The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association has endorsed this year’s Palm Sunday Rally.

A number of refugees transferred from Manus and Nauru for medical treatment have recently been released from hotel prisons across the country. But the fight is far from over. Around 70 Medevac refugees remain in hotel prisons and detention centres. There are still over 250 refugees stuck on Nauru and PNG with little prospect of resettlement. The Biloela Muragappan family and their two children remain in detention on Christmas Island.

And once released, refugees are only provided three weeks of accommodation. Whilst they have work rights, refugees are ineligible for income support. This will force many to head straight from the trauma of detention into poverty.   

Refugees are driven to flee their homelands because of persecution, war, and economic and environmental collapse, especially the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, but also in Africa. Australian governments have fueled these wars but refuse to help the refugees that followed. Australia can and must play a leading role in talking down war with China, ending the war in Afghanistan and addressing global warming and economic collapse around the world.

You can find the Facebook event for the rally here.