With the situation in Afghanistan continuing to unfold, Ballarat asylum seeker advocates are making calls to urgently increase Australia's intake of Afghan refugees.
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Barat Ali Batoor, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre organiser, has still not recovered from the grief of the return of the Taliban and is worried about Australia's refugee policy.
"What we are asking is 20,000 additional humanitarian intake for the people of Afghanistan," Mr Batoor said.
The leaders have criticised Prime Minister Scott Morrison's commitment to bring in 3000 Afghans, under its existing program of 13,750 annually, has woefully insufficient.
"Also, there are around 5000 people living on bridging visas and temporary protection visas within our communities. So we are asking, give them a pathway to permanent protection so they are out of this worry and fear of being sent back."
Mr Batoor is concerned family reunification applications for those who have come by sea are given the lowest priority by the government. He wants this addressed.
"Reunite all of those people who have been waiting for their families from Afghanistan," he said.
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Rural Australians for Refugees Ballarat's Maureen Doonan is another supporter of Australia increasing its refugee intake in light of the Afghanistan crisis.
"We brought the Vietnamese because it was our war in Vietnam which caused the problem. Isn't this the same situation again?" Ms Doonan said.
"We're not even bringing, fast enough, the people who helped us."
Like Mr Batoor, Ms Doonan believes more needs to be done to support asylum seekers once in Australia.
"Young boys are living their future three years or five years at a time," Ms Doonan said.
"When it's decided they are refugees, they should be given permanent residency. Imagine yourself, in your early 20s, at the end of five years, you don't know what's going to happen.
Most of the boys who have boarded with me have been the eldest son who have had to flee because they're the next one in line to be got rid of
"Even the health care card we give them only covers basic doctor (services). If you need an x-ray, you've got to pay for that; if you need other treatment, you've got to pay for that. These boys are working and paying their taxes the same as everybody else."
The difficulties faced by many in Afghanistan will only increase under the rule of the Taliban, according to Ms Doonan who has housed multiple refugees.
"Most of the boys who have boarded with me have been the eldest son who have had to flee because they're the next one in line to be got rid of," she said.
"These boys are very concerned because their sisters and mothers are locked in the house. How do you get the money to them? How do they get groceries and needs? It's getting harder to be able to live there. Hazaras have been persecuted from the start. Now, their families are living in fear."
Mr Batoor empathises with those wanting to flee Afghanistan.
"I can understand their fear," he said.
"I can understand their desperation that they want to leave, that they want to do anything to leave the country and not to live under the rule of the Taliban where they can be subject to persecution or genocide or living under extreme rule."
Mr Batoor argues there are many reasons for Australia to open the borders to more Afghan refugees. One reason is linked to the military involvement which stretched for decades.
"We, as a country, have a moral obligation towards the people of Afghanistan because we have been involved in that country for 20 years," he said. "What that country is going through is the responsibility of the US directly. Also, the allies are responsible to some extent for what has gone wrong in Afghanistan.
"I would ask this question for families who have lost their loved ones at war: what was twenty years of investment of lives for?"
Another reason for further increasing the refugee intake relates to the impending consequences of the Taliban's rule.
"There are minorities- religious minorities, ethnic minorities, civil rights activists, journalists, and people who worked with the allies- they are at risk of being persecuted," Mr Batoor said.
"The Taliban hasn't changed. Now, in the districts, there is very little or no media attention. They are applying the same rule as in the 1990s: very strict towards women and towards minorities; no rights to education for women; women cannot go out without a burqa; if they are accused of adultery, they will be stoned to death; if they are accused of stealing, their hands will be chopped; if they go out of home without a man, they will be lashed in public.
"They are the same Taliban; they will not hesitate to kill people. We have to play a role to help these people and increase our humanitarian intake."
Ms Donnan remains dedicated to the welfare of Afghan refugees.
"These are people fleeing from the terror back at home. These Hazaras live a quiet life and try to keep their heads down. Why should you have to live in a country like that?" Ms Donnan said.
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