Speaker 1: Hey, Hereni, how are you.
Speaker 2: I'm good, How are you good? Thank you?
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming on the show. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: No worries at all. Thank you for this opportunity.
Speaker 1: Hareni Rafnakuma is twenty three years old. She grew up
Speaker 1: in Sunshine in Melbourne.
Speaker 3: I was born in Sri Lanka as a Tamil Elam
Speaker 3: person and I had to flee the genocide that took
Speaker 3: place in Damil Elam and I went to India as
Speaker 3: a refugee.
Speaker 1: In India, Hareni lived in a refugee camp. She describes
Speaker 1: an early childhood marked by fear, where going to school
Speaker 1: was difficult. The fees were exceptionally high and her family
Speaker 1: struggled to pay. Hareni remembers this one day when she
Speaker 1: was ten years old. She was hanging around the adults
Speaker 1: eavesdropping on the conversations and she heard them talking about
Speaker 1: a place called Australia.
Speaker 3: My dad was talking to a neighbor about how it
Speaker 3: was a better place to live in how they were
Speaker 3: welcoming refugees and that our family would be better off
Speaker 3: there instead of in India. We cannot go back to
Speaker 3: Sri Lanka, and I do believe he mentioned something about
Speaker 3: free education to the neighbor and that's when I got
Speaker 3: hooked on. I was like, I wouldn't be a burden
Speaker 3: to my family at all, because my dad couldn't afford
Speaker 3: to be the feast that got into my head and
Speaker 3: I was very stubborn.
Speaker 2: When my dad was going.
Speaker 3: To leave, I was like, I am coming with you
Speaker 3: or I'm going to die.
Speaker 2: That's what I told him.
Speaker 3: To a kid hearing how Australia was a better place
Speaker 3: and they would treat us better, our human rights would
Speaker 3: be upheld to a kid, that sounds like a wonderful dream.
Speaker 1: And that dream was realized. Hareni made it to Australia
Speaker 1: and went to school. But what she could never have
Speaker 1: expected is it a largely unknown feature of our immigration
Speaker 1: system would stop her from getting the full education she
Speaker 1: risked her life for. From Schwartz Media, I'm Ruby Jones.
Speaker 1: This is seven AM today on the show Hareni Rathnakuma
Speaker 1: on the promise of life in Australia and why the
Speaker 1: children of refugees aren't able to attend university here. It's
Speaker 1: Thursday September nineteen. Hareni can you tell me about your
Speaker 1: journey to come to Australia with your dad.
Speaker 2: It was scary. It was very, very scary.
Speaker 3: It was almost seventeen to eighteen days a worth of
Speaker 3: journey on the sea. It was short of one hundred
Speaker 3: people on that boat. There was a bit at the
Speaker 3: bottom where they would store fishes, I believe because there
Speaker 3: was eyes too, and that's where most of the people
Speaker 3: kind of head away. When we had to cross the
Speaker 3: border and we all shared this space, everyone was just
Speaker 3: throwing up. Most people couldn't even like sit up. It
Speaker 3: was covered in warmt But because my dad was there,
Speaker 3: I knew I'd be okay. I knew he'd be taking
Speaker 3: care of me, and that's why he did.
Speaker 1: And do you remember any of the other people on
Speaker 1: the boat did you talk to them?
Speaker 3: I made so many friends because there were so many
Speaker 3: young kids like me. There was a guy that I
Speaker 3: became best friends with. He and I love to study.
Speaker 3: That's what we connected over. And what was funny was
Speaker 3: that after so many years of being separated, we ended
Speaker 3: up going to the same uni. We reached Coco's Island
Speaker 3: and the Navy they came and took us to safety,
Speaker 3: and I was so joyed. I was very, very joyed.
Speaker 3: I was like, finally we made it. I was transferred
Speaker 3: to Adelaide detention Center. That was after spending a couple
Speaker 3: of months in Christmas Island, and then they transferred me out.
Speaker 3: They were like, you're allowed to go live in the
Speaker 3: community now, and my dad chose Melboyn.
Speaker 1: Hareini and her dad were put on a bridging visa,
Speaker 1: which is what it sounds like. It's a temporary visa
Speaker 1: where the government can decide at any point what it
Speaker 1: wants to do with you. You stay on it until
Speaker 1: you're assessed one way or the other, and you can
Speaker 1: be deported at any time. Many Tamil asylum seekers are
Speaker 1: stuck in this kind of limbo. They face some of
Speaker 1: the lowest acceptance rates as refugees, like the Billa Wheeler family,
Speaker 1: who were only granted permanent visas after a huge campaign
Speaker 1: to let them stay. Parini and her dad have been
Speaker 1: on this type of visa since they arrived in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2: I was eleven when I came to Melvin.
Speaker 3: I came at nighttime, my second or the third time
Speaker 3: I've been on a fly, and the city looked so beautiful,
Speaker 3: and I was just so happy to be here. I
Speaker 3: was put into a primary school right away instead of
Speaker 3: a language school. I was very proud to be standing
Speaker 3: there because people had knew about the Tamil genocide that
Speaker 3: took place, and I was glad to know that other
Speaker 3: people knew that other people were actually kid I enjoyed
Speaker 3: going to school with primary school here. I made so
Speaker 3: many friends, and again my dad didn't have to pay,
Speaker 3: so I was thrilled.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh my God, free education.
Speaker 3: And I also went to high school here where I
Speaker 3: finished year twelve in twenty twenty, the year of COVID.
Speaker 1: And then you applied for university. Can you tell me
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 3: I had applied to Vicuni to study a Bachelor of
Speaker 3: Biomedical Science to then go on to become a doctor.
Speaker 3: My brother has always suffered with this condition affecting his kidneys,
Speaker 3: and he was always on medication. He was always getting
Speaker 3: some kind of surgery done, and I thought if I
Speaker 3: became a doctor, then I would be able to provide
Speaker 3: that kid to a little bit more people. So I
Speaker 3: got my offer letter saying that I was accepted in
Speaker 3: that day. I was thrilled. I was thrilled to get
Speaker 3: that offer. I gave my dad a call. I gave
Speaker 3: him so much joy by letting him know that I
Speaker 3: was offered a place in UNI.
Speaker 1: Coming up after the break, Hareni learns what her education
Speaker 1: will cost.
Speaker 4: Her welcome back.
Speaker 1: When Hareni started applying for universities, she was made to
Speaker 1: do so as an international student. She thought it was
Speaker 1: strange given she'd been here since she was a child,
Speaker 1: but didn't think too much about it. Hareni still remembers
Speaker 1: the moment she opened that letter from Victoria University telling
Speaker 1: her that she's been accepted into biomedical science, her first
Speaker 1: step towards becoming a doctor.
Speaker 3: So it said that I was offered a place as
Speaker 3: an international student because I've applied as a international student
Speaker 3: because that's the only way I can apply. The second
Speaker 3: page had the fear information the total amount that was
Speaker 3: expected for us to pay. It said ninety five thousand,
Speaker 3: and I'm like I was just sitting there looking at
Speaker 3: it for a couple of minutes because I didn't believe
Speaker 3: my eyes. First, I was like, ninety five thousand for what?
Speaker 3: And then I sat down reverted over and over again.
Speaker 3: I was shocked, and I didn't want to break it
Speaker 3: to my dad. That I would have to pay these feests,
Speaker 3: and then I gave my dad a call.
Speaker 2: I told him that I wouldn't be able to access X.
Speaker 3: I was heartbroken over why this was, and when I
Speaker 3: asked my dad why I was being treated differently when
Speaker 3: I tried to apply for UNI, he said, well, our
Speaker 3: kids has been rejected and they haven't found us to
Speaker 3: be junior refugees. They don't actually want u CR And
Speaker 3: that broke my hearts, like all this hope that I've
Speaker 3: saved up, all the dreams that I've been over so
Speaker 3: many years after coming to this country broke.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like at some point during the application
Speaker 1: process you had realized that you would need to apply
Speaker 1: as an international student, but it wasn't until you got
Speaker 1: that letter that you realized what that meant and how
Speaker 1: much money that would cost. Is that right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. Yes. But my dad was like, I'll
Speaker 2: do whatever to make your study.
Speaker 3: I'll do whatever to make you had blocked her, And
Speaker 3: I felt like I was placing that burden on him
Speaker 3: yet again, what was a happy moment was kind of broken.
Speaker 2: After hearing about.
Speaker 1: The FeAs, Haarini's dad scrambled to find the money working
Speaker 1: an extra job so that she could start studying. She
Speaker 1: completed two and a half years of her degree with
Speaker 1: support from her dad and also from her husband, who
Speaker 1: she married while she was at UNI.
Speaker 3: I had done two and a half ears of my
Speaker 3: bachelor degree, which in which I had four months left
Speaker 3: to graduate. My dad had an injury at work and
Speaker 3: my husband ended up losing his job around the same time,
Speaker 3: and we couldn't do anything to pay for the UNI
Speaker 3: as well. They had decided to just enroll me because
Speaker 3: I couldn't pay. So I already owe the UNI like
Speaker 3: twenty four or twenty five K, and I would need
Speaker 3: another twenty four or twenty five K to finish off
Speaker 3: my bachelor degree. But in saying so, I also want
Speaker 3: to do a Bachelor of Medicine, which makes me a doctor.
Speaker 3: And to do medicine it's like seventy seven thousand a year.
Speaker 3: I'm not even able to pay ninety five thousand for
Speaker 3: three years. How am I going to pay seventy seven
Speaker 3: thousand for a year to become a doctor. I wasn't
Speaker 3: able to brivele vanes and banks because of my visa status,
Speaker 3: and it drove me to depression. I had to face
Speaker 3: the harsh reality in the truth that the country didn't
Speaker 3: want me here, that I don't actually belong anywhere at all,
Speaker 3: the country I was born and doesn't want me, wants
Speaker 3: to get rid of me, kill me.
Speaker 2: And I didn't even know what to do.
Speaker 3: I sought out so many organizations, so many refugee supporters,
Speaker 3: to see if they could help me at all. My
Speaker 3: husband did write to so many MP's as well, and
Speaker 3: all they said was that they could probably get us
Speaker 3: mental help, but they cannot do anything about my situation
Speaker 3: or about my education either.
Speaker 2: It was hard because well, the politician that needs.
Speaker 3: To care for us, they don't even consider us human beings.
Speaker 1: There are more than ten thousand people on bridging visas
Speaker 1: in Australia, and with Year twelve exams and university offers approaching,
Speaker 1: the young people who were brought to Australia by parents
Speaker 1: seeking asylum will be faced with this same problem. Pay
Speaker 1: the extremely high international fees or forgo the chance to
Speaker 1: get a tertiary education and the opportunities that brings.
Speaker 3: What am I supposed to do with my life in
Speaker 3: those years? I cannot study, so I'm going to have
Speaker 3: to work. I am working, I am paying tax. This
Speaker 3: is what we've been doing for twelve years. We've been
Speaker 3: paying tax, waiting for this opportunity to get to go
Speaker 3: Australia or home and to finally be at peace, to
Speaker 3: have that breath of siyeh and know that we finally
Speaker 3: belong in this country.
Speaker 2: Yet we haven't been given that opportunity.
Speaker 1: And so ha, RENI, what would need to change for
Speaker 1: you to be able to study at university here like
Speaker 1: any other student.
Speaker 3: The only solution at the moment that we have is
Speaker 3: that we need our permanent visas. And if we do
Speaker 3: have our permanent viasas, then we'll be able to apply
Speaker 3: as a domestic student, which we are after ten years
Speaker 3: in this country.
Speaker 2: We are domestic.
Speaker 3: This is our home and we should be able to
Speaker 3: have access to education without worrying about all the fees
Speaker 3: that that's going to literally break our families. About the
Speaker 3: boy I told you about the boy that went to
Speaker 3: the same UNI as me.
Speaker 2: He came on the same boat as me. He played
Speaker 2: with me on the boat.
Speaker 3: He had to flee the same situation we had to flee,
Speaker 3: the same genocide. He's got a visa though, so he
Speaker 3: did end up end up getting a permanent visa. I
Speaker 3: came with him and they have treated me so unfairly
Speaker 3: and said that I'm not a genuine refugee, that I
Speaker 3: don't belong here. After building a home and a life here,
Speaker 3: A lot of people have lost their lives waiting in
Speaker 3: a slimbo, including one of my friends who was also
Speaker 3: trying to study. Yet because we can't, he had to
Speaker 3: go and work. He paid tax yet after waiting in
Speaker 3: this limbo. Hiss take in his life.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. ARENI?
Speaker 2: What is this government going to do with us?
Speaker 3: Like we've been here, We've been begging, We've been campaigning
Speaker 3: for our rights, yet the government hasn't even looked at us.
Speaker 2: They haven't given us a reply.
Speaker 1: And ARENI we know that there have been cases where
Speaker 1: the government has intervened on behalf of people who have
Speaker 1: been living on ridging visas. I'm thinking of Nadees and
Speaker 1: pri and Rgapa, the Bila Willa family. Can you tell
Speaker 1: me your thoughts on that.
Speaker 3: I am glad for those families that did end up
Speaker 3: receiving permanent visas, such as the Billowilla and the bell
Speaker 3: are Att family. Pria actually traveled on the same boat
Speaker 3: with me, and they faced so many struggles, they were
Speaker 3: almost deported from this country and they were finally able
Speaker 3: to give their visas after so much fight. I'm happy
Speaker 3: for them. I'm happy that they get to call this
Speaker 3: country home. I'm happy they're finally safe and stay keep
Speaker 3: er in this country. But in doing so, the government
Speaker 3: has when we looked at one family or couple of families,
Speaker 3: even though I'm happy for them, why aren't we given
Speaker 3: the scene opportunity, why are we still being left behind?
Speaker 1: Well, I, Reni, thank you so much for talking to
Speaker 1: me about all of this today. I really appreciate you speaking.
Speaker 2: With me, no worries. Thank you.
Speaker 1: To find out more about Hareni and other students going
Speaker 1: through this, you can read Denham Sadler's story in a
Speaker 1: Saturday paper. It's called All My Dreams Shattered asylum Seekers
Speaker 1: barred from Australian Universities. It's available now. Also in the
Speaker 1: news today, the Albanezi government has threatened a double dissolution
Speaker 1: election if it's unable to pass its housing bills, which
Speaker 1: have stalled in the Senate. Labour's Helped to Buy a
Speaker 1: scheme was put to a vote in the Senate, but
Speaker 1: the Greens and the Coalition voted for more time to
Speaker 1: consider the bill. The Greens are demanding a phase out
Speaker 1: of capital gains tax discounts, as well as abolishing negative
Speaker 1: gearing for landlords with more than one investment property. And
Speaker 1: thousands of construction workers in Melbourne and Sydney walked off
Speaker 1: the job yesterday to protest the government's decision to force
Speaker 1: the cfmeu's construction arm into administration. The government takeover and
Speaker 1: appointment of administrators to the CFMEU earlier this year followed
Speaker 1: allegations of corruption and criminal infiltration of the union. I'm
Speaker 1: Ruby Jones, seven am.
Speaker 4: We'll be back tomorrow