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
A new date, which will depend on availability of The Hub, will be announced as soon as possible.
The Conference organising Committee will continue to meet and make the necessary steps needed to move the conference to the new dates.
Those who have booked will be given a full refund.
We hope that you will continue to support the conference and the work that RAR and BMRSG do….we need you more than ever in these challenging times.
Keep up the good work’
Kathie Herbert
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.
By Joy Connor Chair BMRSG 2018 -2019 saw an increase in aggressive negative rhetoric towards our asylum seeker friends. It saw the end of hope for a more compassionate policy for several years. In the eighteenth year of our existence, the AGM was a time to revisit what keeps us going: the vision of a caring, inclusive community that starts with affirming each other. We affirmed all the hard
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Independent Member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, re-introduced the Refugee Protection Bill 2019 to Parliament this morning. It was seconded by independent MP Dr Helen Haines. “Confining people for an indefinite period of time, whether it be on Christmas Island, in Nauru or on Manus, was never a lawful, ethical or affordable policy. It’s grossly inhumane,
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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.
Congratulations Ocean 12 winner of Last Man Stands (LMS) Australian Championship 2019.
It still seems impossible to believe that all those years ago this group of traumatised men who played cricket appallingly have achieved so much. They still manage to shelve their worries and fears and show their amazing ability as a team which has rocked the world of 20/20 cricket. They will compete in the World Champs in Sydney in December.
Two young men, both left their home countries aged 3. Both now call the Blue Mountains home and are part of the BMRSG community. But two very different stories.
Read part 2 in our series Who Are We?
