Sydney refugee encampment rallies for permanent protection
Refugees have been camping outside Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke’s office in Western Sydney for 50 days. On Sunday, 1,000 protesters marched through the streets of Punchbowl demanding permanent visas for all refugees in Australia. This was an even bigger showing than the last protest on day 27 of the encampment, and a boost to the resolve of the remarkable refugees who have withstood a lot to get here.
They have withstood patronising lectures from Tony Burke, who told them off for disrupting the neighbourhood and instructed them to be patient. They have withstood the cold nights and hot days out in Punchbowl, as well as the financial pressure of missing work to join the camp. One Afghan man, Mirwais, has withstood three heart surgeries and years of waiting under bridging visa conditions that restrict his access to urgent medical care. Mohammad, another Afghan refugee, joined the encampment for the first time on Sunday, because he was made to withstand an entire adolescence on Nauru, was made to see kids younger than him drink from shampoo bottles to escape their suffering, and is still waiting for permanent protection here now as a grown man.
A speech by Dr Niro Kandasamy of the Tamil Refugee Council and Sydney University’s National Tertiary Education Union referred to the long-term resilience of Tamil refugees, who make up a large proportion of the encampment, and the ongoing alliance between the Labor government and the genocidal Sri Lankan state. Rally chair Renuga Inpakumar reminded the crowd that they are now part of a national movement that shows no signs of stopping. Refugees are camping outside Treasurer of Australia Jim Chalmers’ Brisbane office, in Adelaide there is an ongoing protest outside the immigration office, and in Perth, refugees continue their encampment outside Labor MP and ex-cop Sam Lim’s office. Like Burke, Lim has only patronised and insulted the refugees by asserting that he came to Australia from Singapore “the proper way”, and outrageously suggesting that refugees who take their own lives should “have a strong energy to carry on” and be grateful that they are living under a “good government”.
If the national encampments prove anything, it’s that refugees possess incredible strength—despite everything that the Labor Party has put them through—to fight for a life that doesn’t just have to be agonisingly withstood.
