ASRC offering support

The federal government cut Status Resolution Support Services by 60 per cent in two years, from $139.8 million to $56.2 million. Since cuts were announced in 2017, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre has played a leading role in refugee sector lobbying, media and campaigning for SRSS to be restored to all people seeking asylum. During the election, community delegations met local MPs, supporters wrote letters and emailed MPs and we released a report that earned media coverage of the issue. “Cutting the Safety Net” exposed a crisis of hunger, poor health and homelessness as more people, including families with children over six years old, are cut off SRSS. The ASRC has been inundated with people coming to our doors with increasingly complex and urgent needs. We have had to implement stopgap measures such as emergency relief housing; food parcels for people issued with a notice-to-vacate or those facing VCAT hearings and imminent homelessness; emergency food and pharmaceuticals; and sleeping bags for those sleeping rough. Weekly, 750 people – increasingly children and young people – rely on our food bank. The number has increased from 590 at the start of 2018. All organisations in the sector are stretched to the limit. We continue to expose the crisis and campaign against cuts, and to provide front-line services to thousands of people.

– Marcella Brassett, campaign manager at the

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre