Petition to protect people seeking asylum in COVID-19 crisis

Read the petition

Dear Prime Minister Morrison,

People seeking asylum and refugees are being forgotten in your COVID-19 crisis plan.

30,000 women, men and children are on temporary and bridging visas or without a visa.

1000’s are excluded from any safety net of Medicare and Centrelink.

1200 people were transferred to Australia for medical care over the past three years and many live without basic support.

Up to 7000 people seeking asylum, many of whom are children, are cut off from their only safety net of Status Resolution Support Services, and live without income support or medical care.

1000’s of people seeking asylum who are in casual, insecure or exploitative work are at risk of losing work hours in the crisis.

Parents have no support to feed and help families, elderly and children survive COVID-19.

I call on you and your government to urgently introduce an emergency plan to give all people and families seeking asylum inclusive access to:

Medicare and Telehealth services
Centrelink income support payments with standard eligibility criteria
Social services including for family violence
Any COVID-19 crisis support services and funds from stimulus package
Tens of thousands of people seeking asylum and refugees rely on charity from service organisations and the good will of Australians for rent, food and healthcare to survive.

Organisations and communities are already stretched, and will be overwhelmed in the coming weeks and months due to COVID-19 economic and health impacts.

Only you and your government can now protect vulnerable people from extreme hardship, hunger, COVID-19 infection and loss of life.

I look forward to your responsive action to protect these most vulnerable people and families in Australia.

Yours in hope,

Without income or access to safety nets like Centrelink or Medicare, this pandemic is exposing people seeking asylum even further to illness, destitution and the very worst of a system that has all but forgotten they exist

Please donate to our EMERGENCY CASH APPEAL today to ensure the ASRC can continue to provide emergency aid to people seeking asylum during the COVID-19 crisis.

Your donation funds the ASRC to deliver critical frontline humanitarian services such as our Foodbank, crisis housing and medical clinic, giving people a fighting chance at safety and security in the long months ahead.

There truly has never been a more important time to donate to the ASRC.

Please stand with us and give as generously as you can

Because people’s survival depends on it.

You are their lifeline.

Donate now