On the Road to Safety: the Story of Abbas

“Last month I received the call that I had been hoping and wishing for months would come,” says Jana Favero, Deputy CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC). “Finally, after 12 years of waiting, of limbo, of family separation, trying to support himself despite being denied the right to work, Abbas was granted the permanency that he deserves.”

After 12 years in limbo, Abbas is finally on a pathway to permanency in Australia. “I’ll never forget the moment I got the call. In that instant, everything changed. After years of fear and uncertainty, I finally had a future. I had rights. I had recognition. I had safety,” says Abbas. 

Abbas was just 14 years old when his family was forced to flee Iran. “We came by sea and didn’t know if we would survive the journey, but we took that chance to seek a safer life in Australia,” reminisces Abbas. “For the first few years we were moved through detention centres until we were able to settle in Melbourne. I started school in Year 11 and it felt like we had finally found our home. We all felt hopeful for the future.”

But that hope was short-lived. Like thousands of others who arrived in Australia by boat between August 2012 and December 2013, Abbas and his family were subjected to the Coalition Government’s Fast Track system. More than 30,000 people were faced with a drastically changed refugee determination process – a harsh and flawed system that denied fair hearings, access to interpreters, and legal support. Even those granted protection were only eligible for temporary visas.

Fast Track was a system designed for people to fail. Those caught in its grip never had a fair go. Simply because Abbas and his family arrived by boat, they found themselves in limbo, with no guarantee they could stay. Then, in 2018, their claim for protection was rejected. 

As they waited for their appeal, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Life became unbearable. “We couldn’t get Medicare and Centrelink,” recalls Abbas, “We couldn’t work or get any Government assistance, and we struggled to pay rent. This put a lot of pressure on my dad who also got really sick during the COVID lockdowns. He said he was being tortured here, not able to support his family and not knowing what his future held.”

Eventually Abbas’s father made the decision to go back to Iran. “It wasn’t an easy decision – before we left Iran, his political activities had made him a target – he knew it might not be safe but he felt like he had no other choice,” says Abbas. Shortly after returning, Abbas’s dad was taken into custody by Iranian authorities, “He has now been missing for one year, and no one has heard from him. I can only fear the worst.”

In October 2024, Abbas was among a group of refugees and people seeking asylum who led a 100-day protest in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, demanding justice for those failed by the Fast Track system: “We need a fair system for everyone. One that doesn’t punish people based on how they arrived, but recognises their humanity, their contributions, and their right to build a life in safety.”

The Fast Track process was introduced by the Abbott Government in 2014 and was opposed by Labor at the time for being deeply flawed and unfair. “So fundamentally flawed was Fast Track that the Labor Party voted against it and have now scrapped it. The cruelty must end,” says Jana. 

Though the Labor Government scrapped Fast Track in 2024, it has failed to establish a fair process to reassess the 8,500 people whose protection claims were unfairly refused. They are our neighbours, coworkers and friends – people who have built lives, started families, and contributed to their communities, yet live every day in uncertainty, separated from their families, struggling with limited and arbitrary access to work rights, study and healthcare. 

Permanent protection can end years of fear and uncertainty for people who, escaping war and persecution, arrive in Australia in search of safety, community, and a place to call home. But despite the clear mandate given to the Albanese Government by voters who rejected the politics of fear and voted for fairness and compassion, the Government not only continues to withhold safety from those impacted by the Fast Track system, but has also just passed the Anti-Fairness and Deportation Bill. 

This brutal, Trump-style bill is threatening to tear families apart and enabling mass deportations under a secretive $400 million Nauru deal. Families who have called Australia home for years or decades now face the threat of deportation and permanent separation.

For Abbas, his road to safety is finally easier to walk. “I’m incredibly grateful to finally have a pathway to permanency, after more than 12 years of waiting, struggling, and fighting for the chance to live freely and safely in the only home I know.” But this safety came at an immense cost. “All we wanted was to be safe, be together and to rebuild our lives,” continues Abbas. “Now our family is broken. And the system that broke my family is still breaking others.” 

With your support, ASRC will continue to work with people seeking asylum and refugees like Abbas to put a spotlight on the ongoing cruelty and the systemic failures, demanding freedom, fairness and safety for all.

Join us in this vital work today.

*The 8,500 figure includes approximately 1,200 people who still do not have Department of Home Affairs decisions on their initial protection visa applications. The remaining people are going through review processes or have no options remaining.