Human rights and the rule of law matter deeply to the people of Canberra. International Law and organisations such as the United Nations exist for a reason. Australia lacks honesty and humanity with regards to human rights violations. In relation to the extraordinary and evolving worldwide refugee crisis, Australia needs to play a lead role, both in politics, and at the grassroots.

Part of this includes bringing an end to indefinite mandatory detention, offshore processing and “turn-backs”. We need to increase our refugee intake significantly and introducing dynamic national integration laws. Ultimately, we need to evolve immigration policy to better complement domestic labor-force growth and societal well-being. Such moves would also allow our country to more fully embrace the increasingly connected world that we live in. We should make it easier for asylum seekers to gain access to the Australian labour market though creating new “working opportunities”, including a range of low-paid workfare jobs.