There’s no greater time to call for solidarity and compassion than on World Refugee Day during Refugee week.
And at a time when the harrowing details about detention centres are coming to light, we think it’s time to change the conversation from what refugees cost us, to what they actually can do for our society.
Now is the time to get our facts straight about refugees, and make sure that our conversations are centered on compassion and knowledge and not ignorance and vitriol.
So, if you’re part of collective that shouts loudly about ‘illegal’ immigrants ‘jumping the queue’, let’s talk about it. Because firstly, there’s no such thing as an ‘illegal’ refugee, because it’s simply not illegal to seek asylum in Australia, regardless of the means they use to get here. And as for the queue? There is no queue. Full stop. The resettlement process is more like a lottery.
Even more alarming is the argument that some believe refugees are flooding into Australia, snatching jobs and having a monopoly on our resources. In fact, for every 1000 people in Australia, there are 1.3 refugees.
So if you find yourself engaging in this conversation during such an important week, make sure your arguments have substance and your claims have worth. Because it’s time to bust-up the myths.
You can find more information on Refugee Week here.
Top Comments
ACA sure debunked some myths about living conditions on Nauru, staged protests for the benefit of advocates and all.
This is ACA we're talking about
Do they have different cameras than the ABC do they?
It's not the cameras it's the dodgy reporting. They've got form
How was the footage shot dodgy?, its pretty clear the conditions are better than advocates claim... Much better than a UN refugee camp. It was also very clear that the protests behind fences were staged events, both those conclusions could easily be reached with the sound turned off, then there were the complaining detainees who were barely able to conceal smiles while explaining how bad they had it. Air conditioned accommodation, meal's, spending money and freedom to roam a tropical island...
I consider myself a fairly compassionate person and go out of my way to help people here and overseas through charities. I have a huge issue with the absence of talk around those who cannot afford to get out of their country, travel by plane across several countries, then seek asylum. I know that very poor people either cannot afford to leave or send one family member on foot, on rough seas to get a chance at a safe life. The people we see arriving are often, though not always, the educated people or those who had a business who could to travel across continents to get here. I really want the poorest and most at risk people to get help. People from Sri Lanka for example seem to be returned into hell whilst those from Afghanistan seem to be given a different consideration. We need more discussions in this country without the two extremes (1. accept all refugees - no questions and 2. hate refugees)
Agreed