Refugees: Out of Sight … (but not) Out of Mind – Online Forum 21 July

Refugees: Out of Sight … (but not) Out of Mind –
Australia’s Offshore ‘Processing’

ONLINE FORUM – Tuesday 21 July 2026, 7.30pm AEST

Zoom link Click here

Hosted by the Australian Refugee Action Network (ARAN), the forum will shine a spotlight on:

• The ongoing harm caused by Australia’s offshore ‘processing’ regime and resistance in the face of cruelty
• Key critiques of Australia’s offshore regime and ‘externalisation’ of our responsibilities to people seeking asylum
• Alternative approaches and discussion on effective activism and advocacy.

Speakers 

Laura Johns – Associate Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre

Sr Jane Keogh – Manus Lives Matter

Senator David Shoebridge – Greens senator and member of Senate Committee

19 July 2026, marks 13 years since then PM, Kevin Rudd, took Australia’s treatment of people seeking asylum to a new moral low, ruling that anyone arriving by boat from July 2013 would never settle in Australia. This decision entrenched Australia’s use of third countries to site its offshore immigration ‘processing’, this policy regime dates back further to 2001 under John Howard. However, under Howard’s laws, people assessed offshore and found to be refugees were still able to settle in Australia, but Rudd’s ruling removed this possibility for those arriving after 19 July 2013, irrespective of their refugee status.

ARAN – Australian Refugee Action Network 

If you need more information email austrefugeenetwork@gmail.com

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