Co-ordinating Rural Australians for Asylum Seekers has allowed Bathurst woman Julie Newham to see the human face of the refugee crisis, and she does not believe the federal government’s new asylum seeker policy is the answer.
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Rural Australians for Asylum Seekers comes under the banner of the Bathurst Refugee Support Group.
Ms Newham said she feels the asylum seeker debate is missing the human element, facts have been misconstrued, and there has been a lot of branding by the media by using words like ‘boat people’.
Ms Newham said once they are branded, it is easier to send them somewhere else and wash our hands of them, rather than seeing them as vulnerable.
Ms Newham said she doesn’t think sending asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea is treating them humanely.
“I don’t think we are fulfilling our global obligation,” she said.
“The politicians are trying to make it not their problem, without thinking about what sort of life they will be giving these people.
“Papua New Guinea is quite possibly not as bad as where they came from, therefore it may not even deter people from boarding the boats.
“Papua New Guinea is a very poor country with a lot of problems. It doesn’t have the processes or environment right now for housing asylum seekers,” Ms Newham said.
She feels a better solution would be to allow asylum seekers to stay in a community once their claim is processed.
If they prove not to be valid asylum seekers, send them home.
Ms Newham said she has had a passion for human rights and vulnerable people ever since she was young.
“If my family were at risk I hope I could take them somewhere we would be offered a place of safety,” she said.