By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Federal MPs learnt a stark tale of two brothers from Afghanistan that showed the “randomness” of Australia’s asylum seeker policies.
Sajjad Askary, a former refugee from Afghanistan, shared his story as part of a ‘Back Your Neighbour’ multi-council delegation in Canberra during Federal Budget week.
With a federal election just weeks away, the group was seeking an overhaul of the country’s asylum-seeker and refugee policies.
A decade ago, Sajjad and his brother arrived from Afghanistan by boat as Hazara asylum-seekers.
Sajjad was swiftly granted a permanent humanitarian visa and has flourished in his new home.
He has settled in Dandenong, worked and built a life. He is currently studying law.
But his brother, who arrived just two weeks later, faced a changed, harsher Australian border policy.
He has languished depressingly on a temporary visa for the past decade. He is not allowed to earn an income.
Greater Dandenong mayor Jim Memeti and councillor Rhonda Garad, and mayors and councillors from Kingston and Moreland were part of the delegation.
Cr Garad said Sajjad’s “tale of two brothers” showed the “random nature of this capricious policy”.
“Many asylum seekers have been waiting for a decade for their applications to be processed.
“We strongly argued that this is a great loss to the Dandenong community.
“Up to 12,000 people are languishing in Dandenong with no means of income, unable to work or make a productive contribution to our community.
“We have a skills shortage here and these people are willing to work but are not allowed.”
She said the “cruel” policy was having mental health impacts, with 14 Afghanistan-Australians recently taking their lives.
Back Your Neighbour members directly lobbied 16 federal MPs, including Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent, Labor’s immigration spokesperson Kristina Keneally and Greens Senators Janet Rice and Nick McKim.
They sought action on four asylum-seeker issues:
• access to Centrelink, Medicare and support services,
• replacing temporary protection visas with permanent visas,
• clearing the backlog of asylum applications and appeals
• overhauling the refugee determination process.
Cr Memeti said there was “very positive” support from Labor MPs on all four points – though nothing has been formally announced.
“They were saying there’s no chance that Hazara people will be sent back to Afghanistan with the Taliban in power.
“I think it’s very positive if they announce something. Most people understand if you’ve been here 10 years as an asylum-seeker, you’ve exhausted all avenues and you can’t go back.
“They feel they want to give back to Australia.”
He welcomed the Federal Government offering 16,500 extra humanitarian visas for people fleeing Afghanistan in the next four years.
With many fleeing the invaded Ukraine, there was greater understanding of asylum-seekers’ plights, Cr Memeti said.
“Asylum seekers are leaving because they’re desperate, their lives are in danger. So all the MPs were very understanding about what we’re advocating on.”
Cr Garad said Labor and Liberal MPs agreed the backlog of claims was a “pressing issue”.
“Both (parties) agreed that they were likely to take action after the election though were not specific about what those changes would be.”
The Greens MPs were “extremely supportive” on all four issues, Cr Garad said.
Back Your Neighbour members also met with representatives from Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and Amnesty International.
