Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

to move:

That this House:

(1)

recognise the plight of the thousands of community-based asylum seekers in Australia who are denied income support, work rights and Medicare access as a result of the Government's unfair and inflexible immigration policy, making survival nearly impossible without the assistance of various church and charity groups;

(2)

acknowledge that in many cases this breaches the Refugee Convention and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; and

(3)

call on the Government to:

(a)

abolish the 45 day rule, which prevents community-based asylum seekers who make visa applications outside that period from receiving any form of income or health benefits; and

(b)

give all community-based asylum seekers in Australia work rights and access to Medicare.

to move:

That this House:

(1)

note that it is estimated that around one in six Australian women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime;

(2)

condemn the reported statement of Sheik Faiz Mohamad that a victim of rape has “no-one to blame but herself”;

(3)

acknowledge the trauma and suffering of victims of sexual assault and rape;

(4)

recognise the need for national leadership to combat these crimes; and

(5)

urge the Government to:

(a)

develop a national strategy to combat sexual assault and rape;

(b)

increase funding and resources to:

(i)

assist victims of sexual assault and rape; and

(ii)

educate the community about these crimes;

(c)

make sexual assault education mandatory in Australian schools; and

(d)

nationalise sexual assault laws—taking a ‘best practice’ approach—and create a central board to review these laws regularly.

28/02/2006 110Tuesday, 28 February 2006

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The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. IR Causley) took the chair at 4.00 pm.

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