A REFUGEE rally will be held at Pioneer Reserve opposite Fremantle train station today, Saturday June 25 at noon.

It will be followed up by a march through the city tagged ‘Freo Safe Harbour’ to recognise the local council’s official statement of support for refugees in the community.

Today’s rally brings International Refugee Week to a close, and coordinator Tom Lynch says “we urgently need to defend every space … in which asylum seekers and refugees can pursue their lives in peace, safety and freedom”.

The walk also comes a week after Greens immigration spokesperson Sarah Hanson Young was in WA spruiking her party’s refugee policy – which she says is borrowed from the Liberal party of old.

The Greens want to increase Australia’s refugee intake to 50,000, including 10,000 places normally set aside for skilled migrants. The party also wants to invest in helping Indonesia and Malaysia process more refugees through their immigration camps, which are estimated to hold about 14,000 people.

“The thing that is really interesting in what the Greens are taking to the election is that it is what worked under the Fraser government,” Sen Hanson Young said.

“[Former prime minister Malcolm] Fraser said we will have to fund the investment up the line, then we can go to other countries and say ‘we are going to take this much and we want you to take some’.” Initially reluctant to accept Vietnamese refugees, Fraser ultimately accepted 50,000 over the term of his government – apparently under pressure from the United States. They were processed overseas.

“People saw the pathway and they got into line,” says Sen Hanson Young.

by STEVE GRANT and TRILOKESH CHANMUGAM