In shock on election night, refugee advocate Felicia Di Stefano has since joined the Labor Party and has returned to campaigning for resettlement of refugees.
By Felicia Di Stefano
What result were you hoping for as an advocate for refugee resettlement?
As I walked the streets of Wonthaggi posting information about Labor policies and handing out how to vote cards at the polls, I knew that many wrongs would be redressed if Labor won.
The NLP granted Temporary Protection Visas to refugees who arrived in Australia without a valid visa. “I ring my wife every night and she always cries,” an Afghan refugee I tutored told me. “I don’t know what to do.” There are thousands of refugees in the same situation. Labor would have granted Permanent Protection Visas and the right to share their lives with their families in Australia.
A Labor government would have accepted New Zealand’s offer to take a yearly 150 refugees from Nauru and Manus Island. The ALP would have brought the ill people from the islands to Australian hospitals and worked very hard to resettle the remaining prisoners.
Labor would have given $500 million to the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees to speed up the process of assessing refugees and permitting them to seek resettlement.
Labor promised to resettle 32,000 humanitarian refugees per year as opposed to 16,750 the NLP proposed, expanding community sponsorship from 1000 to 5000 additional places.
What was your immediate response to the election result?
I was in a surreal state on election night. I think I was in shock. I had felt in a similar way when experiencing a car accident as my car spun out of control and kept spinning across to the other side of the road.
What have your thoughts been in the two weeks since then?
When reality affirmed itself, I felt a pain in my upper abdomen and still have that feeling weeks after, whenever I see or hear Mr Morrison. Even if it was only to save the ABC or CSIRO or our universities, let alone our ability to breathe and not contract cancer in the future, I would have yearned for Labor to win.
Will you continue your advocacy work or do you see it as a lost cause?
I’m with Benjamin Disraeli when he says; ‘Despair is the conclusion of fools’. As a drastic measure I have joined the Labor Party and am ready to start campaigning.
As well, much work awaits with South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees (SGRAR). Rallies to educate the public, letter writing, petitions, joining campaigns. If you would like to join the SGRAR please contact me on sgrar07@gmail.com and come to our Refugee Week function at the Wonthaggi Union Cinema on 14 June at 7pm.
Felicia Di Stefano is a member of South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees.
What result were you hoping for as an advocate for refugee resettlement?
As I walked the streets of Wonthaggi posting information about Labor policies and handing out how to vote cards at the polls, I knew that many wrongs would be redressed if Labor won.
The NLP granted Temporary Protection Visas to refugees who arrived in Australia without a valid visa. “I ring my wife every night and she always cries,” an Afghan refugee I tutored told me. “I don’t know what to do.” There are thousands of refugees in the same situation. Labor would have granted Permanent Protection Visas and the right to share their lives with their families in Australia.
A Labor government would have accepted New Zealand’s offer to take a yearly 150 refugees from Nauru and Manus Island. The ALP would have brought the ill people from the islands to Australian hospitals and worked very hard to resettle the remaining prisoners.
Labor would have given $500 million to the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees to speed up the process of assessing refugees and permitting them to seek resettlement.
Labor promised to resettle 32,000 humanitarian refugees per year as opposed to 16,750 the NLP proposed, expanding community sponsorship from 1000 to 5000 additional places.
What was your immediate response to the election result?
I was in a surreal state on election night. I think I was in shock. I had felt in a similar way when experiencing a car accident as my car spun out of control and kept spinning across to the other side of the road.
What have your thoughts been in the two weeks since then?
When reality affirmed itself, I felt a pain in my upper abdomen and still have that feeling weeks after, whenever I see or hear Mr Morrison. Even if it was only to save the ABC or CSIRO or our universities, let alone our ability to breathe and not contract cancer in the future, I would have yearned for Labor to win.
Will you continue your advocacy work or do you see it as a lost cause?
I’m with Benjamin Disraeli when he says; ‘Despair is the conclusion of fools’. As a drastic measure I have joined the Labor Party and am ready to start campaigning.
As well, much work awaits with South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees (SGRAR). Rallies to educate the public, letter writing, petitions, joining campaigns. If you would like to join the SGRAR please contact me on sgrar07@gmail.com and come to our Refugee Week function at the Wonthaggi Union Cinema on 14 June at 7pm.
Felicia Di Stefano is a member of South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees.