As Christmas fast approaches for hundreds of the people we help at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre there is no joy to be had.  For mums or dads who have been found to be refugees but granted a Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) its a time of great sadness and despair.  There are 1405 people nationally in Australia on TPV’s.  A TPV lasts for 3 years and during this time a person must apply again for permanent asylum and go through years of trauma to prove they are still a refugee. 

The worst aspect of a TPV apart from the insecurity and limbo that comes from only temporary freedom is not being allowed to sponsor their spouse and kids to reunite with them in Australia. It is immoral and inhumane to keep families apart, especially when we are a country that is meant to value the importance of family, something John Howard speaks of constantly.  Apparently we have a different set of rights for people seeking asylum.

We ask the Federal Government to end TPV’s, there is no justification for having them.  We have so few people on them, it has been demonstrated that TPV’s cause great mental and physical harm to the health of people on them and they are simply punitive and unjust and must be done away with now!

Kon Karapanagiotidis
CEO
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre