The petition has been handed over to Mr Russell Broadbent, Federal Member for McMillan (Liberal) and Ms Anna Burke, Federal Member for Chisholm (Labor). By now, they will have handed it over to the Petitions Committee, who will check each page (all 850 of them!) and do a final count of the signatures. When it has been given the thumbs up, they will give it back to Mr Broadbent and he’ll present it in Parliament. After it’s presented, it will be in the hands of The Minister fo

When I arrived into Glenrowan I was to walk another 5kms up the road to my accommodation that night. This worked well, as it would give me a 5km head start the next day. It was stinking hot when I walked past the huge Ned Kelly statue and into a little café with an ice-cream sign out the front. I was greeted by an air-conditioner and felt instant relief I closed my eyes and held out my arms, unaware of the lady who had come out from behind the counter. “Here sweetheart,” she

I’m writing this blog while I sit on a camping chair and hunch over the laptop screen and keyboard. There are bugs crawling all over the screen and in my hair and I think I’ve accidentally squashed a few in between my fingers and the keys as I type. Apart from the light coming from the screen, it’s pitch black. I can’t even see the moon through the trees. There are a million things running through my head. I’m feeling honoured and humbled by the support I’ve received to help

This is an exciting post. I was so lucky to have this opportunity to visit Shepparton and meet all these wonderful people! A big thanks to Helen for helping me write this one. I stayed with Helen and her husband Adrian while I was in Wangaratta. My words will be in italics and Helen's in normal font, so you know who's speaking. Shepparton, a provincial city in the Goulburn Valley of north central Victoria, has welcomed migrants and asylum seekers for many decades. Sam Atukor

I have always loved the line at the end of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, as the befuddled and abused Blanche accepts the hand of a doctor who will eventually lock her away in a horrible 1950s mental hospital, her sister, abusive brother-in-law and her (until recently), fiancé stand by and let her go to her fate. Deliciously ironic, I thought. Can anyone really depend on the kindness of strangers? Joining Jess on this campaign, I was soon to find out the truth

I would have died (literally) if I didn’t have these two forces of good, backing me up on my long journey to Canberra! Now that I’m just past the half way point, I want to take some time and acknowledge the dedication and caring nature of some of the people who have supported me and helped me get this far. These are the people I haven’t mentioned yet, in previous blog posts. Karen and her son Connor (Connor’s taking the photo). Karen has a wonderful way of keeping things simp

A petition is a request for action. I’m petitioning to The House of Representatives, which means that it needs to contain physical signatures. They will not accept online or scanned copies of a petition. Signature collecting in Wodonga, Melbourne and Benalla. I decided to write a petition to take with me on my walk because it is an official way to request Parliament to do something. I didn’t want to get to Canberra on the hopes that I might have an audience. This way, my requ

Quite a lot. The two meetings I had in Kilmore and Wallan helped me to understand what people go through to call Australia home. Janette, a lovely lady at St Patrick’s in Kilmore told me how her and her husband came to settle in Australia to be with their daughter. They weren’t refugees, they just wanted to be together as a family. “Our Visa cost $70,000 for both my husband and myself. The other large charges we faced were removals and insurances.” Despite paying this, the p

From: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2016/feb/03/these-are-the-37-babies-being-sent-to-live-in-the-camp-that-john-built For all those who don't know what to do and feel helpless about the awful news yesterday. One thing, and I'm not promoting myself here, would be to download and print my petition, collect signatures and send it to my school: Killester College, 433 Springvale Rd, Springvale 3171 so that it gets there by the 19th Feb. If I can get 30k signa