March 19th 2015: There was a sniff of resistance in the air today in Geelong city when asylum seeker supporters from various groups met outside the offices of the local newspaper, The Geelong Advertiser. It has been twelve months now since a persistent group, known only as the Vigil Group, has been meeting weekly, alternating between the offices of Corangamite local member Sarah Henderson MP and Shadow Minister for Immigration, Richard Marles MP, Member for Corio.
The location for today’s demonstration was to underline the fact that, as Monica from Port Arlington pointed out: ‘The masthead of The Geelong Advertiser proclaims itself the peoples’ voice but they have yet to substantially cover the asylum seeker issue in a serious way.’
Liz from the Surf Coast agrees that the newspaper appears more interested in ‘football, murders and real estate.’ She points out that Geelong too has a fine tradition of resettling displaced people, particularly after the Second World War.
Several groups were represented in today’s meeting, from Geelong, the Surf Coast and Bellarine, as well as the newly-formed Grandmothers for Refugees, suggesting that this is already a growing movement, extending its influence. Generally people on the street were prepared to stop and talk about the issue, demonstrating an ignorance of rather than antagonism towards asylum seekers. One woman did shout at us to ‘Go Home’, but another woman spent part of her lunch hour, holding a placard and showing her support.
Monica believes it is important to keep focus on the issue even though the local press has mostly been silent. What she wants is a proper dialogue and debate on the issue. The immediate release of any children in detention, she feels, must be an immediate step forward. ‘Are we just seeing’ she wonders ‘government by public opinion?’
Yvonne, a regular member of the Vigil Group, says the group is very clear about continuing the call for ‘compassionate refugee policies from both the Liberal-National Coalition and from the Labor Party’. Jeni, another regular member of the group, is busy handing out information sheets to passers-by calling for a number of immediate measures including the:
• Immediate release of children in detention to community care
• Closure of detention centres, on and offshore
• Compliance by Australia with international refugee and asylum seeker conventions and protocols
• Increase in Australia’s annual intake of refugees
Do the seeming limitations of such a small group in the face of general public apathy mean these ideals are too lofty? Lisa from CRAG (Combined Refugee Action Group), a local umbrella group, believes it is important to support such groups as the Vigil Group to continue bringing pressure to bear and to lobby for political change. ‘We want to demonstrate’ she says, ‘that refugees are welcome in our town.’
Gillian from Barwon Heads would like to see a broader dialogue opened up with countries like Indonesia. ‘A regional solution’ she believes is the only practical way to deal with the thousands of asylum seekers. Having had to say ‘sorry’ historically to a number of disadvantaged groups already in Australia, one day she believes ‘we will be saying sorry to asylum seekers for what we have done.’
Tim Gooden, Secretary of Geelong Trades Hall says simply ‘this is a human rights issue.’ Unions are in fact human rights organisations that specialise in protecting and improving rights and conditions in the workplace, so there is really no difference between the two struggles. ‘It’s not true,’ he says, ‘that unions are worried about refugees taking their jobs.’ The unions do have some concerns about the 457 visa issue, where there is a chance that refugees could be taken advantage of by bosses.
Yvonne, a stalwart member of the group for the past twelve months puts it succinctly when she declares” ‘We are not going away.’ This is a group that is definitely in it for the long haul.
