Rural Australians for Refugees is one of the most active refugee support groups in the country.
“Asylum Seekers in Sweden” by Grant Mitchell is a comprehensive account of the Swedish policy, by someone with first-hand experience. In Sweden, detention is used only when necessary, and most asylum-seekers live in open reception centres or in the general community while their claims are assessed. Next time you're told “there is no alternative”, be armed with the facts: the Swedish system changed from a mess very similar to Australia's into a triumph for common sense and humanity. (Copy in MS Word available from here.)
Refugee Rights Action Network (Perth): “The Refugee Rights Action Network is a network committed to addressing and preventing violations of the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia. We need to prevent the unnecessary suffering of people who have already been traumatised and forced to flee their own countries. We need to educate and inform, to counter the misinformation and deception of the Australian Government on this issue.”
CARAD (Perth), the Coalition Assisting Refugees And Detainees, are an amazing group of volunteers who are helping refugees on Temporary Protection Visas, a special class of visa that the government has introduced that gives none of the usual settlement assistance. Refugees are often released from detention with little more than the clothes on their backs, so if you have any spare furniture, white-goods, blankets, heaters, etc., CARAD can put these things to good use!