“One Hundred Days Without Any Answers”: TRC’s Renuga Inpakumar on the 24/7 Refugee Camp at Burke’s Office

As of Wednesday, 13 November 2024, the 24 Hour Continuous Protest For Permanent Visa has been stationed outside of home affairs minister Tony Burke’s electoral office in the southwestern Sydney suburb of Punchbowl for 100 days.

Those involved in the push to obtain permanent protection for 10,000 long-term community members continuing to live under a temporary status, underscore that this is 100 days with no answers.

The answers refugees, asylum seekers and supporters seek from Burke relate to why federal Labor ran on a pre-election platform promising to extend permanent protection to a group of around 29,000 refugees and asylum seekers living in the community without permanency, but after the party secured office, only 19,000 of these people were granted residency.

Indeed, after its May 2022 election, the Albanese government dragged its feet on refugees for seven months prior to announcing on 12 February 2023 that it was to make good on its promise to extend permanent residency to all refugees and asylum seekers living on temporary protection. Yet, that turned out to be just 19,000 of the 29,000, with the remaining 10,000 still left out in the cold today.

Broken promises

The remaining 10,000 refugees who have been refused the extension of permanent residency and further haven’t been supplied with any other solution to the situation that has seen them surviving in the community for over a decade without any secure employment, as many have not been extended work rights, meaning that they’ve had to survive on charity.

After having run on a platform of permanency and then securing government, Labor dropped it upon these 10,000 asylum seekers that permanent visas would not be forthcoming without any clear reason. And many of those who were left out had been assessed via the Fast Track Process that had involved dodgy country reports with information conveying no issue with refoulement.

Those excluded last year are now campaigning for permanent residency prior to next year’s federal election, as while Labor promised permanency and has since reneged upon it, if the Liberal Nationals are voted back into office next May, there is no telling how the ultraconservatives will approach the situation of the outstanding permanent visas.

Prior to next election

Ongoing demonstrations in aid of these 10,000 refugees being able to obtain visas have sprung up in capital cities across the continent over the last three months, as those continuing to be subject to temporary protection consider that the uncertainties of the present could be compounded further if the next election takes place without their having secured permanency.

Sydney Criminal Lawyers spoke to Tamil Refugee Council spokesperson Renuga Inpakumar, who’s involved with the 24 Hour Continuous Protest For Permanent Visa outside of Tony Burke’s Punchbowl office, about the toll that ongoing temporary status takes upon asylum seekers living in the community with no rights and no guaranteed future.

Since mid-August 24/7 Refugee Encampments have been staged in capital cities across the continent calling on the Albanese government to make good on its pre-election promise to provide permanent protection to refugees remaining in the community stuck living on temporary visas for up to 13 years.

The government provided permanency to 19,000 of these refugees in early 2023, however 10,000 were left out of the equation.

Renuga, why has federal Labor discriminated against these 10,000 people who’ve long lived in the community? And how has community support for these people been over the last three months?

The federal Labor government explained pre-election that the Fast Track Process was unfair.

However, we can see that whilst they provided the TPV (temporary protection visa) holders a pathway to residency, there has been no pathway to permanency for the remaining 10,000 individuals.

The federal Labor government considers that what they have done in the past is okay. They consider that they’ve done good for the refugees.

But these refugees have been trapped in the system for over 12 years. They have been kept in limbo.

We are seeing the youth unable to go to university to complete their education because their visa status doesn’t permit them to do so. These individuals don’t have work rights.

As to why the federal government has discriminated against these 10,000 people, it’s because the government doesn’t truly understand what’s happening in the homelands of these people, due to DFAT reports providing false information.

The DFAT report for Sri Lanka denies that a genocide ever occurred. It states that right now the country is safe.

However, amongst the 10,000 fleeing refugees, there are Tamils, who are in immense fear of being deported back to danger in Sri Lanka, because they witnessed the genocide that occurred in 2009.

The federal Labor government consistently tells us that they’re working through the cases. But there are individuals whose cases have been in the courts for over four years, and the last step is minister intervention.

So, immigration minister Tony Burke can simply sign and then the individual can get permanent residency.

For the last three months of the demonstration, the community has been going hand-in-hand.

We’ve been having refugees from the Iranian community, the Pakistani community, the Bangladeshi community, the Tamil community and so many more, that are working together to ensure the encampment continues, especially in Sydney.

These refugees are working very hard to talk to each other and to be one another’s support.

On Sunday, we had a soccer match between Bangladesh and Tamil Eelam. Former Socceroo captain Craig Foster came down to support it. It was great to see both communities having fun on the field.

But we are seeing these same refugees getting tired of having to wait for 12 years for permanent residency.

The initial refugee encampment began in Naarm-Melbourne outside the Home Affairs Department offices, while in NSW, the 24 Hour Continuous Protest For Permanent Visa has been staged outside Home Affairs minister Tony Burke’s office in Punchbowl for 100 days now.

What has the government response been like to the three month long demonstrations? How has minister Burke reacted to the demonstration over recent months?

We are noticing that some individuals in the federal Labor government are listening to us and are willing to meet with us. Minister for immigration Tony Burke has come outside twice.

When he came outside, he gave us 15 minutes to create a delegation to go inside and explain the situation. In that meeting, he said that he understood the situation, but it would not be an easy process. He said he was going to take steps towards a solution.

The second time he came, he requested that the protesters no longer perform chants and that the noise had to be kept to a minimum, due to the residents around the area.

However, having been at the rally for 99 days, we know that the residents have been giving us continuous support, and they’ve been saying that minister for immigration Tony Burke has to quickly find a solution for these individuals.

Also, 15 independents have written a statement, outlining that the Labor Party should be providing permanent residency to all refugees.

But minister for immigration Tony Burke has now been neglecting us. He hasn’t been coming outside to meet with us.

There was an instance where we were having a speak out from 4 to 5 pm and the individuals in the office were recording us and it did trigger many of the refugees into feeling scared that something was going to happen to them.

So, there has been a positive outlook from the residents and other politicians, but we would request that minister Tony Burke comes outside and meets with us to provide us with a solution and some sort of understanding of what is happening.

On Wednesday this week, it’s been 100 days of continuous protest without any answers.

There is a sense of urgency about the matter of obtaining permanent visas for the remaining 10,000 asylum seekers.

This was tragically underscored when Tamil refugee Mano Yogalingam took his own life in late August in response to the ongoing temporary nature of his protection in this country.

Can you explain why it is so hard for the refugees being denied permanency to live in the community under temporary status?

It is very difficult for these refugees, because, if we think about it, they were forced out of their homelands, they didn’t want to leave. These people were forced due to genocide, war and discrimination.

For them to come here by boat, under immense stress, and to then be rejected for work rights and education rights, puts a significant mental toll on these refugees.

I know that Mano was an individual who was 22 years old and had a 16-month-old child when he died. He was in immense fear of being deported back to Sri Lanka.

I can talk on behalf of being a uni student. I am seeing refugee youths, especially those who came here when they were seven, six or younger, and they’re in fear of what their future looks like – whether they will be able to achieve the dreams they want.

Stripping that away from a child is inhumane. That is what the government is doing. And I’m noticing that some of the refugees who are being granted bridging visas are not given work rights.

So, these refugees have to now find a means to get by through getting charities to help them. But there is only so much that these refugees can take. They have had to go through 12 years of living like this that has taken a significant mental toll.

You can see it through the conversations they are having with each other. Some are even sacred to go to the hospital because they don’t have any Medicare rights, so many individuals are living with untreated physical health conditions.

This is what is happening in the refugee community. This is the mental toll that has been placed on them, because the government has been lacking in action for them.

As the next federal election draws nearer, it appears over the last 12 months in response to developments, such as the release of hundreds of people who’d been subjected to indefinite detention in immigration centres, that refugees and asylum seekers have again been demonised in the public sphere and have become a political football for politicians to argue over.

What are your thoughts about the way the refugee rhetoric has been shaping up of late?

The refugees are being used as political pawns. We have seen this in the past with the Labor Party and the Biloela family, which was a situation that was used to advantage to gain votes.

These refugees feel that their lives have been tossed and turned. These people are being considered in such a negative light, which is so wrong because these refugees have provided so much to our community – they’re the backbone of our economy.

Some of these refugees have such great skills and the federal government doesn’t realise it. We are seeing refugees working in construction, who could be nurses and specialise in teaching. The government doesn’t realise this.

I am constantly noticing that every time the election comes up that some of these refugees are helping Labor. They are standing outside at electorates alongside these politicians asking citizens to vote for them, which is so concerning now that I am seeing the Labor Party is not doing anything for these refugees.

The Australian Labor Party is now saying on programs like Q&A, when asked about the need for permanent residency, that it has provided this to 19,000 but the remaining 10,000 are left out of the question.

As the next federal election starts to draw near, I am noticing that the Labor Party are starting to use refugees as a political pawn, as are the Liberal Party. The Liberals are saying to close borders and that deportations should occur.

So, it is a very scary time now and a lot of the refugees at this protest are in immense fear of what is about to happen in Australia.

And lastly, Renuga, there is a large refugee demonstration set to take place at Parliament House in Canberra next week over the 19th and 20th of November.

What can those attending the event expect to happen over those two days of demonstration?

There will be a rally held outside parliament in Canberra with refugees from all communities attending that. There will be supporters and there will also be refugee children speaking about what they are facing.

In Sydney, we are also hosting a rally as well for 100 days and more on 17 November.

We are going to be walking from prime minister Anthony Albanese’s office in Marrickville to immigration minister Tony Burke’s office.

We will be having a rally there, with speakers such as lawyer Stephen Blanks, a Greens councillor, the Tamil Refugee Council coordinator and an 18-year-old Tamil youth.