The government is trying to change our laws so it can continue to persecute asylum seekers, without the High Court stepping in. The Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) bill is before the Senate today. Please contact our Senators to tell them to oppose this bill. Below is an email you can send them (including subject line), and after that is a list of email addresses of our senators. (I sent most of mine separately, but sending a bulk email is better than doing nothing.)

Feel free to copy my email

Subject: Please oppose the Asylum Legacy Bill

Email:

Hi,

Please oppose the Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014 when it goes before the Senate Committee.

This bill is merely a blatant attempt by the government to make it legal for them to:

1. Give refugees temp visas, which leave genuine refugees in limbo, causing great anxiety and hardship (for people who are already traumatised).
2. Tow and dump asylum seekers anywhere, without regard for their safety.
3. Send genuine refugees back to the countries from which they’re fleeing persecution.
4. Fast-track assessments so asylum cases are rushed and ill-considered.
5. Remove the ability for asylum seekers to appeal decisions, which is criminal, considering how many cases are found to have been incorrectly determined in the first round.
6. Remove the ability of the High Court to keep them in line.
7. Shirk their responsibilities under international law without appearing to revoke our commitment to it.
8. Treat Australian kids (born in Australia to asylum seekers) as asylum seekers, and refuse them protection and citizenship.

In reality, this bill is simply removing us from the Refugee Convention without appearing to do so. It is cowardly, cruel, inhumane, and completely unnecessary. Let me remind you:

• ‘Boat people’ are not breaking any law, so they’re not ‘illegal’.
• Less than half of all Australia’s so-called ‘illegal immigrants’ are ‘boat people’.
• Only about half of all asylum seekers arrive by boat.
• 92% of ‘boat people’ are genuine refugees; they have a genuine reason to fear persecution in their own country.
• ‘Boat people’ are not jumping the queue. The onshore application process is the standard process.
• 51 other countries get proportionally more asylum seekers than Australia (relative to GDP).
• Refugees who came by boat make up only 2.5% of all of Australia’s immigrants.

If you’re not conversant with the facts about asylum seekers, you can read them here: http://www.glennmurray.com.au/australia-boat-people-illegal-policy/

Please oppose this bill.

Yours sincerely,

Senators’ email addresses

Here’s a list of all but 2 of our senators’ email addresses. You can just copy and paste straight into the To field in your email client.

senator.lundy@aph.gov.au; senator.seselja@aph.gov.au; senator.cameron@aph.gov.au; senator.faulkner@aph.gov.au; senator.fierravanti-wells@aph.gov.au; senator.heffernan@aph.gov.au; senator.leyonhjelm@aph.gov.au; senator.nash@aph.gov.au; senator.payne@aph.gov.au; senator.rhiannon@aph.gov.au; senator.sinodinos@aph.gov.au; senator.williams@aph.gov.au; senator.oneill@aph.gov.au; senator.scullion@aph.gov.au; senator.peris@aph.gov.au; senator.brandis@aph.gov.au; senator.canavan@aph.gov.au; senator.ketter@aph.gov.au; senator.lazarus@aph.gov.au; senator.ludwig@aph.gov.au; senator.ian.macdonald@aph.gov.au; senator.mason@aph.gov.au; senator.mcgrath@aph.gov.au; senator.mclucas@aph.gov.au; senator.moore@aph.gov.au; senator.osullivan@aph.gov.au; senator.waters@aph.gov.au; senator.birmingham@aph.gov.au; senator.edwards@aph.gov.au; senator.fawcett@aph.gov.au; senator.gallacher@aph.gov.au; senator.hanson-young@aph.gov.au; senator.mcewen@aph.gov.au; senator.ruston@aph.gov.au; senator.wong@aph.gov.au; senator.wright@aph.gov.au; senator.xenophon@aph.gov.au; senator.abetz@aph.gov.au; senator.bilyk@aph.gov.au; senator.carol.brown@aph.gov.au; senator.bushby@aph.gov.au; senator.colbeck@aph.gov.au; senator.lambie@aph.gov.au; senator.milne@aph.gov.au; senator.parry@aph.gov.au; senator.polley@aph.gov.au; senator.singh@aph.gov.au; senator.urquhart@aph.gov.au; senator.whish-wilson@aph.gov.au; senator.carr@aph.gov.au; senator.collins@aph.gov.au; senator.conroy@aph.gov.au; senator.dinatale@aph.gov.au; senator.fifield@aph.gov.au; senator.madigan@aph.gov.au; senator.marshall@aph.gov.au; senator.mckenzie@aph.gov.au; senator.muir@aph.gov.au; senator.ronaldson@aph.gov.au; senator.ryan@aph.gov.au; senator.back@aph.gov.au;  senator.bullock@aph.gov.au;  senator.cash@aph.gov.au;  senator.cormann@aph.gov.au;  senator.johnston@aph.gov.au;  senator.lines@aph.gov.au; senator.ludlam@aph.gov.au; senator.reynolds@aph.gov.au; senator.siewert@aph.gov.au; senator.sterle@aph.gov.au; senator.wang@aph.gov.au;

Please share

Unfortunately with all the talk (smokescreen) of terrorism going around at the moment, this bill is at risk of flying under the radar. Please share this post with your friends and family, urging them to contact their senators.