We do a lot with a little.
Help us to house and support asylum seekers and refugees in the Australian community.
Join the discussion and hear from Josh Burns, Labor Member for Macnamara
At this afternoon discussion session on Wednesday, 20 August, we have the good fortune to be joined by our local MP, Josh Burns, who has kindly agreed to share his insights and experience. We will discuss and ask questions about how to bring about political change, and how the public and elected politicians can work together.
As a Member of Parliament, Josh was instrumental in pushing the government in 2021 to release the refugees transferred from offshore processing who were in indefinite detention, and he remains actively committed to fighting for dignity and respect for asylum seekers and refugees.
Also on the 20th, we will be talking about a new campaign organised by the Australian Churches Refugee Task Force (ACRT) called #EndTheWaiting.
The campaign consists of vigils to be held in as many electorates as possible, calling for justice for asylum seekers, in particular the need for the government to provide a pathway to permanency for all those who have been failed by Australia’s flawed asylum processes.
BASP will be hosting our #EndTheWaiting vigil on Wednesday 3 September, 2025 from 2-3 pm. Check our website again soon for more information.
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.