Dear friend,

As Amnesty supporters, we want asylum seekers to be treated fairly. But are we the people our politicians need to hear from?

Our Rethink Refugees advertising is causing a real stir because it's not just preaching to the converted. Instead, it’s changing hearts and minds in communities that aren't already onside – and it’s doing it across the nation with ads on TV, radio, billboards and in magazines. It’s working, and now we need your help to extend the campaign to new audiences.

Already 1 in 10 Australians have seen our powerful adverts – that's over two million people! Will you chip in $ and help get our message in front of millions more?

When we launched this ad campaign four months ago, it was to try a different strategy: targeting people, not politicians. Since then we’ve heard from countless people like Renee in Queensland, who says she now has “a better understanding of what refugees have gone through”. And these testimonials back up what our research and polling data is saying: our strategy is working.

So today we’re asking for your help to take our ads to new communities, from Austins Ferry in Tasmania to Lawton in Queensland. Click here to donate $, or whatever you can afford, and put the message to Rethink Refugees in more homes and streets around Australia.

In recent weeks, we’ve all heard about acts of desperation from people subjected to indefinite detention – including suicide, self-harm, hunger strikes and protests. We need a sustainable and humane solution, not more brutal detention centres. It’s time for compassion to be restored to our nation’s refugee policy, but we can’t do that as long as fear and misinformation drives this debate.

That’s why an ad campaign that replaces fear with facts is so critical. If we all chip in, we can raise another $195,000 to extend its reach: donate $ now and put your values into action on the airwaves.

Asylum seekers will inevitably be in and out of the headlines – but this campaign isn't about a quick win. It's about profound long-term changes in the attitudes of our own community, especially those whose views have been shaped by myths not facts.

Thank you for taking this opportunity to tell a different story,

Alex Pagliaro
Refugee Campaign Coordinator
Amnesty International Australia