A new look at asylum seekers
February 11, 2014 by J-Wire Staff
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Former PM Malcolm Fraser, Mushroom Records boss Michael Gudinski, Vietnamese restauranter Miss Chu and radio celebrity Lehmo are among the prominent Aussies leading the charge to change the asylum seeker conversation.
Gary Samowitz
‘What Would You Do?” is the provocative question posed by Jewish Aid Australia in its campaign to humanise the asylum seeker issue. A bold video released this week depicts popular leaders from a cross-section of the Australian community responding compellingly to the question: What would you do if you were in the situation of an asylum seeker?
Within 24 hours of launching on social media, the video featuring former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and leading Australian Human Rights barrister Julian Burnside QC, among many other high profile Australians, was shared by over 600 people on Facebook and Twitter, and been viewed over 10,000 times on YouTube.
The personalized nature of the campaign is aimed to compel individuals to consider what they would do if it was their family fleeing persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan or Syria.
Jewish Aid Australia’s CEO – Gary Samowitz – emphasised that “we need to inject a dose of humanity back into the conversation surrounding our treatment of asylum seekers. The Jewish community remembers a time when we were fleeing persecution and many nations closed their borders to us. We cannot stand idly by today whilst this is happening to so many people fleeing tyrannical regimes and seeking refuge in Australia.”
