Victoria Will Provide Support To Asylum Seekers Who Have Been Cut Off By Malcolm Turnbull

The Victorian government has pledged to provide support to more than 100 asylum seekers living in the state whose access to welfare services have been cut off by the federal government.

On Saturday, Premier Daniel Andrews announced a new $600,000 package that includes a housing fund and will also help cover the cost of “basic life necessities” such as food, clothes, medicine and public transport fare. It will also cover the cost of case workers for asylum seekers in need of additional support.

The announcement comes after it was revealed that the Turnbull government was cutting off welfare payments to as many as 400 asylum seekers living in the community, including pregnant women and families with babies and school-aged children.

These asylum seekers, who previously spent time imprisoned on Manus Island and Nauru, were told in late August that they would have just three weeks to move out of government-funded housing.

“If you cannot find work to support yourself in Australia you will need to return to a regional processing country or any country where you have a right of residence,” asylum seekers were also told.

In a Facebook post, Andrews accused Turnbull of forcing asylum seekers onto the streets “to freeze and languish and starve”.

“We’ll make sure that these people don’t slip through the cracks,” he wrote. “Because that’s what they are – people. They deserve our respect and our compassion. And if our country can’t provide it, then our state will.”

The decision by the Victorian government has been praised by asylum seeker rights advocates, with Asylum Seeker Resource Centre CEO Kon Karapanagiotidis writing on Twitter that it was “great to see the state government rallying and standing up to #LetThemStay”.

We are so grateful to see the wonderful leadership of @DanielAndrewsMP Government to help #LetThemStay ❤ pic.twitter.com/JQRpYxz0HU

— Kon Karapanagiotidis (@Kon__K) September 9, 2017