More than 40 people attended the Right Track workshop run by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre which was designed to give participants the skills to engage family, friends and other community members in conversations about the plight asylum seekers.

The centre’s director of advocacy and campaigns Jana Favero said the half-day workshop was born out of a desire to change people’s attitudes towards people seeking asylum and equipping people to advocate more effectively so that eventually policies would change.

“We’re really trying to build a movement and a groundswell of people,” Ms Favero said.

Ms Favero said conversations, rather than ramming facts and figures down people’s throats, was changing people’s minds.

She said the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre was a service delivery organisation helping 3000 people seeking asylum.

“Our mandate has always been to close our doors. We only exist to offer services where there are gaps in government policy,” Ms Favero said.

“We’ve just recently turned 16 and we’re having to offer more services because the gap’s getting bigger.

“Unless we do something to change policy, we’re going to exist forever and have to keep growing.”

She said politicians had told them that they would not change their policies until the attitude of voters also changed.