AN AFGHANI asylum seeker and Swan Hill’s deputy mayor have successfully pedalled 700km across the country, delivering a petition calling for improved rights for refugees to Federal Parliament in Canberra.
Gathering 477 signatures, the petition from Rohullah Hussaini and Michael Adamson calls for “humane and expedient treatment and processing of asylum seekers”.
It was presented to Member for Mallee Andrew Broad on the steps of parliament house on Tuesday and is set to be tabled in Federal parliament in the coming weeks.
“All in all we were well received… but it is very disappointing that neither [Minister for Immigration Scott Morrison] or a staffer could meet with us…”
“All in all we were well received… but it is very disappointing that neither [Minister for Immigration Scott Morrison] or a staffer could meet with us,” Mr Adamson said.
Mr Broad put in the request to meet with Mr Morrison, and said he was “disappointed” they had not been able to schedule an appointment.
“I was a bit disappointed with that, we got some good media coverage though,” Mr Broad said. “I understand that people are busy but we put a request in and we weren’t met with success.”
Although the request to meet with Mr Morrison was declined, the riders met with Mr Broad, a UNHCR representative and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
Mr Hussaini has been in Australia since 2012, leaving Afghanistan due to threats to his personal security.
As a Hazara man, he is part of a persecuted minority in the country.
For him, the cycle offered him a chance to see more of the country he now calls home and break down negative stereotypes associated with refugees.
“Swan Hill is my home now, I have a lot of friends and an Australian mum — I love it here…”
“The first day at Deniliquin, I was the first Afghani and the first refugee there, when Michael asked the people there if they had met a refugee before, they said no,” he said.
“Swan Hill is my home now, I have a lot of friends and an Australian mum — I love it here.”
Setting off from Swan Hill last Tuesday, the pair have spent the past week pedalling their way through New South Wales arriving in Canberra on Monday night.
In Wagga Wagga they were greeted with a civic reception attended by about 40 people.
They headed home yesterday and although sore and tired, they said it had been very worthwhile.
