\nStart at the State Library, Cnr Swanston & La Trobe Streets Melbourne\u00a0before setting off for Princes Bridge.<\/p>\n
\nContact<\/b>\u00a0Sister Brigid Arthur 0408101134
\nMarie Hapke\u00a0\u00a0 0409252673
\nPamela Curr 0417517075<\/p>\n
_________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n
Statements of Support:<\/strong><\/p>\n “My parents were both refugees from the Nazis, and while they came to Australia with government approval I am very conscious of the tens of thousands of their peers who died in camps because no country was willing to take them in. I have always believed that Australia stood out as a country that was open and generous; under a series of increasingly cruel and populist leaders we have become one of the meanest countries in the world in our attitude to people fleeing persecution and possible death. Nothing in our history matches the shame of our current policies towards asylum seekers since the deliberate extermination of many Aboriginal people, and we must do all we can to build a coalition of goodwill to turn the attitudes of our fellow Australians around, and force a re-examination of the basic assumptions that have lead both major political parties to construct increasingly punitive and Orwellian responses to human misery.” <\/p>\n The Palm Sunday Walk is an opportunity to call for a change of Australia’s response to asylum seekers. There are at least four reasons why the current response is wrong:<\/p>\n Professor Klaus Neumann, The Swinburne Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” <\/p>\n “It has been written already in church documents that justice is a constitutive element of the gospel.” <\/p>\n “The voice of the Australian community can be a powerful force for change. Many who will march on Palm Sunday do so from a deep sense of shame that our Government condemns thousands of asylum seekers to despair and misery and fails to respect human rights and dignity. Children and the mentally ill are exported to inadequate off shore centres as human sacrifices to make political points. It is time to change and have a conversation about the values we wish to uphold and to demand better from those who claim to show political leadership.” <\/p>\n “I would be honoured to join the others in leading the March.” <\/p>\n “Australia has many great traditions. Palm Sunday through the 1980s became a day when hundreds of thousands of people joined forces to end the nuclear arms race and to speak up for world peace. We have also had a great tradition of welcoming people of all lands to Australia. It is a powerful statement that this year the call of Palm Sunday is to stop waging war on refugees. We need more actions, more protests, more voices to stop the abuse being inflicted on people who have the right to seek protection and a new life in Australia. This is how we will shift public opinion and government policy to welcome refugees to this country. One day the crimes being perpetrated on so many will end. Our actions can make that day come sooner.” <\/p>\n “Our highest priority is not to ‘stop the boats’, it is to ‘stop the injustice’. <\/p>\n “It is vitally important that people continue to unite together in public to oppose the barbaric way in which our government treats asylum seekers, to send hope to those locked up that there are those on the outside that support them despite the culture of racism that is led from on high, but also to fly the flag of those who reject the myths dished out by politicians and the media, and to give people an alternative argument to help shift public opinion.” <\/p>\n “Like many I am ashamed and angered by our punitive treatment of innocent people to further the political ambitions of a cruel few.” <\/p>\n “As the President of the Victorian Division of the National Tertiary Education Union I am honoured to have been asked to be part of the group leading the march on Palm Sunday. <\/p>\n “I am supporting the Palm Sunday Walk for justice because I believe it’s not too late to abandon our country’s harsh, demonising treatment of vulnerable refugees. I also come from a refugee background. My Mum was a little girl when her country Burma was invaded and she had to trek by foot into India with countless refugees. She taught me how to play guitar and sing. If there hadn’t been a place to go and take refuge I wouldn\u2019t be here.” <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Walk Leaders:<\/strong><\/p>\n Moira Rayner, Advocate\/Author\/Speaker <\/p>\n Supporting Organisations:<\/strong><\/p>\n Act For Peace Across Australia in cities and regional towns Palm Sunday is being observed by Faith communities, Academics, School students and ordinary Australians who are deeply disturbed by the current treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. In Melbourne\u00a0 bells from St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral, St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral, and St.Michael\u2019s and St.Francis churches will ring out across the city as the WALK FOR JUSTICE FOR REFUGEES begins. The walk is organised by the Refugee Advocacy Network, working with a broad coalition of groups from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archived-press-releases","category-past-events"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nDennis Altman AM, Professorial Fellow in Human Security, Office of the Vice Chancellor,La Trobe University<\/em><\/p>\n\n
\nKevin Bracken, State Secretary Maritime Workers Union, Victoria<\/em><\/p>\n
\nGary Walker, The Columban Fathers<\/em><\/p>\n
\nProfessor Louise Newman AM<\/em><\/p>\n
\nAlex Bhathal<\/em><\/p>\n
\nSenator Lee Rhiannon<\/em><\/p>\n
\nLet’s not victimise asylum seekers but welcome them to our shores.”
\nJoe Camilleri<\/em><\/p>\n
\nBenjamin Solah, writer, activist and poet, and co-founder of Writers for Refugees<\/em><\/p>\n
\nRod Quantock<\/em><\/p>\n
\n“The plight of refugees world-wide is well known and documented. In our own country it is with intense sadness and shame that I observe daily the appalling way in which people, whose lives have been tipped upside down through war, are further traumatised by the ways in which our democratically elected government operates. We must speak out and make our elected representatives be held to account so that those seeking refuge are seen as people first and foremost who are welcome in this country we already share with so many people from other places. Join us in this important march to retrace the footsteps taken by so many before us, in that we may make a difference in the lives of those seeking refuge.”
\nVirginia Mansel Lees<\/em><\/p>\n
\nKavisha Mazella<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Statement.](\"https:\/\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Statement.-Archbishop.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nJoe Camilleri, Singer-Songwriter & Musician
\nKate Atkinson, Actress
\nArnold Zable, Writer\/Educator
\nVirginia Mansel Lees, Academic
\nTess Lawrence, Journalist\/Editor
\nPamela Curr, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
\nBarney Zwartz, Former Religious Affairs, The Age
\nBen Solah, Writers for Refugees
\nHarold Zwier, Australian Jewish Democratic Society
\nAlan Clayton, Co-Clerk, Society of Friends Vic
\nGerry Fahey, Co-Clerk, Society of friends Vic
\nBobby Sundaralingam, Medical Association for Prevention of War
\nRamat Yousafi, Shamama (Hazara org)
\nNockie Le, Cambodian Community
\nSr Brigid Arthur, Brigidine Sisters
\nAlistair McCrae, Wesley Church
\nGary Walker, Head of The Columban Fathers
\nMax Kaiser, Aust Jewish Democratic Society
\nKevin Bracken, MUA
\nMichele O’Neil, Nat Secretary TCFUA
\nRon Merkel QC
\nRobert Richter QC
\nSharon Firebrace, Indigenous Leader & Activist
\nAunty Barbara Williams, Elder Yorta Yorta
\nDr June Factor, Honorary Senior Fellow, School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne
\nProf. Louise Newman AM, Monash University
\nProf. Philomena Murray, University of Melbourne
\nProfessor Klaus Neumann, Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology
\nDennis Altman AM FASSA, Professorial Fellow in Human Security, Office of the Vice Chancellor, La Trobe University
\nSenator Christine Milne, Australian Greens
\nSenator Sarah Hanson Young, Australian Greens
\nSenator Lee Rhiannon, Australian Greens
\nAlex Bhathal, Australian Greens
\nAnna Burke MP, Federal member for Chisholm, ALP
\nCr. Gaetano Greco, Mayor of Darebin
\nArchbishop Denis Hart, Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne
\nBishop Phillip Huggins
\nBishop Hilton Deakin
\nRod Quantock<\/p>\n
\nAfrican Australian Multicultural And Youth Services
\nAfrican Think Tank
\nAssociation of Neighborhood Houses
\nAsylum Seeker Resource Centre
\nAustralian Churches Refugee Taskforce
\nAustralian Democrats
\nAustralian Education Union
\nAustralian Nurses And Midwifery Federation
\nAustralian Services Union
\nAustralian Western Sahara Association
\nBaptcare
\nBlack Sash Australia
\nBrigidine Asylum Seeker Project
\nCatholic Office For Justice And Peace
\nCity of Moreland
\nCollins Street Baptist Church
\nCombined Refugee Action Group
\nConcerned Australians
\nElectrical Trade Union
\nGeelong Refugee Advocacy Information Network
\nGood Shepherd Australia New Zealand
\nHumanitarian Crisis Hub
\nJesuit Social Services
\nKommonground
\nLabor 4 Refugees
\nMaritime Union of Australia
\nMedical Association for the Prevention of War
\nMelb Uni Campus Refugee Rights Club
\nMelb Uni Student Union
\nMelbourne Catholic and Migrant Refugee Office
\nMelbourne Welsh Church
\nNational Tertiary Education Union
\nPax Christi
\nPeople for Human Right and Equality
\nQueenscliff Rural Australians for Refugees
\nRefugee Action Collective
\nRise of the Morning Star
\nSecondary Students For Refugees
\nSocialist Alliance
\nSocialist Alternative
\nSolidarity
\nSt John\u2019s Social Justice Group (Mitcham)
\nSt Michael’s on Collins
\nSurf Coast Rural Australians for Refugees
\nTamil Refugee Council
\nThe Democrats
\nThe Greens
\nThe Victorian Greens
\nUnited Voice
\nUniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania
\nVictorian Council of Churches
\nVictorian Trades Hall Council
\nWriters For Refugees<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"