Federal politicians form group to support refugees

March 15, 2023 03:21 PM PDT | By AAPNEWS
 Federal politicians form group to support refugees
Image source: AAPNEWS

Expectations are high for the federal parliament's newly formed refugee support group.

Almost 50 senators and MPs from various parties have joined the Parliamentary Friends of Refugees group to promote fairer refugee and asylum seeker policies.

The group is positioned to play a critical role in improving Australia's response to those seeking protection in the country, Greens senator Nick McKim says.

More than two million refugees are in urgent need of resettlement this year, according to the UN refugee agency.

The Albanese government announced in February 19,000 refugees on temporary protection or safe haven visas would be eligible for permanent visas.

It also reversed an order made by the previous government which relegated family union visas to the bottom of the processing pile.

The government faced a massive backlog of more than 864,000 migration and temporary visa applications waiting to be processed in October.

The Refugee Council of Australia backs the launch of the support group, maintaining both the Liberal-National coalition and Labor governments have shown strong support for refugee resettlement over the past 75 years.

Under the new announcement by the Albanese government, only asylum seekers who entered Australia before Operation Sovereign Borders began in 2013 are eligible to apply for permanent residency.

The border protection operation was the outcome of a 2013 federal election policy of the coalition.

People who arrived by boat after the operation came into place will never be resettled in Australia under a policy maintained by Labor.

The more than 2500 people who were found not to be owed protection by Australia are expected to leave the country. 

Labor MP Kate Thwaites will chair the parliamentary group alongside Liberal Dan Tehan, Senator McKim and independent Zoe Daniel.

The group will officially launch in Canberra on Monday with guest speakers from refugee backgrounds, including Afghanistan Women's Soccer team captain Fatima Yousufi and Refugee Council chief executive Paul Power.


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