We are a diverse group of ordinary Australians from all sides of politics, living just outside Sydney. The organisation has no specific religious affiliation. We are all volunteers.
To encourage positive attitudes to refugees in the community and at all levels of government.
To welcome, befriend and assist refugees facing uncertain futures, in detention and in the community.
Practical, emotional and financial assistance for refugees and to encourage positive attitudes to refugees in the community and at all levels of government
Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group is holding the 6th National Conference for Rural Australians for Refugees which will be held in Springwood from the evening of Friday 3rd July until Sunday 5th July 2020.
The theme will be “Connecting for Change” and the program will be a mixture of forums, workshops and keynote speakers with a strong emphasis on hearing from those with lived experience and making connections.
Keep an eye on the event page. The Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group is looking forward to hearing from you
ERC Director Phil Glendenning delivered the 2019 Annual Tasmanian Peace Trust Lecture. The Trust established the Annual Peace Trust Lecture in 1991. Special guest lecturers speak on peace-related themes.
Watch Phil’s lecture, “From Uluru to Nauru: The Peace that Still Eludes Australia”
After surviving what he describes as two death threats, Anustiyan Sivapalan made the decision to flee Sri Lanka for Australia.
“They come to my home, they tried to kill me, but luckily I escaped from the shootout,” he said.
“That’s why I [was] forced to leave.”
While the psychological scars caused by an experience like this are too complex for many to understand, Mr Sivapalan has found a community where stories like his are the norm.
He has been playing cricket for a suburban western Sydney team called Ocean 12 that is comprised of Tamil asylum seekers.
My Mum passed away a year ago at 98. Not long before, she had magnets made for everyone that said “Christmas is the key to the future’ This year It hit me that the Christmas story of a baby born to a homeless refugee family destined to bring A Christmas message, Peace to the earth, changes what we value in this sad old world whatever belief system we follow.
Decisions made from a Christmas value base are the key to a future where we care for each other and our aching planet.
In these last days of a hard hard year , as the mountains burn around us let us be grateful for the faithfulness of those who live by these Christmas values.
On the morning of the 4 December the Medevac Bill was repealed with a secret deal between Senator Jacqui Lambie and the Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister. Through this secrecy, democracy and transparency have been ignored.
We have all lobbied and campaigned for months. But now is not the time to stand back in sadness and defeat. We ask you to encourage all your members to phone Minister Dutton and Prime Minister Morrison.
Prime Minister Morrison: 02 6277 7700
Minister Peter Dutton: 02 6277 7860.
Read more
A house full of single men cut off from their families is not always the most serene of places. A house in Liverpool was one such place, full of Tamil men from Sri Lanka and living now very far from home.
No mothers, no fathers, no children, and no wives, and this not by any real choice of their own. Many of the young men in this house had Australian residency, but without citizenship they cannot bring their families over to join them.
BMRSG needs a co-ordinator for its fund raising team. He or she need not be a fundraiser because the team has most of the necessary skills. The co-ordinator needs to guide and supervise the various fund raising activities and support the volunteers managing these, set goals, create and maintain a calendar of events and make sure that activities happen on time, also coordinate with and inform the BMRSG committee and where necessary the social media manager.
A person with proven project management or co-ordination experience would be suitable.
