WACA would like to acknowledge the work of the community - people in detention, activists and advocates - in the passage of the Medical Evacuation Bill.

It is heartening to know that people in need of medical care will now receive medical care, which successive governments have denied them.

Access to health care for all is a basic human right.

On Thursday 29th March 2018 the #SuperGlue7, who superglued themselves to the railing of the House of Representatives' public gallery in November 2016, were rightly found Not Guilty of intentionally damaging Commonwealth property. We maintain that the real damage is being done by Peter Dutton. We will continue to act until there is #Justice4Refugees.

It has been a busy few weeks for activists in Melbourne. The Australian government forced a humanitarian crisis with its cruel treatment of refugees and asylum seekers held as political prisoners on Manus Island. Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton’s starvation and dehydration tactics and denial of medical aid did not deter the courageous resistance stance of the prisoners who refused to be moved to another prison camp on Manus Island. The minister resorted to brute force. Under the watch of the Australian Border Force and Australian Federal Police the men on Manus were beaten by the notorious PNG mobile squad to force them to leave the compound.

The National Gallery of Victoria has just taken up a new contract with Wilson Security, the firm violently enforcing the incarceration of refugees and people seeking asylum on Manus Island and Nauru. By doing business with Wilson Security, the NGV supports the systematic abuse of refugees and people seeking asylum. Sign the letter to call for NGV to cancel their contract with Wilson Security.

Today seven WACA members stood trial charged with "Destroy, Damage Commonwealth Property". We have entered a plea of not guilty, and have exercised our right to be heard by a jury. We maintain our innocence in this matter.

On the 30th of November last year, we travelled to Parliament to speak directly to our representatives. Refugees and asylum seekers have been detained in our name for too long and the Australian Government’s policies are killing innocent people.

“Please fight strong.” Sally Hunter is inspired by the words of a man who was detained in an Australian immigration detention centre.

The inherent bias and privilege within the Refugee Rights movement in Australia must be examined and remediated if we are to be truly effective in dismantling the Australian government's human rights abusing immigration policy, writes Gaye Demanuele.

“Saeed”, not his real name, is not a baby, we do not have cute photos to splash on the front pages of newspapers or to display in brightly coloured social media posts. We do not have photos that pull on heart strings that will elicit the sympathy of kind people. Saeed was a baby once. He was born onto land that was divided by imperial powers a century ago, land that has been drenched in the blood of the people oppressed by rulers whose wars have been fought over oil and territory. Australia has been complicit in those wars, firstly with the British Empire, and now as an ally of the United States. Meanwhile, the private corporations of the military-industrial-complex reap astronomical profits on the suffering of millions of people and on the destruction of the environment.

Whistleblowers from within institutions, corporations, government departments, police or military can be critical to movement success, and their testimony is often the key to exposing and resisting injustice and creating change. Institutions clamp down on and deter whistleblowing for good reason. Whistleblowers can shake major institutions.  They can feed vital information to movements, can warn activists about impending threats, can expose corruption, public health dangers and reduce the power of governments and deep state agencies. 

We travelled to Parliament to speak truth to both sides of politics. To tell them that they are complicit in the murder, rape, torture and child abuse of refugees, that they are playing political games with people’s lives. We did this to demand that they close the bloody camps and evacuate every man, woman and child on Manus Island, Christmas Island and Nauru.