Opinion Piece by the ERC Director 'Alopi Latukefu Published in The Canberra Times

As a Pasifika Australian deeply connected to my heritage, and in the face of the current Parliamentary debate on the Federal Government’s proposed Safeguard Mechanism, I feel a duty to speak up.

Permanent Visas for all Refugees

Call for Peace

The Albanese Labor government has finally agreed to honour its promise to give permanent visas to 19,000 refugees on Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEVs). This means that after ten years in limbo, they will have the right to travel, family reunion and a secure future. But there are thousands of other refugees with no promise of permanent visas:
• 10,000 people rejected under the Coalition's unfair fast track processing system, including many now threatened with deportation
• 150 refugees still stranded on Nauru and PNG
• 1,200 Medevac refugees and families from Nauru who are now in Australia but told they cannot stay in Australia. Many have already been here for five years or more and have partners, jobs and lives here.

Pax Christi Australia [NSW] Inc. gives notice and invites members & interested people to its 2023 Annual General Meeting on Monday 3rd April 2023 at 6.00 pm via Zoom. We are happy to announce that Professor Clinton Fernandes will speak on the topic: "Neither Their War Nor Their Peace".

The classic image of Australia as a new and young country of opportunity and promise is an illusion. We are not a young country. We have history, languages, cultures, lore and traditions going back tens of millennia. We live in diverse places across the continent which historically recognised hundreds of First Nations. We, as Australians should all be proud to have a direct lineage to the world’s oldest, continuous culture and civilisation. We are a country whose very earth and land formation speak to deep time, history, mythology and dreaming. What we can agree on is that we are a country of opportunity.