Greens Leader Richard Di Natale says it’s time for Australia to step up and help huge numbers of people fleeing persecution in our region.
“These people are in desperate need of help. They are refugees and they deserve a home in Australia,” said Senator Di Natale.
“Instead of turning our backs and turning back the boats, we should welcome these people with open arms.
“They will make an enormous contribution to our nation, as have generations of refugees and other migrants before them.
“Australia can show leadership and compassion, just as it did after the Tiananmen Square massacre and the Vietnam war by authorising special intake of refugees fleeing war and persecution.
“The Abbott government must realise by now that pushing asylum seekers out of sight has not pushed them out of the minds of millions of Australians who care about their fate.
“We’re talking about thousands of people who have been caught up in a humanitarian disaster. We’d come to their aid if it was an earthquake or a flood. How can we abandon them now?
“We are a more caring nation than our successive immigration ministers would have the world believe. The government should help us to be at our best by helping these Rohingyan people.”
MEANWHILE … Tony says NO …
• ABC: South-East Asian migrant crisis: PM Tony Abbott rules out resettling Rohingyas in Australia
BUT … poverty-struck Gambia says …
• Guardian: South-east Asia migrant crisis: Gambia offers to resettle all Rohingya refugees The impoverished west African nations says it is its ‘sacred duty’ to help fellow Muslims and will set them up in refugee camps
• Tim Thorne, in Comments: Charity begins at home. My home is planet Earth. These people are being persecuted and degraded inside my home. The least I can do is try to persuade those who represent me to offer charity to them. What we should all be doing, in whichever rooms of our home we live, is attempting to stop the violence, the discrimination and the practice of slavery which have created this horrendous situation. And by the way, Richard (#6) nobody “earns” aid. That is why it’s called “aid”. Income one earns is something altogether different.
