DISAPPOINTMENT resounds among members of the recently formed Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) Queanbeyan branch.
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They are not happy with the Federal Opposition's revised policy on refugee boat turn backs.
"It's not what we hoped for or were working towards," said the group's secretary Di Dilley.
"One of the reasons we formed was to encourage the community [to] do more to pressure our local politicians.
"We still clearly see the need to influence public policy towards compassionate, timely and humane treatment of refugees and asylum seekers and Labor has not gone down that track."
Ms Dilley said the branch committee rejected the Australian Labor Party's new position that the option to return boats when safe to do so is based on compassion aimed at preventing drownings at sea or that it will make asylum seekers safer.
She agreed with suggestions there was an element of dressed-up xenophobia in the notion that stopping new arrivals made some Australians feel more comfortable and agreed with the Refugee Council of Australia's assessment that the policy change pandered to the politics of fear mongering.
RAR does welcome Labor's plan to increase Australia's refugee intake but wants clarification on the timeframe to reach 27,000 a year by 2025.
Ms Dilley said their perception was that "it's easy to promise the world if you're going to schedule it for 10 years later.
"And the other main thing we want to see is an end to offshore processing."
RAR conducted a recent letter writing campaign to Labor MPs before the ALP National Conference last weekend.
They particularly targeted those with relevant shadow portfolios including Immigration and Border Protection, Attorney General, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Justice.
As part of World Refugee Week RAR recently promoted themes including Restoring Hope and "With courage let us all combine", the latter an extract from verse two of the national anthem.
The Queanbeyan branch will develop promotional material for an information booth to bring together like-minded people at their next community event at the River Festival in October.