About the centre Who we are
Who we are
Who we are
Welcome to the Refugee Claimants Support Centre in Brisbane, Australia.
Established in 1995 with a grant from the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, the Refugee Claimants Support Centre provides critical support to refugee claimants (or,asylum seekers) in the often extended period before their applications for protection are finally determined by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.
The Centre receives no ongoing funding from either Federal or State Governments. However, it has and does receive valuable and substantial, financial and non-financial support from other sources, notably: the Sisters of Mercy, Brisbane City Council, the Queensland Gaming Machine Benefit Fund, the West End community, the Friends of Edmund, Wesley City Mission, Multicultural Affairs Queensland, our very much valued volunteers, and some individual community members, not to mention the refugee claimants themselves.
The Centre works collaboratively with, and receives support from other community organisations who work with refugees and refugee claimants. These agencies are too numerous to list, but they include: Refugee and Immigration Legal Service (RAILS), Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma (QPASTT), Australian Red Cross (Qld), Amnesty International, Lifeline, Centre for Multicultural Pastoral Care, Anglican Refugee and Migrant Ministry, St Vincent de Paul.
"...a refugee claimant means somebody who has to suffer many pressures and many problems because of their status, we have nothing really and we can rest only at the moment when the government says 'Here is your visa'..."