Photo: Alex Salmon
More than 50 people rallied outside the Wesley Church on July 17 to mark eight years since the Kevin Rudd government announced it would stop asylum seekers arriving by boat from ever settling in Australia.
“Any asylum-seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no prospect of being resettled in Australia and will never permanently live in Australia”, Rudd said on July 19, 2013.
Since then, successive governments have maintained this arbitrary and punitive policy, forcing hundreds of people into a traumatic and permanent state of limbo.
The protest, organised by Refugee Rights Action Network WA, called on the federal government to end this policy and give a safe home to every person who sought asylum after July 19, 2013.