12 February 2002
National Convergence
on federal parliament
to inform the returned government of John Howard that cruel treatment of refugees will not be tolerated in our name.

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If you were at this action we would be very pleased to hear from you. Maybe you've got some better pictures, or you can write some captions. Please send us an email to refugeeaction@hotmail.com quoting the date of the action and the picture number.
The Koori contingent having arrived, we can now begin:
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Rural Australians for Refugees were forming new action groups all over this wide brown land. This was the first occasion many of these groups were in the same place at the same time.
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"Look through the wire and the lies -
see the people."

Above: Grace from Melbourne looks very happy about the thousands attending this rally.

Right: These instalments represent the 353 people - mainly women and children - who drowned on the SIEV-X*.

Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) conditions prevented refugees from bringing their families here, so 142 women and 146 children were forced to resort to desperate measures to join their husbands/fathers who were in Australia on TPVs.

* SIEV stands for Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel, and X stands for the one that didn't get identified. This vessel sank on its way to Australia in 2001, and In 2007 there are still serious suspicions about the cause of its sinking. For more info please go to www.sievx.com
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