experienced by the detainees in the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru and referred them to the ASRC Report on hunger among the detainees as well as the huge costs to taxpayer.  We also wanted to ask the Australian Government,  if people are still starving, how our taxpayer’s money being allocated?  The link to our letter follows L4RletterNauruLivingConditions7Aug26 I look forward to seeing you at our meeting next Wednesday evening. RegardsNizza Siano Secretary L4R NSW/ACT email:  contact@labor4refugees.com

 

 

Dear friends

You will have seen updates from us over the past week about the migration changes the Albanese Government is considering and our concerns about what they could mean for people seeking asylum.

As part of our response, more than 160 organisations and groups have now signed a joint letter calling on the Government not to proceed with changes that would take away work rights, weaken appeal rights or make it harder for families to stay together.

This morning, we publicly launched the letter and issued a media release sounding the alarm about what these changes could mean for people seeking asylum and the organisations and communities that support them.

You can read and share the media release here:
More than 160 organisations sound the alarm on proposed migration changes

Now is the time to turn up the pressure.

After weeks of uncertainty, the Financial Review is reporting that Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is expected to announce Labor’s proposed migration changes this week. That means we could have only days left to influence what the Government ultimately decides to do.

There are signs that pressure is having an impact, but we have not won yet. We need to work together now to stop the worst of these changes from being implemented.

Whether or not your organisation was able to sign the joint letter, there are two important things you can do right now:

1. Contact Labor MPs and Senators. If your organisation has relationships with MPs, Ministers, advisers or Labor offices, please use them now. Call, email or request a meeting. Make clear your opposition to removing work rights and weakening appeal rights, and explain what these changes would mean for the people and communities you work with.
2. Help build public pressure. Please share the joint letter and media release across your social media channels and encourage your networks to speak up. We’ve attached unbranded social media tiles that any organisation is welcome to use and share through your own channels.

More than 160 organisations coming together has already demonstrated the breadth of concern about the changes being considered. Now we need to make sure the Albanese Government hears that message everywhere.

The more of us speaking up at the same time, both publicly and directly to the Albanese Government, the stronger that message will be.

Thank you for everything you can do over the coming days.

Please feel free to reach out if there is anything else the ASRC can do to support your advocacy.

Talk soon

Ogy

—

Ogy Simic (he/him)

Head of Refugee Leadership, Advocacy and Communication

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre

214 – 218 Nicholson St, Footscray, VIC 3011

Wurundjeri Country

Mobile: 0402 651 002

Email: ogy.s@asrc.org.au

Our next L4R meeting will be held on Wednesday 29 July at 6.30pm on Zoom

NOTE THAT OUR JULY MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE ONE WEEK LATER THAN USUAL.

Anyone who supports our L4R goals is welcome to attend.

Minutes of our last meeting on the 24 June 2026 follow L4RNSW-ACTMinMtg24Jun26 

NSW Labor Conference – what happened? Brief Background After conducting a campaign for the NSW Labor Conference, to gain support for our refugee motion on homelessness, we sent our motion to the NSW Minister for Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson early this year.  L4R then met with the Minister on the 31 March 2026.  Shortly afterwards, a wording was agreed to by both the Minister and L4R. However, a few months later, we become aware that the Minister had changed her mind and we discovered that our motion, together with its Background, which appeared in the Policy Committee’s Report under the Chapter “Social Justice and Legal Affairs”, was only being supported in principle, instead of being supported outright.  We next attempted a compromise on words that would be acceptable to both parties.   The Minister’s Deputy Chief of Staff then came back with a significant one word change to our motion which was a proposal to delete the word “shelter” and replace it with “support”.  Not happy with this change, our Office Bearers decided to leave the final decision to our members.  After a discussion at our June meeting, members unanimously decided to reject this change.  It was felt that “support” could mean anything or nothing, so we may as well leave our motion in its original form. To recap, the motion (without the Background) follows: Homelessness Support Should be Based on Need and not Visa Status – That this NSW Labor Conference recognises the right to housing is a human right. Humans include people in our community without visas and we recognise that the Commonwealth controls who gets visas and when, as well as the conditions on those visas, including withholding the right to work.  In these circumstances, to ensure homelessness is rare, brief and non-recurring in NSW, we call on the NSW Labor Government to include accessible, safe, affordable shelter for non-residents and asylum seekers in the NSW Homelessness Strategy 2025-2035.  The State Conference 4/5 July, 2026 On the first morning of the Conference, a group of L4R members met at 7.15am and handed out our L4R Leaflet, which contained our Conference motion, to Delegates as they queued up at the entrance to the Sydney Town Hall, waiting for the doors to open. The Conference agenda listed the “Social Justice and Legal Affairs” Chapter as the 2nd last item on day two.  We were aware that Conference usually finishes early and consequently, Delegates would never get around to debating this Chapter. There was an attempt by the Left early on the first day of Conference, to force this important Chapter to be debated on Saturday morning instead, but the motion was lost, even though Delegates’ voices sounded quite even on the vote from the floor.  A call by L4R Secretary Nizza Siano, for a count, was ignored by the Chair. So as predicted, that Chapter was not debated at all and our refugee motion on homelessness slipped through Conference as only being “supported in principle” which means the NSW Government’s housing policy remains unchanged and our motion was not adopted.  Thank YouI would like to thank those dedicated L4R members who showed up on an early cold winter’s morning, to hand out our leaflet and kept handing them out to Observers inside the Town Hall. Thanks also goes to those members who took our motion to their branch meetings and had their members support it.  There were a substantial number of branches who supported our L4R motion. We did the best we could under a very toxic anti-immigration, anti-refugee environment but would have had no chance at all were it not for the support we received from our members.    L4R Fringe Event”Housing is a Human Right” Fringe Event took place on Saturday 4 July at 2pm. It was scheduled at the same time as the Chapter on “Prosperity and Fairness at Work” was being debated by delegates upstairs in the main hall. That Chapter was attended by delegates from the trade union movement and may have been the reason that our Fringe Event was not well attended.  About 50 people turned up.  Our three guest speakers were very eloquent.  They were Elijah Buol OAM, the CEO from the Asylum Seekers Centre, Shaheen Whyte, Snr Policy Officer of the Refugee Council of Australia and Nadia, a person seeking asylum with lived experience of housing insecurity.  L4R’s Co-Convenor, Lauren Honcope, did an excellent job of moderating the event and asked each guest a series of questions.  It ended with a Q&A from the audience.

L4R Fringe Event L-R Sabrin Farooqui, Lauren Honcope, Elijah Buol, Nadia, Shaheen Whyte, Nizza Siano. ALP National Conference 23/24/25 July 2026 Our L4R national group, the National Co-ordinating Committee (NCC), worked hard throughout the year, examining each clause of Chapter 7 of the Draft Platform 2026.  This Chapter entitled “Australia’s Place in a Changing World”, will be debated and voted on by Delegates at the forthcoming National Conference on Saturday morning of the 25 July, the last day of Conference. We took every opportunity available, to make submissions beforehand, to the National Policy Forum (NPF), on those clauses in the Draft Platform that impacted on refugees and people seeking asylum.  Each time the Committee met, our supporters on the Committee, advocated for our refugee amendments but each time, these amendments were rejected by members of the NPF. We have now reached the stage where we will advocate at the forthcoming National Conference, for reforms to refugee policy, with a final smaller list of amendments as well as advocating for a Special Resolution that our NCC developed over some months.  Our Special Resolution focuses on Australia’s humanitarian refugee intake and follows:  Recommended Special Resolution by the 2026 ALP National Conference on Australia’s Humanitarian Refugee Intake (from Labor for Refugees)   The 2026 ALP National Conference celebrates Australia as a successful multicultural nation built on migration programs. National Conference specifically celebrates the contribution to the nation of the now one million people who have come to Australia since World War 2 as refugees.  Conference notes the ever-increasing global numbers of displaced persons due to conflict and persecution but also acknowledges the economic challenges for Labor governments in maintaining a responsible refugee intake. Conference again reaffirms the aspiration of Federal Labor to achieve a humanitarian refugee intake of 27,000 places per year from overseas locations in combination with a complementary resettlement intake pathway including community sponsorship of 10,000 places per year.     Conference congratulates the Albanese Labor Government since its election in 2022 for lifting the humanitarian refugee intake from 13,500 places per year under the previous Coalition Government to 20,000 places per year under Labor. The 2026 National Conference calls on the Albanese Labor government to maintain the humanitarian refugee intake numbers at 20,000 places per year whilst continuing to progress towards achieving 27,000 places per year.  We hope that we’ll have the support of Conference Delegates for our amendments to the Draft Platform and our Special Resolution.  Labor for Refugees will be promoting our Special Resolution at the Conference by handing out our leaflet, which includes our Resolution.  The Leaflet can be viewed at L4RNatConfLeaflet2026 Family Reunions On the 25 June last, we wrote to both the Minister for Finance and Women Senator Katy Gallagher and the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Tony Burke, asking that they remove the cost burden for families in the form of fee waivers for visa applications for partners and their dependents.  In 2023, we had written to Senator Gallagher about this very issue, but received no response.   In our letter, we argued that introducing visa application charge concessions, will make it more affordable for people to reunite with their partners and/or children.  We submitted a number of other suggestions that would address the visa processing challenges facing them.  Our letter can be viewed at L4RFamReunions25Jun26  I hope to see you at our next meeting on 29 July when we will report to you on the National Conference.  RegardsNizza Siano Secretary L4R NSW email:  contact@labor4refugees.com

Refugees: Out of Sight … (but not) Out of Mind – Australia’s Offshore ‘Processing’ ONLINE FORUM – Tuesday 21 July 2026, 7.30pm AEST Zoom link Click here Hosted by the Australian Refugee Action Network (ARAN), the forum will shine a spotlight on:The ongoing harm caused by Australia’s offshore ‘processing’ regime and resistance in the face of cruelty Key critiques of Australia’s offshore regime and ‘externalisation’ of our responsibilities to people seeking asylum Alternative approaches and discussion on effective activism and advocacy.Speakers  Laura Johns – Associate Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre Sr Jane Keogh – Manus Lives Matter  Senator David Shoebridge – Greens senator and member of Senate Committee 9 July 2026, marks 13 years since then PM, Kevin Rudd, took Australia’s treatment of people seeking asylum to a new moral low, ruling that anyone arriving by boat from July 2013 would never settle in Australia. This decision entrenched Australia’s use of third countries to site its offshore immigration ‘processing’, this policy regime dates back further to 2001 under John Howard. However, under Howard’s laws, people assessed offshore and found to be refugees were still able to settle in Australia, but Rudd’s ruling removed this possibility for those arriving after 19 July 2013, irrespective of their refugee status.ARAN – Australian Refugee Action Network  Website FacebookIf you need more information email austrefugeenetwork@gmail.comPlan to join this important discussion – and share with others

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