Help 15,000 people escape crippling poverty

Help 15,000 people escape crippling poverty

As you read this, up to 15,000 people seeking asylum in Australia are living in deep poverty.

They include children, the elderly and people with disabilities. They're facing chronic food shortages, malnutrition, homelessness and dire health issues, all while waiting years for the government to make a decision on their refugee protection applications. 

While the government keeps them in limbo, it fails to provide them with even minimal assistance to survive. It’s unconscionable that Australia could be the setting for these depths of desperation, yet it’s happening right now, right here. 

When you make a donation today, you’ll support our efforts to secure a safety net for the 15,000 people living in deep poverty while seeking asylum in Australia.

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From deadly persecution to deep poverty

Imagine living in a country beset with violence and persecution. You’ve been brave enough to plan an escape and you’ve made it to a safe country. 

You’ve been met by officials and told your story over and over, reliving your pain and trauma, then asked to wait for the government to make a decision on your protection application. 

You don’t know how long it will take. In the months and years you’ve had to wait, you’ve become destitute. Your children are malnourished, and your family is on the brink of homelessness. 

You urgently need a safety net: a basic living allowance to survive on while the government assesses your claim. 

This is reality for up to 15,000 people in Australia; the government can change this immediately with a simple decision. 

Together, we can tell the government it’s time to act for the 15,000 seeking asylum facing the greatest vulnerability. 

 

Donate today to help us lead this change

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A system designed to break people

The government’s Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) program is meant to offer the basic safety net we’re talking about: minimal but vital assistance of $42 a day for people seeking asylum in Australia. 

In recent years, the SRSS program has been cut by 94%, or over $280 million. The number of people assisted has dropped from over 29,000 in 2015 to just 1,600 now. The government is abandoning people when they most urgently need our support. 

We know from member organisations that the situation is dire. More people are without incomes, living in caravan parks or sleeping on the streets. Charities tell us of malnourished children whose families have no means to buy food. They don’t know if or when relief will come. 

This is a system designed to break people. The government has the ability to end this, and they must do it now. 

Your donation today will help us put a case to the government telling them it’s time to act.

Donate today

The solution is a change to the guidelines

No legal amendments or regulatory changes are necessary to establish a safety net for the 15,000 seeking asylum who are living in deep poverty. There’s no need to go before Parliament. 

All that’s needed is for Minister for Immigration, Andrew Giles, to change the program guidelines. Together, we must convince him and the Federal Government that this situation warrants their urgent action. 

Your donation today will help us work with member organisations, community groups and individuals living in these desperate situations to coordinate advocacy, communication and education efforts to lobby Cabinet, members of the Opposition, Independents and backbenchers. 

With your support, we can put forward a case to Minister Giles and the Government and tell them it’s time to give 15,000 people access to the basic safety net they so urgently need.

Please donate today