An Asylum Seeker’s Australian Story
December 4, 2024
Concerned members of the Rockhampton community, including Sister Pat Wood, have been dismayed by the cruel treatment of a Faili Kurd woman who sought asylum in Australia 12 years ago.
To many people living in Australia, refugees and asylum seekers are faceless people they sometimes hear about on the news and are not people they get to know.
Dila*, who lives in Rockhampton, is one of the faces of the thousands of people who have travelled from the other side of the world to escape persecution and possible death in their country, only to find that Australia has not extended the welcome mat to them. This is despite the government being a signatory to the United Nations Convention of 1951 on the protection of refugees and asylum seekers.
In 2012, Dila arrived in Australia with her brother. Her husband arrived two years earlier and is now an Australian citizen. All three are Faili Kurds previously living in Iran where Kurdish people are stateless. In that country they have no access to any government services, such as health care or education, and they are constantly at risk of disappearing or being detained. As Christians, they were even bigger targets.
Over the 12 years she has been in Australia, Dila has pursued multiple unsuccessful legal avenues to remain here, including a Ministerial Intervention that was rejected in November 2022. Currently, in the most recent intervention, she is now on a three-month bridging visa and without the right to work.
Sister Pat Wood rsm is a member of an ecumenical Refugee Action Group (a sub-committee of the Rockhampton Diocesan Social Justice Committee), who have been supporting Dila. She and the other members of the group are dismayed by the response of the Australian Government to her case.
“We are shocked at the way this has been handled and the lack of compassion that has been shown,” Sister Pat said. “What makes the government’s determination even more baffling is the fact that her husband, who arrived two years prior as an asylum seeker, was given Australian citizenship shortly after he applied for it. Dila’s health has suffered, possibly due to the stress of not knowing if she may be deported. Her husband is now unable to work due to sustaining an injury at his former work place. This has added to their struggles.”
The Rockhampton Diocesan Social Justice committee is advocating for the Hon Tony Burke MP, Minister for Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, to reconsider the previous refusals.
“Both Dila and her husband are involved in their local Catholic parish and they have become part of the Rockhampton community. They are model citizens who want to build a life here. To suggest that Dila may be deported to another country leaving her husband here is not only cruel and unjust, but defies logic,” Sister Pat said.
*Name changed for publication.
Sister Pat Wood