My Letter To The Prime Minister

"
My Letter To The Prime Minister
I just returned from an evening presentation of the movie, "Between the Devil
and the Deep Blue Sea," and was actually able to hear from a refugee his
thoughts on the movie that had been made about people just like him. I was
so devastated and ashamed to learn that we are treating real live people like
we do. I came away very upset, and thinking ...
"Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young
and free ...."
FOR THOSE WHO'VE COME ACROSS
THE SEAS
We've boundless plains to SHARE;
·~ust, I hope one day
we have a good life. I
don't know when."
''Between the DeVI~ and
the Deep Blue Sea"
With COURAGE let us ALL COMBINE to
Advance Australia FAIR.
In joyful strains they let us sing, Advance Australia Fair. i
Dear Ms. Julia Gillard,
What are you doing to Australia? Our very own National Anthem extends a
welcome to people coming to our shores, not a policy that turns them back!
People worry about refugees taking their children's jobs, but what they
should be worrying about is that many people are risking their lives to get to
Australia. And what happens when they fmally get so close to a new life that
they are already praising the Lord and celebrating? Your government forces
the boats, and the people on them, back; back to their worst nightmare! But
they have a right to seek asylum. ii I think the fear in these "boat people"
should be a priority over the fear in Australians of being "taken over" by
refugees. In 2008 only 88, 800 ofthe earth's 15.2 million refugees were
resettled. That is well under 1 per cent! Surely, we can share what we have.

Now, close your eyes and imagine that you are in their position, your family
far away, and most likely dead, though you are not even given the dignity of
an answer to that question. You can never relax, you must always be alert.
Also you don't know who to trust, because when you needed to go to a
strange, new country called Australia, you took a huge risk, and it just is not
working out at all. Nevertheless, your hope keeps you alive and makes the
loneliness of separation from family and your own culture worthwhile. But,
it's still not over, because if you do make it on to a boat, after the long,
uncomfortable journey, you are turned back, to serve mandatory detention.
Your treatment for an undefined time, maybe over a year, in a Detention
Centre is just bearable. But there is pressure for you to go back to the country
you ran from, and what you are sure is the worst place on earth.
And now it has come to this; an awful death in the hands of the Taliban. Just
imagine that. Can you? These people are people,
with feelings. The message Australia sends them
is that they are worthless, and a problem that needs
to be removed. What reason could you possibly
have to justify what I can only describe as cruelty?
"The edge of the boat
was about a hand span
above water, there were
seventy people on it."
"Between the Devil and the
Deep Blue Sea"
Yet, this is what you are doing, Ms. Gillard. And really, who cares what
others think? You are the Prime Minister! So, think again about the boat
people, and do what you know is right.
I really thank everyone in ''Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," for
inspiring me to write this letter, and change my thinking and feeling about
another human life.
Thankyou, Ms. Gillard, for stopping and thinking hard about each human
being as someone just like you, with a basic human right to life.
Sincerely:
Georgia Gregory (age 11)

; National Anthem. http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/symbols/docs/anthem words.pdf.
u HMyths and Facts About Refugees and Asylum Seekers"
https:ljwww.refugeecouncil.org.au/docs/news&events/rw/2010/4%20-
%20Myths%20and%20facts%20about%20refugees%20and%20asylum%20seekers%202010.pdf