A new campaign is encouraging people to write to politicians, requesting that seven seriously ill refugees and asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea be urgently evacuated to Australia for medical care.
The seven men have compromised physical and mental health concerns. These prevent them from engaging with any resettlement process, even though some of them are eligible to resettle in New Zealand. They are unable to survive independently in PNG and are slowly deteriorating because of inadequate health care.
Kevin Sweeney, Convenor, Refugees Off PNG Working Group, is asking people to contact Tony Burke, Minister for Home Affairs, Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Or you can write to your local MP (if ALP or supportive crossbencher), and Senators representing your state (who are ALP or supportive crossbenchers).
When you contact the representative, call for ALL seriously ill men to be evacuated to Australia for medical treatment.
Politicians’ contact details are publicly available on the Parliament of Australia website https://www.aph.gov.au
Ask your local Federal MP to make ‘representation to Minister Burke on my behalf’ – that will increase the impact of your letter. The MP is obliged to write to the Minister on your behalf and for the Minister to respond to the MP.
Include your name, address and email to identify you as a constituent.
So that we can see how effective the advocacy has been, please email us of any action you have taken. Advocacy as an individual may seem futile, but a groundswell of advocacy can move mountains.
On World Refugee Day, (June 20, 2026) Hon Sarah Witty, Member for Melbourne, was lauded for reading a motion in Federal Parliament acknowledging the Refugee Convention, Refugee Week and the settlement of a million refugees in Australia. The motion was the result of ongoing advocacy by the refugee sector and countless communities across the country working towards a more welcoming Australia.
While it is argued that the motion could not have come at a more important time with Australia’s long-standing humanitarian program under threat from every angle, including Pauline Hanson lamenting the end to the White Australia Policy, there are people languishing in offshore detention who have significant health challenges. They are in dire need of our advocacy.
It all goes back to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s cruel declaration on July 19, 2013. On that day Rudd announced that a new regional arrangement for asylum seekers who arrived in Australia by boat on or after that date would be implemented. They would be sent to PNG to be processed and resettled. This policy coupled with the continuation of the existing arrangements with Nauru has resulted in many refugees being abandoned by the Australian Government and forgotten by Australians – out of sight, out of mind.
Just treatment of refugees is essential if Australia is to restore its name as a country that supports people who have been forced from their homeland by cruel regimes. To our great shame, this inhumane policy is seen by other countries as the gold standard for dealing with asylum seekers and refugees.
By Meg Pickup
