“Over the past week, migration has once again dominated Australia’s political conversation.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson continues to peddle the myth that migration is undermining Australia. These kinds of statements may make headlines, but they bear no resemblance to the reality I see every day.

As a caseworker supporting women seeking asylum who have experienced sexual and gender-based violence, I don’t see people exploiting Australia. I see women trying bravely to rebuild their lives despite enormous barriers that most Australians never have to imagine.

I have also spent many years as a sports journalist. Sport has always been a language that crosses borders, and I believe it can teach us a lot about who we are as a community.

Throughout the World Cup, I saw how Australians celebrated migrants and refugees competing on the world stage. Athletes like Nestory Irankunda or Mohamed Touré, who arrived as refugees, are also Australian heroes. They are evidence that migration isn’t the exception to the Australian story, it’s part of it. And when they play, they carry the hopes and dreams of millions along with them.

For a few weeks, these are our stories.

We proudly claim migrants as our own when they’re winning. But once the final whistle blows, and we’re back on Australian soil, migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum are once again targeted, scapegoated, and our rights called into question.

Politicians paint migrants as people receiving generous support from the government, but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. For the women we support, there is no safety net.

On a temporary visa, women can face years of uncertainty, often with no access to Medicare, income support, and restrictions on their right to work. Women are forced to face homelessness, destitution and violence here in Australia, after already surviving war and persecution in their home country.

Every day, the women we serve are forced to make impossible choices: remain with a violent partner or face homelessness with their children. Escape abuse or lose the only financial security they have.

At a given point, up to 50% of the women we serve through our Finding Safety Project in Western Sydney are facing an imminent risk of homelessness. This is the direct result of their exclusion from basic services, and policies that leave them with nowhere safe to turn when violence occurs.

And yet, they carry on.

They come to our Women’s Space and build community together. They cook meals, practise English, study, retrain and support one another through extraordinary hardship. Their children play together while we spend hours calling shelters, refuges or hotels to find somewhere safe for them to sleep that night.

The women we serve are not looking for charity. They want the opportunity to work, to contribute, and to belong. They want some justice, a safe future for their children, and to live free from violence. These are basic standards anybody in Australia should expect, regardless of visa status. These are values we all believe in.

That’s why I keep coming back to sport.

We don’t celebrate athletes simply because they win. We celebrate what they represent: resilience, determination, and the feeling we share when we believe we’re part of something bigger.

The women who join us at the Women’s Space show those same qualities every day.

They fight to build safe lives for themselves and their children despite barriers that no one should have to overcome. They shouldn’t have to prove their worth before they deserve safety.

As Homelessness Week approaches, we have a choice. We can continue to accept policies that force women to choose between violence and homelessness, or we can remove the barriers that stop them from becoming our next Australian heroes.

The women I work alongside are already fighting for that future.

It’s time Australia fought for them too.”

About the Finding Safety Project

JRS Australia’s award-winning Finding Safety Project supports women to create lasting change, and find safety, peace and freedom from violence – for themselves, and their children.

Operating from our Women’s Space in Western Sydney, we connect women who have experienced violence with specialist casework, community programs, housing support, and legal services.

Learn more about the Finding Safety Project here.