Cleo’s Reflection
Meeting our Local MP – Richard Marles
Written By Cleo Bailey
On Wednesday the 7th of September 2016 students from four Catholic schools in Geelong – Clonard, Sacred Heart, St Ignatius and St Joseph’s College met with Richard Marles, local MP for Corio and the former Shadow Minister for Immigration. Richard met with the students for approximately an hour, to discuss the policies of the Australian Labor Party regarding refugees and people seeking asylum. As a group, we had all been preparing for this meeting with the help of Sam Dariol, a representative from CAPSA, for about two weeks. We prepared questions to ask him in response to Labor’s policies or ideals, and we each took on a role for the meeting. During the meeting questions were asked about Richard’s personal views as well the conditions of detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru. He outlined that the bigger issue was restoring faith for these refugees. It was a very insightful meeting which gave everyone a deeper understanding of the view of the Labor Party. He was kind enough to pass a letter signed by all 4 schools, which is an open letter given to the opposition leader Bill Shorten. On behalf of the students involved in this workshop from Clonard, St Josephs and Sacred Heart we would like to thank everyone involved in making this experience possible, without them we wouldn’t been able to participate in such a rare opportunity.