There is desperation in the eyes of the Rohingya and Bangladeshi asylum seekers at a midweek community meeting in Gatton in the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane.

A decade ago these men risked everything when they fled to Australia by boat — leaving wives, children and family behind in an attempt to start a new, safer life that their loved ones could join in the future.

But years later, they languish, downhearted and depressed. READ MORE