A mother of three from St Albans is leading a march of 22 refugee women from Iran and Sri Lanka who are walking to Canberra in a fight for security.
The refugee women from Iran and Sri Lanka are walking the 640 kilometres from Melbourne to Canberra calling for permanent protection visas for 10,000 refugees who have been living in limbo in Australia for 10 years.
In the first seven days of their walk, the women travelled through Beveridge, Kilmore, Seymour, Nagambie, Arcadia South and on to Shepparton.
They set out from Melbourne at 10am on Friday, September 22, from the Immigration Minister Andrew Giles’ office.
The women are calling for permanent protection visas for the 10,000 ‘victims’ of the fast track assessment process.
These refugees and asylum seekers were left out of the February 2023 announcement from the federal government that allowed for 19,000 refugees who arrived over a similar period to apply for permanent residency.
At the time, Minister Giles said it made “no sense“ to keep people who were working and paying taxes in limbo.
Geetha Ramachandran from St Albans is one of the women leading the march, along with ten others from Brimbank.
“I am a mother of three young children, one of whom was born in Australia and knows no other home. Like tens of thousands of other women, I grew up surrounded by the violence of the civil war in Sri Lanka,” she said.
“My parents were refugees, I am a refugee, my children are refugees. We transmit that violence and uncertainty from one generation to another. I am marching to bring this to an end – not just for me and my family, but for all people condemned to uncertainty.”
The women have garnered more than 3000 signatures through an online petition calling on support from Australians to press for protections for all refugees ‘left behind by the system’.
Samira Turkian Zadeh, an asylum seeker from Iran, also leading the march said she sought refuge in Australia with her three young kids, ‘yearning’ for the safety she never knew back home.
“We are women, resilient and determined, marching to Canberra to claim our right to permanent visas. We deserve to live like everyone else, focusing on rebuilding our lives and offering our children who were born here the opportunities other children have,” she said.
Supported by a network of churches, faith groups, unions and community and refugee organisations, the women are asking the federal government for permanent protection visas for all refugees left in limbo in Australia, work and study rights for all refugees, the abolishment of the fast track system and the Immigration Assessment Authority (IAA) and permanent settlement in Australia for all refugees from the processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Bracing the elements, the women plan to arrive at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, October 18.
The Immigration Minister, Andrew Giles was contacted for comment.
Find the petition here, shorturl.at/wAKS7
