Dear Ms Andrews,

I am a friend of the Centre for a Compassionate Society, which is based in the electorate of Melbourne. I live in the electorate of ***. We have committed to writing a letter to your government every week until all refugees and asylum-seekers who remain on Nauru and in PNG under Operation Sovereign Borders are appropriately re-settled. We also seek humane treatment for refugees and asylum seekers on-shore. We are copying this letter to the Prime Minister, the Minister for Immigration, the Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration, and to our local members of parliament.

As you finish the last sitting week of parliament and move into the holiday season, no doubt you are looking forward to  spending time with loved ones. I do hope you will have time to rest and recuperate from a busy year. As you do so, please spare a thought for those people you have detained in immigration detention on-shore, or who languish under Operation Sovereign Borders in Nauru and PNG. They too would like to be spending time with loved ones, rather than with Serco guards. They may have even more need than you to recuperate in the gentle company of friends and family, since for many, the last 8 years have gradually dismantled their spirits, their hope, and their sense of agency. In the words of one psychiatrist who works with refugees and asylum seekers: “They are shattered”. 

Yours sincerely,

*

Send your letter to Ms Karen Andrews: karen.andrews.mp@aph.gov.au (Minister for Home Affairs).
You could cc it to Ms Kristina Keneally: senator.keneally@aph.gov.au (Shadow minister for Immigration and Home affairs), and to your local Federal MP.

Send the text to the Prime Minister via their website HERE, and to the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, HERE.