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Help us to house and support asylum seekers and refugees in the Australian community.
Politicians have scapegoated immigration for decades. It’s time to flip the script
Jane McAdam, UNSW SydneyFor decades now, public discourse about refugees and immigrants has become increasingly fractured, ugly and untrue.
From John Howard’s “we will decide who comes to this country” mantra, to Kevin Rudd’s “if you come by boat you will never permanently live in Australia” in 2013, through to Tony Abbott’s “stop the boats” election victory that same year, it has been a prominent feature of Australia’s recent political landscape.
For the Coalition, it was about stopping so-called “illegals”.
For Labor, it was framed as “saving lives at sea”.
For both, it was about keeping people seeking asylum out of contact with the Australian community, demonised and dehumanised, called by numbers, not names.
Against this backdrop, it’s perhaps unsurprising Australians turned out in the thousands to rally against immigration this weekend. It could be seen as the culmination of years of MPs using immigration issues for short-term political gain.
But just as government messaging has partly contributed to this situation, it could also help get us out of it.
Not always ‘sinister invaders’
Political language about immigration wasn’t always so negative.
At the end of the second world war, then-Prime Minister Ben Chifley welcomed 170,000 refugees and other displaced people from Europe.
In the 1970s, when the first boats of Vietnamese asylum seekers arrived in Australia’s north, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser insisted they be treated humanely and processed fairly.
As writer Thomas Keneally recalled: there was no long-term mandatory detention involved. The newcomers were not depicted as sinister invaders […] language was not misused and neither were human souls.
And as former Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said in 2023: Seventy years ago, of course, we embarked on a migration journey that has transformed our nation into a diverse and dynamic multicultural society […] in very large part […] shaped by the nearly one million refugees who have come to Australia since the end of WWII. We should take great pride in this.
‘Real people, real families’
The threatening thuggery on display at the weekend’s anti-immigration marches has been rightly called out by Australian politicians on both sides.
In a change from her predecessor’s hardline approach, Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said while “strong borders keep us safe, they also allow us to be generous and compassionate to those fleeing conflict”.
Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke reiterated “there is no place in our country for people who seek to divide and undermine our social cohesion”.
At the same time, we can’t simply ignore concerns people have about the impact of immigration on housing, cost of living and infrastructure – much of which is based on misinformation which feeds a far-right agenda, according to Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly.
When misinformation spreads, it impedes evidence-based decision-making and results in poor laws and policies.
The positive role of immigration is something the opposition’s new immigration spokesman, Senator Paul Scarr, wants to stress.
He seems to be setting a new tone based on empathy, not division, drawing on his deep “respect and admiration” for migrant and refugee communities who are making “an outstanding contribution”.
When “we talk about immigration”, he says, “we should never forget that we’re actually talking about real people, real families”.
When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to office in 2022, he stressed the importance of a vision for Australia that promotes “unity and optimism, not fear and division”.
For the first time in a long while, there does seem to be bipartisan support for this approach.
Walking the walk
The dissonance, though, is that the broader architecture of Australia’s asylum policies remains squarely in place. It’s largely about deterrence, interception and offshoring.
And this week, parliament is expected to progress a bill that would facilitate the swift removal of around 350 non-citizens to Nauru.
In 2023, the High Court of Australia ruled it was unlawful to hold people in immigration detention indefinitely, so for the extraordinary sum of A$408 million up-front, and $70 million a year, Australia will pay Nauru to take them.
While the deal may solve a political problem for the government, it does so at great financial and moral cost.
As Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, has warned: economic inequality, housing stress, and job insecurity are real and urgent challenges, including for people from migrant backgrounds. We need genuine solutions to these challenges – not dangerous, exploitative, anti-migrant rhetoric.
Telling a new story
The more positive public statements we have seen in recent days and months will remain hollow unless we start to see real policy change.
Governments can, and should, help people around the world who are struggling most.
This doesn’t mean shying away from people’s legitimate concerns about housing, infrastructure and cost-of-living pressures.
But it does mean explaining migrants are not the cause of these challenges, and that reducing immigration could in fact be counterproductive.
While the evidence shows immigration isn’t behind Australia’s housing woes, for instance, there’s plenty of proof migrants are crucial for the country’s economic development.
The latter is the story politicians should be telling. Some have started to, but counteracting decades of messaging to the contrary will take time.
Jane McAdam, Scientia Professor and ARC Laureate Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
BASP founder Brigid Arthur receives UNANIMA Woman of Courage Award
Sister Brigid Arthur, the founder and one of the co-ordinators of the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project, was this month honoured with the UNANIMA International Woman of Courage Award 2024. The annual award recognises women who exhibit exceptional courage and leadership to make a difference in their communities, especially for the betterment of the lives of women and children.
For the past 24 years, through BASP, Brigid has offered housing, food, legal help and community to refugees and asylum seekers, as well as advocating for systemic change to address injustices and improve conditions for people seeking asylum. In nominating her for the Woman of Courage Award, Noelene Simmons, a Marist Sister and former president of Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans, wrote: “Brigid’s passion to see the human dignity and rights of all people respected has compelled her to stand beside those who experience incredible hardship and vulnerability, especially refugees and asylum seekers.”
UNANIMA International is non-government organisation with special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC. Previous recipients of the Woman of Courage Award include Helena Maleno, founder of Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders), former Irish President Mary McAleese, and Meera Karunananthan, a Sri Lankan-born campaigner for the human right to water.
“We can’t claim we didn’t know what was happening. We do know. And it’s up to us to do something about it.”
In her acceptance speech, Brigid quoted Australian historian Manning Clark, saying she embraced the idea of being a “life-englarger” and seeking bold, inclusive, and humane ways of acting to challenge the systems that harm people.
She warned against being complacent in the face of injustice: “We can’t claim we didn’t know what was happening. We do know. And it’s up to us to do something about it,” she said. Hope, she added, is also important. It is like a cactus: “It’s not a resting place, not a cushion… it should make you want to jump up and do something.”
#EndTheWaiting Vigil – Macnamara electorate
At the Brigidine Ministry Centre, 54 Beaconsfield Parade, Albert Park
2-3pm on Wednesday, 3rd September 2025
Sign up to show up here (https://events.
Thousands of asylum seekers who came to Australia more than a decade ago are facing serious hardship and destitution in our community. Most were rejected under the ‘Fast Track’ procedure, which Labor has acknowledged was unfair and inefficient. They are still waiting for their cases to be decided.
The government’s re-election this year offers a window of opportunity to address this injustice and put an end to the suffering of so many individuals and families stuck in limbo.
Reasons to join the vigil – part of #EndTheWaiting (https://www.
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Demand that the government immediately provide a pathway to permanency for all asylum seekers failed by Australia’s unjust system, including those processed under Fast Track
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Ensure that all asylum seekers have work rights while their claims are processed
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Issue one visa that lasts until a claim is resolved, ending the need for repeated applications for renewal
At the vigil we will hear from asylum seekers and local political and community leaders, sending a simple, quiet and powerful message that it’s time for action.
“I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25:35)
These words should shape our nation’s policies.
For more information, email BASP
St Mary’s Hampton online trivia event in support of the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project www.basp.org.au is back on Friday 3 October. We aim to provide a fun night for you and your friends and raise money for a good cause, and we’d love your support. To take part, sign up as a team host, and get your team together for a light-hearted night of trivia and conviviality. Suggested minimum donation of $30 per team member.
When and Where
Friday 3 Oct 7.30pm to 9.45pm
Your place! Invite a group of friends to your home, up to 10 people – small groups are welcome. If you prefer you can form a distributed team in several locations and use our online breakout rooms to talk over your answers.
How
You don’t need to be a tech wizard. You need a smartphone, tablet (iPad, Android) or a computer with sound (a webcam would be nice but not essential). You’ll get a link for the Zoom online chat service and use your web browser to answer the trivia questions. Check the website for more details.
Booking and more information: cohdig.au/trivia
Enquiries: email basptrivia@gmail.com
Housing Week 2025 – Thousands of people seeking asylum are among Australia’s homeless
Australia may have a shortage of housing, growing poverty and inequality, but overall we remain relatively well-off. Yet every night, tens of thousands of people don’t have a bed of their own to sleep in.
It’s estimated that more than 122,000 people are homeless in this country. Many of them are Australians failed by society, slipping through the cracks of social, unemployment and mental health support structures. They may be huddled under blankets on the street, or sleeping in boarding houses, with people they know or in places that will have them for a while before they have to move on.
Desta (not his real name) has just started working as a delivery rider for Uber Eats. But in reality, he is a passionate and highly-skilled mathematician. After leaving Ethiopia to pursue his academic career in China, it became too dangerous for him to return, and he was forced to make a new life in Australia.
This June, 400 people covered 40,000 kms walking, swimming, and dancing in The Big Walk 4 Refugees 2025.
The Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project took part as a team, covering a phenomenal 4,545.5 kms!
Wherever you moved, however you moved….
Thank You for your support!
The Big Walk may be finished for 2025, but it’s not over until kindness, justice and a fair go win. We will keep fighting for change, justice and fairness for asylum seekers.
#EndTheWaiting – 100-day campaign starts 1 August 2025
LIVES ON HOLD: ‘Muru’
Asylum seekers are spending years in limbo as they wait for their claims to be processed. Muru (not his real name), a Sri Lankan national, was a young man of 25 when he arrived in Australia by boat. He had turned 40 by the time he was finally granted the right to stay.
I came to Australia in 2009, 16 years ago. I am now 41, then I was a young
man. My parents worry that I’m getting old. When I arrived in Australia, I spent 30 months in detention, six months on Christmas Island (from October 2, 2009), two years in Villawood in Sydney and two years in community detention in Perth.
Humanitarian visa processing – Is it who you know, rather than what you know? Part 2 [PEARLS AND IRRITATIONS] 20 June, 2025
Marie Sellstrom, Convenor of the Afghan Subcommittee of Rural Australians for Refugees, writes that the government is failing to protect vulnerable Afghan women and asks, is this how we want our visa processing system to run?
![Don’t demonise asylum seekers, human rights groups warn politicians [abc news] 21 March](https://basp.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/10-years-still-in-limbo.jpg)
Don’t demonise asylum seekers, human rights groups warn politicians [abc news] 21 March
By political reporter Olivia Caisley Amnesty International and the Asylum Seekers Centre were among those to sign the open letter. (ABC News: Matt Roberts) In short: A coalition of refugee and human rights organisations has written to the leaders of...
Asylum seeker slated for deportation to Nauru has removal postponed due to legal challenge
Home affairs minister Tony Burke says he is confident in government’s power to deport the man and ‘will proceed with removal to Nauru as soon as possible’ Ben Doherty Sun 23 Feb 2025 An asylum seeker slated for deportation to Nauru on Monday has had his removal...
Denigrating refugees: Media Watch is no exception
By Peter Job Feb 12, 2025 Australian citizens and residents who originally came to this country seeking asylum, as they are clearly entitled to do under international law, have been in the news recently, through no fault of their own and not in a good way....
UN Report Violation Of Rights
Australia violated human rights treaty with Nauru detainees, UN committee find Friday 10 January 2025 Australia has used "offshore processing" for asylum seekers attempting to read Australia by boat since 2013. (Immigration Department) In short: A UN...
Afghan who helped others escape the Taliban faces years-long visa wait
By Will Jackson Tue 24 December 2024 abc.net.au/news/concerns-afghan-priority-refugee-visa-processing/104693890 It was the message Susan Hutchinson had been dreading for months. Her colleague and friend, Mohammed Sorosh, had been arrested by the Iranian police...
Annual Report 2023 – 2024
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR This year the Board oversaw the completion of the 2022-2024 Strategic Plan. This was the first strategic plan in BASP’s history and has helped the Board and Coordinators as we’ve made strategic decisions over recent years. The Board has...
Another Rushed Migration Bill Would Give The Government Sweeping Powers To Deport Potentially Thousands Of People
The Conversation: November 18, 2024 Authors: Daniel Ghezelbash & Anna Talbot The Albanese government is looking to introduce laws that would give it unprecedented powers to forcibly remove non-citizens from Australia. The newly introduced Migration Amendment...
Offshore detention makes it 20 times more likely asylum seekers will suffer PTSD, Australian study finds
Exclusive: Researchers examine how regime impacts someone’s risk of experiencing long-term serious mental illness once living in the community Ben Doherty Tue 12 Nov 2024 01.00 AEDT The Guardian Asylum seekers detained...
Federal government loses High Court case over legality of curfew and ankle bracelets for those freed from immigration detention
The High Court has ruled on the legality of a law requiring those released from immigration detention to adhere to a curfew and wear ankle monitoring devices. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service) In short: In a five to two ruling today, the High Court found...
Words matter: Corrosive narratives dehumanise refugees
The way we talk about other human beings matters. We may use hurtful language. We may deny them their identity by giving them numbers or names that are not their own names. We can assign them identities based on the name of the boat that arrived in, seeking...
Refugee Council welcomes the historic High Court ruling finding indefinite immigration detention unlawful
Refugee Council of Australia, 9 November 2023 The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) has welcomed the High Court’s decision that has found indefinite immigration detention to be unlawful and unconstitutional in cases where there is no prospect of people being...
Housing Week 2025 – Thousands of people seeking asylum are among Australia’s homeless
Others among the homeless are asylum seekers who came to Australia in the hope of finding safety and a new home. After immigration detention, they are given no government supported accommodation while waiting for their claims to be determined, which can take...
You can help
- provide hospitality and practical support for people seeking asylum
- actively network with like-minded individuals and groups who are working for justice for asylum seekers
- promote advocacy for the rights of people seeking asylum
- engage in education about asylum seekers’ issues
- donate or volunteer
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Stay informed of what BASP is doing to assist and advocate for refugees, by reading our newsletter
Our staff
BASP is staffed by a small team of dedicated experienced professionals, and Volunteers who kindly support our everyday work with an extraordinary range of expertise and experience.
Brigid Arthur, Project Coordinator
Brigid Arthur CSB is our Project coordinator and a Brigidine Sister with a long and passionate career as an educator. She has been described as ‘an octogenarian human rights advocate, protester and leader.’
(csb = Congregation of Sisters of Brigid)
Libby Saunders, Project Coordinator
Libby is an experienced social worker who worked in disability and community care before joining BASP in 2014.
Libby is mainly involved with housing and volunteers.
Aims
The Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (BASP) is a Melbourne-based initiative of the Brigidine Sisters which aims to:
- Provide hospitality and practical support for people seeking asylum;
- Actively network with like-minded individuals and groups who are working for justice for asylum seekers;
- Promote advocacy for the rights of people seeking asylum;
- Engage in education about asylum seekers’ issues.
Volunteer
We have many volunteer opportunities e.g. volunteer for our Friendship through teaching English program, providing friendship and support to an asylum seeker family along with personalised assistance in everyday English. Help families settle in their Australian community by exploring local facilities and services together. Volunteers visit an assigned family once a week to offer friendship and support.
Please contact us to help.
Be informed about asylum seekers in Australia
Authorised Travellers
Contrary to the images sometimes projected by government and the media, most asylum seekers arrive in Australia by air as authorised travellers.
Ordinary Human Beings
Asylum seekers are ordinary human beings with the same emotions and reactions that most of us would have in similar circumstances.
Persecution
They have been involved in persecution in their own countries that we find hard to imagine from the safety of this country.