Monday’s rallies were calling on the federal government to stop the deportation of 267 people, including 37 infants, back to detention facilities on Nauru and Manus Island. 

Bea Bleile, a member of Armidale Rural Australians for Refugees, which organised the Armidale gathering, said they were particularly concerned for the children involved and felt sending the refugees back was a violation of their human rights.

Father Ron Perrett, who spoke at Monday’s meeting, said the Catholic church continued to oppose mandatory detention and offshore detention because it did “not respect the dignity of people seeking our help”.

“It is simply wrong to suggest that the Australian government has no choice but to behave as it is doing. The world can and has dealt with refugee crises before,” he said.  Father Perrett highlighted the mass movement of refugees after World War I and the influx of Vietnamese refugees as times when Australia put up its hand to help.

Another speaker, Robin Jones, accused the government of hypocrisy. 

“The prime minister makes much of North Korea behaving illegally in its nuclear arms program when that state has not even signed UN conventions,” he said. 

“Meanwhile, the government daily contravenes both the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the United Nations Convention on Refugees.”

The costs of offshore detention were also highlighted, speakers maintaining it would cost the nation far less to help settle asylym seekers in Australia than pay to keep them in detention overseas.

Ms Bleile said people were urged to write to minister for immigration Peter Dutton and prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, send letters to newspapers and sign petitions in support of asylum seekers.

Armidale Rural Australians for Refugees is planning another major rally on Sunday, March 20 – Palm Sunday – to coincide with another round of national rallies.

The group meets on the third Wednesday of the month at Kent House, Armidale, at 5.15pm.