Since the commencement of South-East Monash Legal Service’s operation in 1973, we have worked together with the refugee communities in our catchment area to advocate their rights and celebrate their experiences in Australia. We are proud to associated with people from refugee backgrounds and people seeking asylum who enrich our communities and culture.
Australia has a long history of providing a safe place for refugees and humanitarian entrants. The country has opened its arms to over 800,000 people in need of humanitarian protection and given them permanent residence since the Federation. However, our reputation and identity as a country with ‘boundless plains to share’ for ‘those who’ve come across the seas have been irreparably damaged in recent times.
The country’s treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum was demonstrated by the cruel treatment faced by the Nadesalingam family, who were recently released after four gruesome years under detention. On 10th June 2022, the family travelled back to Biloela, where they were welcomed by the big-hearted Queensland town that embraced the family. This significant outcome of the community-driven campaign, Home to Biloela has allowed other people seeking asylum living in Australia to dream of a safer, healthier, and peaceful future in the country.
Another recent and significant impact on the Australian refugee policies has been the outcomes produced by the Advisory Panel on Australia’s Resettlement of Afghan Nationals. In addition to the Humanitarian Program’s annual intake, the Australian Government announced on March 29, 2022, that it will provide 16,500 additional places for Afghan nationals.
SMLS joined with other organisations to call for Australia to commit to an additional humanitarian intake of at least 20,000 Afghan refugees, granting permanent protection to more than 5,100 refugees from Afghanistan who are currently on temporary protection visas in Australia. We have also advocated allowing family reunification visas and to life the ban on resettlement of refugees to Australia through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Indonesia. We continue to advocate for these changes as the situation in Afghanistan remains dangerous for minority groups and women.
In partnership with Noble Park and Hampton Park English Language schools, we deliver community legal education programs to newly arrived young people who have come to Australia as refugees or sought asylum here with their families.
SMLS supports refugee communities through a variety of community programs. For example, we provide support to people from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds who may be facing family violence and other legal problems through our Mother’s Legal Help program, a partnership with Maternal Child Health service in Dandenong.
As a Community Legal Centres in an area with some of the most refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia, we pledge to uphold, promote, and advocate refugee justice, peace, and human rights to the Australian community.
