Former NSW Premier Nick Greiner has joined the Board of the Refugee Council of Australia.
Mr Greiner, who migrated from post-war Hungary as a young child, says it’s time for Australia to move on and resolve some of the long running-issues in refugee policy.
“These issues should not be reduced just to matters for political debate but we should recognise that there is a duty for us all to consider the humanity of refugees and people seeking asylum,” he said in a statement.
“I look forward to bringing forth my passion for social justice and humanitarian efforts to the work of the Refugee Council of Australia.”
Mr Greiner served as Premier and Treasurer of NSW between 1988-92. He was elected Federal President of the Liberal Party between 2017-20 and served as Australian Consul General in New York from 2021-23, as well as holding numerous senior corporate roles.
RCOA President Jasmina Bajraktarevic-Hayward said Mr Greiner has supported the not-for-profit NGO in an advisory capacity in the past.
“We are delighted that he has agreed to deepen his engagement by joining the RCOA Board,” Ms Bajraktarevic-Hayward said.
The RCOA is a national refugee umbrella body, which states as its mission the promotion of humane, lawful and constructive policies around refugees and asylum seekers.
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For more than 40 years I have been involved with migrants and refugees. It is starkly evident that transporting people to offshore camps, keeping those here on temporary visas, damages health of mind and body, prevents the rebuilding of lives after traumatic experiences in their homelands and on their journeys to safety.
It is time to stop using them as a political football; it is long past time for all sides of politics to take off their blinkers and to have a long clear-eyed look at how we are treating fellow-human beings.
We need a better narrative that treats those who arrive not as a threat to our way of life, not as an issue to be calculated in terms of votes lost or gained but as people who deserve proper treatment and who will be an asset to our nation.