Refugees welcome banners fly in front of Sydney Town Hall

By ABHA HAVAL

In a win for refugee and asylum seeker advocacy groups, the City of Sydney has put up six banners in front of Sydney Town Hall and local community centres earlier this week.

Refugee advocates from Refugee Lives Matter ran a campaign outside the Sydney Town Hall every week for almost a year before the motion to put up banners was presented to Council last October.

Deputy Mayor Sylvie Ellsmore put the motion on the floor for the City Council which was unanimously passed. Now, the banners have officially been installed.

Ellsmore said, “The City of Sydney has been a refugee welcome zone since 2005, but not many people are aware of this and there has been no visible evidence of this around the city”.

The city of Sydney became a Refugee Welcome Zone in 2005 and has reinstated its commitment in 2014 to welcome refugees in the community and uphold their human rights.

“Having the banners displayed in front of the Town Hall sends a strong message. It is particularly important now as there are still 12,000 people seeking asylum and refugees in Australia who are living in limbo”.

Positive message for refugees in Sydney

Refugee Action Coalition is a refugee advocacy and welfare group that ensures proper services are being provided to refugees and asylum seekers in the city. Their primary action plan is to provide essential services such as work, welfare and medical services which the government denies access to.

Ian Rintoul, a spokesperson for Refugee Action Coalition said, “I did investigate if there is a refugee welcome zone in the city and the Council is quite committed to creating a welcoming environment for the refugees”.

“We had raised concerns to have much more positive social attitude towards refugees and asylum seekers.

“It is the lack of initiative and very little signages across the city (which could be why there is no evidence of refugees feeling welcome in the city)”, he said.

“There are several thousands of refugees in the city right now but the last coalition party had cut the number in half for people who will receive the temporary protection visas,” Rintoul said.

“Temporary protection visas are now available to 19,000 refugees (who arrived by boat) in the city under the Australian Humanitarian Program, one third of whom are in the surrounding areas”.

The city of Sydney has long-standing initiatives and programs as well to support refugees and asylum seekers including free and low-cost access to facilities and services such as swimming pools, gyms, libraries, and free childcare for families seeking asylum.