Refugee Update: Actions
GetUp! is asking Australians to mail their MP to ask for the evacuation of refugees from Nauru and Manus Island.
What I wrote:
Dear Minister Owens,
This week something remarkable happened. I have social anxiety, and usually, I would be too nervous to call a politician's office. However, I was so concerned about the pregnant woman on Nauru who needed urgent medical care that I managed to call the Prime Minister's office twice.
Refugee women on Nauru are in a desperate situation. As well as the constant threat of rape, pregnant women are faced with a medical system which will not be able to help them if anything goes seriously wrong. If a local Nauruan woman's pregnancy develops complications, she will be flown to Australia, but a refugee woman must struggle to gain the same treatment for herself and her unborn child.
Australia's refugee deal with the US gave us all hope, but it's clear that the American government can no longer be trusted to go through with it. Before any more refugee lives are lost, including the lives of mothers and newborns, Australia should grant a one-time amnesty to all the refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island. I hope you will support such an amnesty and the evacuation of the detention centres.
Yours,
- Kate Orman
(The first para is a bit self-congratulatory, alas, but I wanted to personalise my message. Also hopefully it will get across how important this is to me.)
What I wrote:
Dear Minister Owens,
This week something remarkable happened. I have social anxiety, and usually, I would be too nervous to call a politician's office. However, I was so concerned about the pregnant woman on Nauru who needed urgent medical care that I managed to call the Prime Minister's office twice.
Refugee women on Nauru are in a desperate situation. As well as the constant threat of rape, pregnant women are faced with a medical system which will not be able to help them if anything goes seriously wrong. If a local Nauruan woman's pregnancy develops complications, she will be flown to Australia, but a refugee woman must struggle to gain the same treatment for herself and her unborn child.
Australia's refugee deal with the US gave us all hope, but it's clear that the American government can no longer be trusted to go through with it. Before any more refugee lives are lost, including the lives of mothers and newborns, Australia should grant a one-time amnesty to all the refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island. I hope you will support such an amnesty and the evacuation of the detention centres.
Yours,
- Kate Orman
(The first para is a bit self-congratulatory, alas, but I wanted to personalise my message. Also hopefully it will get across how important this is to me.)