| Labor for Refugees Qld Newsletter – June 2026 This coming week is Refugee Week, starting this weekend, and running through until next Saturday. We have included some links to events happening around Queensland and hope you will be able to attend some of them.Many of you will be attending local policy conferences in the lead-up to the ALP National Conference being held 23-25th July, in Tarntanya /Adelaide and ahead of State Conference at the end of August. We have some motions that you may wish to consider proposing at your branch and local policy conferences:Motion Multiculturalism Anti-Racism FrameworkMulticultural Labor Campaign – Support Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism. We encourage you to put these motions forward. Also, for reference, here is a copy of the National Labor for Refugees submission to the ALP National Conference. Meeting Notice – 2026 Annual General Meeting: Please note that the Labor for Refugees 2026 AGM will be held online on Wednesday 12th August 2026 at 6:30 pm.Meeting link and agenda will be circulated closer to the time. Continuing Campaigns: Ongoing letter writing on Offshore arrangements. Information and letter template can be found here. For information to support refugees trapped in Indonesia, join the Circle of Friends group here. Other ways to get involved in campaigning for refugee rights: Amnesty International has a National Amnesty Refugee Network, which, among other issues, is focused on supporting the men left in PNG after the Manus detention centre closed. You can read more here. Join Amnesty International Australia here. The Australian Refugee Action Network (ARAN) is a national coalition of groups lobbying for refugee rights. Read about their ongoing campaigns here. Refugee Action Collective meets regularly in Brisbane. More information here. Upcoming Events Sun 14th June – Sat 20th June Refugee Week- Celebrates a Million Stories Find your local refugee week activity here. Friday, 12th June Screening of We Are Not Powerless, by Jolyon Hall and Muzafar AliCost: $20, includes talk by Muzafar Ali about his work with refugee schools in Indonesia, Afghanistan girls’ schools, and elsewhere. (There are also screenings in Machan’s Beach (Cairns), Warwick, Maleny, and Murwillumbah, in northern NSW.)Tickets here. More screening information and tickets here. BrisbaneSunday 14th June Welcome Walk, 1 pm, Orleigh Park, West End, Brisbane. Walk by donation. More information here. Wednesday 17th June World Refugee Day Celebration, 7.30 – 9.10 pm, Queensland Multicultural Centre, Kangaroo Point. Free screening of Rosemary’s Way.This move celebrates Rosemary Kariuki and a group of migrant women of suburban Sydney, whose lives Rosemary helps transform, as they find their voices and confidence in Australia, their new home.Register for your free ticket here Townsville: Celebrating Multicultural Food in Unity. From 4 – 8 pm, Sunday 14th June, Aitkenvale State School. Register here to attend.QLD Labor State Conference 2026. The Queensland State Conference will take place once again in Brisbane on 29-30 August, a month after the ALP National Conference. We hope to have a stall and raffle. More details will be provided soon! Want to read more refugee news? Here are some suggestions for further reading. Amnesty International’s 2025/26 Report on global rights For the Australian chapter, including the state of refugee and migrant rights. Temporary Visa bans, Phillips,Michelle (2026) “Help for Athletes, bans for others: unpacking Australia’s complex, chaotic migration developments”, The Conversation, March 11, 2026.Analysis of Australia’s temporary visa ban and the recent granting of visas to Iranian soccer players seeking asylum from Iran.Offshore arrangements Haydar, Nour (2026) “Sara Fears her father will be deported from Australia to Nauru – a place of ‘final and lifelong punishment” The Guardian Australia, June 4, 2026. Submissions to the Senate inquiry into offshore arrangements, held 5th May, 2026. Labor for Refugees National Coordinating Committee & Hanne Worsoe, Convenor of L4R Qld, made 2 of the 126 submissions. Hansard transcript of public hearing, 5th May 2026Report due 17th June, 2026, next week. Refugees in Indonesia: Brown, Tom and Missbach, Antje (2016), “The boats may have ‘stopped’, but more refugees are stuck in limbo in Indonesia”, The Conversation, March 22nd, 2016.Written in 2016, but still relevant. Analysis of refugees left trapped in Indonesia since 2014, when the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Scott Morrison, banned their resettlement in Australia. We hope to see many of you at our AGM in August. We look forward to seeing some of you at the ALP National Conference in Tarntanya/Adelaide!Warm regards,The Executive of Labor for Refugees Queensland About Labor for Refugees QueenslandLabor for Refugees Queensland is a registered association with the Australian Labor Party, Queensland. Our aims and objectives are as follows:To advocate for policy for refugees and those seeking to engage Australia’s international obligations to provide protection, that is compliant with international law, respectful of Human Rights, equitable, socially just and in keeping with stated Labor values. To disseminate factual and comprehensive information to ensure policy discussion, development and implementation is based on fact, and reflective of Labor values. To advocate for progressive reform and appropriate differentiation of legislation, regulation, policy and practice concerning refugees, those seeking protection, those who are forced to migrate due to natural disasters and unlivable homelands, and migrants who freely choose to come to Australia. The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Australian Labor Party. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. |
Leave a Reply