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The fight for refugee rights national conference, 7-8 July

The Australian Refugee Action Network is hosting its second national conference, Politics and Protest - the Fight for Refugee Rights, in Melbourne, on Saturday 7 - Sunday 8 July. The conference is open to anyone interested in refugee activism and advocacy.

Download flyer, here.

Catholic Social Services Victoria, together with several member agencies, have been working to reverse federal government withdrawal of income support from vulnerable asylum seekers.

‘Walk in their footsteps’ was both the challenge and the invitation thrown down by Julian Burnside QC over the weekend. Across Saturday and Sunday, St Brigid’s Mordialloc and St Louis de Montfort’s Aspendale held a photo exhibition at St Brigid’s, to raise awareness about the plight of refugees and asylum seekers. Combined with a large number of international award winning images, several of them Pulitzer prize winning shots, the schools’ own primary students contributed and displayed their own original art, expressing their view of the world’s present humanitarian crisis.

Safety for emergency service workers is vital, but mandatory sentencing is not the way to achieve it - early intervention, rehabilitation and restorative justice are important parts of the solution, according to Denis Fitzgerald of Catholic Social Services Victoria. This joins calls from others to Premier Daniel Andrews to reconsider legislative proposals that would have Victorians found guilty of harming paramedics, police and other emergency service workers face mandatory prison sentences.