Sporting greats Craig Foster and Sonny Bill Williams have called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to accept a deal to resettle refugees in New Zealand, stressing it's beyond time the deal went ahead.
The former Socceroo and and past All Black and NRL superstar appeared outside Parliament House on Wednesday for an event aimed at raising awareness of the deal.
The Game Over campaign, organised by Amnesty International, aims to get all those currently detained in Papua New Guinea and Nauru to safety.
With transfers of refugees to the United States soon set to end, pressure is increasing on the federal government to consider the resettlement offer from New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Mr Foster said the time had come for the Australian government to secure the freedom of just under 300 people held on Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
Craig Foster and Sonny Bill Williams say it is beyond time the New Zealand refugee deal was accepted. Source: AAP
“Surely one measure of any country is how we treat our most vulnerable - and not just ours in Australia, but in particular those who are fleeing persecution elsewhere," Mr Foster told reporters. "These people are now in their eighth year without freedom.
“This is not about politics … these people have been harmed. These people have been wrong by our country and in our name. All of us must come together and say enough is enough.”
Opposition and crossbench MPs also attended the event including, independent Zali Steggall, Labor’s Linda Burney, Anne Aly and Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
More than 65,000 people have signed a petition for the #GameOver campaign advocating to get refugees stuck offshore to safety.
The offer from New Zealand to resettle 150 refugees a year has been on the table for the Australian government since 2013.
But the deal has long faced resistance over concerns it would undermine the federal government’s tough approach to border control and act as a possible incentive to people smugglers.
Mr Williams said people must recognise the “doom and gloom” suffered by refugees experienced in detention.
“Our brother Scotty just needs to sign that paper and whoever it is just needs to get it done,” he said.
He said people undergoing isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic had been given a small insight into this distress.
“These are humans and I just feel like we need to have that human outlook. We just need to give them a fair go. Scotty just give them a fair go.”
Mr Foster visited men being detained in Papua New Guinea in late 2019.
"I saw people who were broken. I saw people with deep psychological trauma … these are the awful, horrible, horrific stories of what’s come out of these last eight years and it has to stop," he said.
Amnesty's Graham Thom said the Game Over campaign was seeking to bring attention to the dire need for the Australian government to accept New Zealand’s offer.
Home Affairs officials confirmed to Senate estimates hearings last week that resettlements processed by the Trump administration were set to end by March or April 2021.
The 2016 deal was initially reached by former president Barack Obama and then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull for the transfer of up to 1250 people.
There are about 290 people still held on Manus Island and Nauru.
Home Affairs boss Michael Pezzullo recently told a Senate committee the New Zealand offer remained under “active consideration”.
However, the Australian government says it is focused on finalising the US deal.
