Boat people in Melbourne’s west have been pushed into homelessness
and are sleeping on bare boards in unfurnished houses, according to a
volunteer group helping asylum seekers on bridging visas.
Ann Morrow, from the Hobsons Bay Refugee Network (HBRN), said
‘irregular maritime arrivals’ living on 89 per cent of Australia’s
lowest dole payment – as little as $56 a day for a couple – were also
living in a climate of fear.
“A couple of weeks ago I was speaking to one who said, ‘Do you think we’re going to be sent to Papua New Guinea?’
“I mean, they’re terrified of what’s going to happen to them,
particularly in light of the [federal] election result. We said, ‘How
would you feel about that if it happened?
“And he said, ‘Very bad, but better than the country we came from.
There, we could be picked up in the middle of the night, pulled out of
our beds, taken and tortured – anything is better than that’.’’
AMES media adviser Laurie Nowell said there were about 30,000 people nationwide on a bridging visa.
Pamela Curr, of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said that in
order to get people into private rental the government paid the first
month’s rent and bond, but this amount had to be repaid within 22 weeks.
Ms Morrow, who founded the HBRN with fellow Williamstown resident Dorothy Page, said asylum seekers were surviving on handouts.
“We’re trying to house [them] in low-cost rental accommodation in
the western region. We’re overwhelmed with people’s offers of furniture
… we’ve got all our garages and sheds chockablock.”
Ms Page said the community had been so generous with furniture
donations that the group was now desperate for temporary storage space
and transportation.
» Email morrowann8@gmail.com or call 9397 6000.
