Amnesty International and #GameOver campaign advocate Ry Atkinson implored Wollongong's Palm Sunday rally protestors to continue pressuring governments to release and resettle refugees in on and offshore detention.
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He joined fellow speakers including Australian Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi in reminding protestors there was still over 250 people detained offshore in PNG and Nauru.
"Here in Australia in hotel prisons, what the government calls alternative places of detention, we have over 100 refugees detained," Mr Atkinson said.
"On top of that we have 1000 refugees living in the community in transitory limbo, with no certainty regarding their futures."
He said the release of over 100 refugees in Melbourne and Brisbane was a good start.
"Now these refugees were trapped in their rooms for sometimes up to 23 hours a day. They had no access to the outside world, let alone the medical treatment they were brought to Australia to receive," Mr Atkinson said.
'We need long term sustainable resettlement options.
"Since 2013 the New Zealand government has offered to resettle 150 refugees per year from Australia's offshore detention regime.
"If the Australian government had accepted that offer, we would have no one left in detention.
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"That's really what the #GameOver campaign is all about - pressuring this government, Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton to accept New Zealand's long standing offer and allow people to get to safety, rebuild their lives and move on with their lives.
"Eight years is too long.
"Please go to gameover.org.au, sign the petition and ring your local MP's and let them know this issue is important.
"We need to show this government that the Australian community does not accept inhumanity, that the Australian community demands better.
"By doing this we can also ensure that this issue is on the agenda when Scott Morrison meets New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinta Arden at their upcoming annual leaders meeting."
Meantime, chanting slogans such as 'lock up ScoMo, throw away the keys, we won't stop, until we free the refugees', protestors also marched to Lang Park during the Wollongong rally organised by Refugee Action Collective Illawarra (RACI).
RACI spokesperson Dr Marg Perrott took the opportunity to comment on the recent protests in Brisbane and Melbourne outside the hotels used as detention centres.
"These protests are the reason these refugees finally get to taste freedom for the first time in eight years," Dr perrott said.
"Given they are only on temporary visas their chance to rebuild their lives is not guaranteed.
"The only way we'll achieve the long term resettlement for all refugees imprisoned by the Australian government is to keep fighting."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
