Parkville residents take in refugees

By Katie Johnson

When 26 refugees were suddenly released from detention in Carlton’s Park Hotel in late January, Parkville resident Jo Fallshaw sprang into action.

“I was having coffee with my housemate Claire when her mobile started going ping, ping, ping,” Ms Fallshaw said.

“It was all incoming texts from her refugee friends alerting her that they were being released immediately.”

The men, who were brought to Australia for urgent medical care after spending years in Manus Island and Nauru, had been detained in hotels for more than a year under Medevac laws.

But after a major loss for the government in the Federal Court where the judge ruled against indefinite and arbitrary detention, they were suddenly experiencing freedom for the first time in years.

With help from other activists, Ms Fallshaw hosted a welcome party in the backyard of her Parkville home for the men on the same day they were released.

“I am extremely fortunate that my home has a large garden and backs onto a public park, so we were able to manage the COVID restrictions and still give our friends the welcome they deserved,” Ms Fallshaw said.

Ms Fallshaw said it was “an amazing experience” to welcome the men who had been so badly abused by the federal government.

“Watching someone who has been locked up for eight years pat my dogs, or hold one of the supporter’s babies was heart-warming,” Ms Fallshaw said.

It was joyous watching their big smiles while they enjoyed simple pleasures like eating spicy food after having been used to bland, processed food without fresh vegetables.

In the days after the initial release on January 20, the government released another 42 refugees from the Park Hotel, leaving 68 men on six-month bridging visas without stable accommodation or income.

While refugee-focused charities would usually take the primary responsibility for caring for the men, the sudden spike in releases meant ordinary people had to step in to ensure they didn’t end up homeless.

Ms Fallshaw said she was happy to be the “unofficial headquarters” for supporting the refugees and finding temporary homes for them.

“We arranged welcome parties for the release of the second and third groups of freed Medevac detainees and used the gatherings to connect them with people who may have a spare room while the men found their feet,” Ms Fallshaw said.   

“The regular charities are not set up to deal with sudden spikes like this, so it takes ordinary people like me, and the amazing families who have offered a room, to step in to fill the gap.”

In the first two weeks after the men were released, Ms Fallshaw and the men’s supporters helped to place 13 refugees with locals who had a spare room.

Since then, with the help of the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project and many Melbourne families, all the recently released refugees have found homes.

Ms Fallshaw said that she was amazed at the “extraordinary people” who were willing to open up their homes after seeing her event on Facebook.

“I shared the events to 5000 people on Facebook and was able to connect with so many extraordinary people,” Ms Fallshaw said.

“Young professionals living in share houses were able to take a refugee in, families with a spare room, and lots of retirees – including six retired ESL teachers – were eager to take someone in and help them get a driver’s licence and a job.”

Thanush Selvarasa, a Tamil man, was released from the Park Hotel in the second round and attended the welcome party.

Mr Selvarasa said that after being detained on Manus Island for eight years and then in various Melbourne hotels for more than a year, the welcome parties were a “wonderful experience”.

“When I was released, they took me to another hotel where people were waiting for me and screaming: ‘Welcome welcome!’ It was a wonderful moment,” Mr Selvarasa said.

“The welcome party was amazing, the support from them has always been unconditional and they have been supporting us with whatever we need. I won’t forget until my last breath what they have done for me.”

Mr Selvarasa said that after years of arbitrary detention which resulted in his mental health declining to the point of multiple suicide attempts, he was “so grateful to be free”.

“The suffering is not for only us but for our family in our home country, my mother has been waiting for me to tell her I was free for eight years, so now I can finally tell her,” Mr Selvarasa said.

Activist Lieke Janssen said it was “surreal” to watch Thanush and other released refugees at the welcome party.

“It was really beautiful because my young kids and I have been seeing the guys in front of the tainted windows and on video call for so long,” Ms Janssen said.

“It was like a dream, I felt like we were floating.”

Another man who was placed with a family was Ramsiyar Sabanayagam, a Tamil refugee who had been detained on Manus Island since 2013 after losing his entire family in a bomb blast in Sri Lanka when he was 18.

Despite being found to be a genuine refugee in 2016, he remained on Manus island until 2019 when he was transferred to the Mantra Hotel in Preston due to intense pain from the remaining shell shrapnel in his head and shoulder.

There, he was confined for 23 hours a day to a hotel room with little natural light for more than a year – detention which costs taxpayers around $355,000 per year per refugee.

Ms Fallshaw said it was stories such as Ramsiyar’s which inspired her to provide as much tangible help as she could.

“Ramsiyar is such a lovely person and it’s heartbreaking stories like his that make me ashamed to be Australian,” Ms Fallshaw said.

“So many of these men, who are the freedom fighters of their nation, have been without proper medical and dental attention for years and have been tortured physically and mentally.”

There are currently 13 men remaining in the Park Hotel, many of whom were formally recognised as refugees years ago and have passed security checks. No release date has been set.

“There’s a lot of mixed emotions right now because the released men have been given six months to leave the country, but most of them can’t go back to where they came from because it’s a war zone or they’ll be arrested and killed by the state,” Ms Fallshaw said.

“So, for a lot of these men it’s temporary freedom but it’s so much better than where they were in the hotels.”

Ms Fallshaw said that among all of the gloom there was the opportunity to help and urged those with the means to do so to keep that in mind.

“There are a lot of people in Parkville and the inner city with big hearts and spare rooms, and I’m hoping they’ll get in touch with me to arrange an introduction with a refugee needing a home,” Ms Fallshaw said.

“It’s an opportunity to extend the hand of friendship to those who have been brutalised by our government.”

To learn more about how you can help the recently released refugees, you can get in touch with Jo on 0412264401 or visit her Melbourne Refugee & Hosts/Helpers Networking Group •

For more information: facebook.com/groups/213494057151391