We can help asylum seekers

Amnesty International held a public launch of Refugee Week in Kibble Park, Gosford, on Sunday, October 22.

I braved the weather and went to hear the Azadoota band playing wonderful lively music and listen to a number of speakers.

It seemed to me that the main issue was the Australian Government's failure on immigration and the processing of refugees.

There was especial criticism of its bad record in the treatment of refugees at detention camps and in the failure to provide permanent visas for asylum seekers coming to our country and seeking refuge from persecution.

The result, so often, was to continue the trauma and desperation in these lives.

Permanent visas are necessary for asylum seekers escaping persecution.

Temporary visas only prolong the emotional instability of the lives.

There have been cases where after the expiry of their temporary visa they have been sent back to their country of origin and there executed.

The human cost of family separation in refugee lives is enormous.

Children separated from the parents, in either the old or the new country, is to be avoided and can be with a sense of humanity in our immigration procedure.

Asylum seekers lives are at risk.

We can help and make our immigration laws work for the needy.

Australia cannot deny human rights under any conditions.

Our once positive image abroad is tainted by our activity in the last decade.

Australia is an independent nation. Our policies should be Australian, not based on what governments from other countries may want

We should act, as did our forebears, seeking democratic and just processes for all peoples in our country.

Noel Olive, Umina