Request from Peter Butler
Post date: Oct 30, 2015 5:34:05 AM
Peter Butler Writes:
Send a Message to Canberra
Sign our Refugee Petition
Refugees: A New Consensus
Hello everyone
Over the last two years, we have received several thousand responses to our survey on Asylum Seekers and Refugees: Time for a New National Consensus.http://www.civilsociety.org.au/heartandsoul/Consultation2.htm
We have collated the responses and incorporated the results into this five-point Campaign for a National Consensus on Refugees. http://www.civilsociety.org.au/heartandsoul/refugees.htm
With a new political mood in Canberra, a sensible consensus on these issues is perhaps now possible.
To gather support, we have put the five key points up in the form of a petition.
Refugees who are granted asylum in Australia should be given a Temporary Protection Visa for 2 years, renewable for a further 2 years until such time as conditions in their country of origin permit their safe return home. Refugee status does not mean permanent residency in Australia.
Asylum seekers and refugees should be accommodated and supported in civil society by sponsor families or communities. Detention centres in Australia and offshore should be closed.
Asylum seekers entering Australia by boat should be intercepted and turned back to their ports of departure.
Resources saved through the closure of detention centres should be redirected to supports for refugees close to home, in Jordan, Somalia, and Pakistan.
Refugees with education and skills have an obligation to contribute to development and reconciliation in their homelands once it is safe to return home.
To sign go to http://www.civilsociety.org.au/heartandsoul/refugees.htm
I’d welcome comments on this petition and the accompanying statement.
Regards
Vern Hughes
Convenor
0425 722 890
http://www.civilsociety.org.au/heartandsoul
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