HAMID was forced to leave his wife and two infant children behind when he fled from his home country.
“Without work, I am prevented from having a livelihood,” he says. “There is not enough for me to live on in Australia, let alone anything to send back for my family to survive on”.
Zarni left his family in a transit camp where they constantly feel unsafe and are struggling to survive. He says having the right to work in Australia was the only way he could save them from danger and destitution.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre says the pair are among thousands of asylum seekers who are victims of a government policy that deliberately punishes those who have arrived by boat since August 13 last year by refusing them the right to work.
