BY KAMALA EMANUEL
LAUNCESTON The Sarwari family Mohib, Fatima and their four children will be able to stay in Australia for now. After a long struggle, the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) reinstated their temporary protection visa on June 20.
The decision means that the family can access social security benefits, work and/or study, while they await the outcome of their application for a permanent protection visa.
Hazara refugees from Afghanistan, the Sarwari family has been in Australia for two-and-a-half years. They moved to Launceston in April last year, after their release from Villawood detention centre.
They were working and studying here until December, when the immigration department revoked their visa, raided their home, Mohib's workplace and their childcare centre, and locked the family in the Baxter detention centre. The department claimed the family were from Pakistan, not Afghanistan.
Other allegations made by the immigration department included that the family hadn't notified the department of their change of address (they had), and that Mohib was the brother of asylum-seeker Ali Baktiyari. The latter allegation was leaked to the media, on no evidence, but never raised with Mohib.
The department's actions generated outrage in the Launceston community. Supporters of the family rallied first to have them released from detention raising $30,000 in one weekend as a bond for Mohib, after the rest of the family had already been released then to have their temporary visa restored.
This involved raising money to send refugee-rights lawyer Marion Le to Mohib and Fatima's village, providing compelling video, written and GPS evidence of their identity. Other money raised by the community has been used to directly support the family, as the revocation of their visa meant they could not work or receive social security benefits.
The high degree of community support for the family has not only been reflected in the money raised, but also in the letters to the local newspaper, and response of politicians. For example, state education minister Paula Wreidt intervened to secure the waiving of TAFE fees for Mohib. Even Tasmanian Liberal senator Guy Barnett congratulated the Sarwaris on their win.
The Sarwaris will still need to fight for permanent protection. Le has called for immigration minister Philip Ruddock to intervene, given the suffering his department has already inflicted on the family. However, Ruddock responded to the RRT ruling by questioning its validity.
From Green Left Weekly, July 2, 2003.
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