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
Labor for Refugees always opposed turnbacks and right up to the last evening before the refugee debate took place, intended to submit a motion opposing turnbacks plus other motions including one to close Manus Island and Nauru. However, Labor for Refugees decided to withdraw its own motion on turnbacks and argued the case at Left caucus against putting the Andrew Giles/Murray Watt motion opposing turnbacks to the floor of the conference, in circumstances where it was bound to fail.
This was because we discovered that the Left would not bind and the CFMEU National Secretary Michael O’Connor would not support it. The CFMEU had 20 Delegates and United Voice, who did not have a binding vote, had 12 Delegates. Labor for Refugees had, in the lead up to Conference, effectively lobbied Right unions including the NUW, SDA and AWU, so if the Left had been united, there would have been a good chance of getting major refugee reforms through the Conference. With the numbers so close (and the right bound on the platform remaining silent on turnbacks) any split in the Left doomed it to fail.
Labor for Refugees consistently said that the platform as it stands (which is silent on turnbacks) prohibits turn-backs. It requires compliance with international law and turn-backs involve breaches of international law. In spite of knowing that the turnback motion would not get up on the floor of Conference, after Labor for Refugees lost the argument at the Left caucus, I voted for the Giles/Watt motion opposing turnbacks on the floor of the conference, which of course went down. Losing that motion has left those who campaigned against turn backs in a much worse position that had the motion never been put.
It was a very difficult decision for Labor for Refugees to make and we knew that it may be misunderstood but we wanted the best outcome for refugees. That was always the foremost consideration for us.
On the positive side, Labor for Refugees also promoted a petition called “Labor Women Say” asking all ALP women to sign up to end abuse and close Nauru & Manus Island. The issue of turnbacks, which dominated the refugee debate, allowed barely any time to debate the issue of offshore processing centres. Labor for Refugees submitted a motion demanding that both the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres be closed. However, the Left proposed a watered down version which was moved by Murray Watt/Andrew Giles. Even this watered down version by the Left was defeated on the floor of Conference because it was not binding on the Left.
Labor for Refugees held a fringe event that surpassed all others for attendance and engagement and obtained significant media coverage. Labor for Refugees had a consistently staffed stall and the tireless volunteers there fielded many questions from many delegates and changed quite a few positions. We distributed hundreds of T-shirts which were highly visible during the ill-fated debate on conference floor. Labor for Refugees National Co-Convenor Shane Prince addressed a large rally outside Conference and received a very warm reception (notwithstanding his Labor colours). More importantly, 90% of the Labor for Refugee amendments which were settled on by the Labor for Refugees National Co-ordinating Committee during the consultation draft phase were incorporated into the platform which was adopted by the conference. Those amendments were argued by Shane Prince in the National Policy Forum Working Group, to which he was invited because of the significance of Labor for Refugees’ contribution in this area.
Catherine CrittendenMarch 14, 2021Uncategorized
NATIONAL CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE
Labor for Refugees resolution for ALP Special Platform Conference 2021
Labor for Refugees asks that Labor’s Policy be framed to provide a positive and compassionate approach by a Labor Government to the treatment of refugees, rather than a reaction to the punitive and cruel approach of the Coalition Government. Refugees and those seeking asylum in Australia are to be welcomed under a Labor Government as assets who enhance this nation and our economy and provide positive contribution to our strong multicultural society.
To achieve this goal we urge Labor to adopt the following policies in the Party Platform:
Catherine CrittendenNovember 30, 2020Uncategorized
Labor for Refugees recommends some changes to the draft National Platform. The submission is supported by many Labor members, branches, and supporters. See the full submission here.
Rabbis speak out – call for compassion – as Jewish support for asylum seekers grows
Senior rabbis in Sydney ‘call for compassion’ amid the growing protests against government plans to deport some 267 people facing return to Nauru. Jewish groups are also planning to join protest rallies across the country on Palm Sunday.
In a strong statement released this week, 16 rabbis from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra call on the government to observe its obligations under international refugee and human rights law and to act with compassion for all people being held in offshore detention.
Making special mention of the people currently facing deportation back to Nauru, the rabbis state their “deep concern”, and that they “stand in solidarity” with other faith leaders across Australia who have offered “protection and sanctuary to people seeking asylum.”
“Judaism commands us to recognise the vulnerability of strangers among us and to treat them with respect and dignity, indeed love,” say the rabbis, “because our people have often been strangers….and have stood where they stand.”
Jewish groups under the banner “Jews for Refugees” will be joining rallies being planned across Australia for Palm Sunday on March 20th, calling on the government to stop the deportations.
The Statement – Rabbis call for Compassion, signed by 16 rabbis, follows a similar statement by the Rabbinic Council of Victoria, issued last month.
Catherine CrittendenApril 27, 2016Uncategorized
Papua New Guinea teaches Australia a lesson in basic human rights and the rule of law. We have gone so far from our once proud standing in the world. Manus Judgement 26 April 2016
Catherine CrittendenMay 2, 2019Uncategorized
An informative article by Claire Higgins of the Kaldor Centre UNSW
The politics of “border control” is at odds with Australia’s
successful record of humanitarian resettlement.
Judith Betts, 2019, ‘Malcolm Fraser’s real mistake’, Inside Story, 12 April 2019. https://insidestory.org.au/malcolm-frasers-real-mistake/
Judith Betts and Mehal Krayem, 2019. ‘Strategic Othering: Framing Lebanese Migration and Fraser’s ‘mistake”, Australian Journal of Politics and History: Volume 65, Number 1, 2019, pp.100–114. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ajph.12538
Judith Betts and Claire Higgins, ‘The Sri Lankan Civil War and Australia’s Migration Policy Response: a historical case study with contemporary implications’ (2017) 4(2) Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies 272,
https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/sri-lankan-civil-war-and-australias-migration-policy-response-historical-case-study
Labor for Refugees strongly supports the position of a number of organisations regarding the urgent need to release immigration detainees in line with recommendations of peak medical bodies and human rights lawyers advising the federal government on their response to COVID-19. In particular, Labor for Refugees endorses the statement made by Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow who has declared that these detainees should be put into community detention where it is safe to do so. He said that putting people in community detention would enable these people to practise social distancing, as we are all urged to do, and that this must be done as soon as possible.
Commissioner Santow’s position aligns with the joint position of the World Health Organization (WHO), UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration (OIM) and UN Commissioner for Human Rights.
The link to Commissioner Santow’s SBS interview, where he clearly sets out his position on this issue and the reasons for it, follows
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/human-rights-commissioner-calls-for-immigration-detainees-release-over-coronavirus-infection-fears
L4R NSW held its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday evening. We had a wonderful guest speaker in Dr Daniel Ghezelbash who heads Macquarie University’s new Social Justice Clinic. He teaches courses in administrative law, human rights, refugee law and social justice advocacy and operates a pro bono refugee law practice and is a Special Counsel at the National Justice Project. Dan is also a member of the management committee of Refugee Advice and Casework Services, the only dedicated free refugee legal centre in NSW. He has written a book Refuge Lost: Asylum Law in an Interdependent World, which examines the spread of mandatory detention, maritime interdiction and offshore processing policies from the United States to Australia and beyond. Dan spoke about Australia’s current hard-line asylum policies which could trigger a race to the bottom, with the potential to completely unravel the international refugee protection system.
At our AGM we held our election. Two new positions of Junior Vice-Presidents were added to the NSW Executive. The following members were elected as Office Bearers.
Co-Convenors (2): Jenny Haines & Shane Prince
Vice President: Mairi Petersen
Jnr Vice Presidents (2): Sabrin Farooqui & Shannen Potter
Treasurer & Social Media: Jenny Haines
Secretary: Nizza Siano
Assistant Secretary & Webmaster: Cath Crittenden
National Co-ordinating Committee Members (3): Nizza Siano, Jenny Haines, Shane Prince
Returning Officer: Chris Haviland.