(2/3) My dad came here by boat in 1999 as an asylum seeker. He was detained on Christmas Island for a few months, but back then the policies were much better for people seeking asylum, so he was able to file for a Family Reunion visa four years later, and my mother, sisters and I were able to join him in Australia.
If the laws back then had been as they are now, that visa wouldn’t have been possible, and so when we needed to seek safety, we would have had to choose between making the very difficult journey of coming here by boat ourselves, or of not seeing our father again for years and years.
I am now working for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre because I feel compelled to invest my time in demanding a fair and transparent system that gives people seeking safety a chance to rebuild their lives, as my family was able to do.
Susan
Iraq
Arrived 2003
Photographer: Laura Matthew www.lauramatthew.photography
Please continue to help achieve a much better system. I am pleased to be reminded that there was a different attitude and laws in The past.
Good luck to you.
Hello Susan. How can I reach you?? I need some help
Razeia JaWid
Thank you and welcome to this wide brown land that is now your home too. xo
Glad you and your family are here