Thank you to those of you that attended our first forum "Still in Detention" Tuesday 21 June 2022. We were thrilled to have Senator Sue Lines (ALP senator for WA), Hon. Kate Doust (ALP member for South Metro) , Hon. Brad Pettitt (Greens member for South metro) and Hon. Ayor Makurchout (ALP member for North Metro) in attendance. It was generously hosted by Father Matthew from St Luke's in Mosman Park.
It was so great to see so many of our incredibly dedicated Detention Centre Visiting Volunteers there. The work they have done to support and advocate for our clients in Detention was acknowledged by Esther Deng our Client Services Manager. We heard from Anna Copeland working in Human Rights Law at Murdoch University with first hand accounts of the cases she has worked on, Esther Deng Client Services Manager, Glynda Ward Detention Centre Visiting Volunteer from CARAD and Sheraga the first detainee that Glynda ever supported. Sheraga spoke powerfully about his support from CARAD and how he is still suffering out of detention on a temporary SHEV visa as he is unable to reunite with his 14 year old son.
We are anticipating that this forum will be one of many we will be holding.