Victoria steps in to help 100 asylum seekers cut off by Coalition

The Victorian government has stepped in to provide accommodation and basic living costs for more than 100 asylum seekers in the state, after the federal government cut welfare payments in an attempt to encourage them to leave.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced the $600,000 package on Saturday. It includes a housing fund, cover for basic food, medical, clothing and transport expenses, and funding for caseworkers.

Daniel Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) Forced onto Victoria's streets to freeze, languish and starve. That's what Malcolm Turnbull has just done to over 100 people seeking asylum.

Daniel Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) They deserve our respect and our compassion. And if our country can't provide it, then our state will.

Advocacy groups praised the move, saying it would keep asylum seekers, who had been living in Australia while seeking medical treatment, from ending up on the street.

“Malcolm Turnbull might be prepared to stand by and let these families starve while they wait to leave Australia – but we won’t,” Andrews said in a statement. “We’re making sure these families will have a roof over their head, clothes on their back and food on the table.”

Documents leaked last month revealed that the Turnbull government would cut income and accommodation support for about 100 asylum seekers from 28 August and give them three weeks to move out of government-funded housing.

Coalition to cut income support for 100 asylum seekers in Australia Read more

The changes came as the group of people, who were moved from offshore detention to community detention in Australia because they required treatment for medical issues, were moved to a “final departure Bridging E Visa”.

An information document issued with the new visa stated: “If you cannot find work to support yourself in Australia you will need to return to a regional processing country or any country where you have a right of residence.”

It is estimated the changes could affect 410 people who have been moved from offshore detention to Australia, including 37 babies and 90 children.

Support services and churches have been scrambling to raise money to cover urgent living expenses of the asylum seekers.

Anglican church leader says cuts to asylum seeker welfare support 'callous' Read more

Kon Karapanagiotidis, the chief executive of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, which is running a campaign to raise $400,000 in 14 days to cover urgent accommodation costs, welcomed the Andrews government’s announcement.

“It is great to see the state government rallying and standing up to #LetThemStay,” he said in a statement on Twitter on Saturday. “Their contribution to the Victorian refugee sector combined with your donations and offers of housing, food, and employment and the collaboration of (Victorian) refugee sector, is what will make it possible for us to ensure no one goes hungry or homeless from this group over the coming six months.”

Kon Karapanagiotidis (@Kon__K) We are so grateful to see the wonderful leadership of @DanielAndrewsMP Government to help #LetThemStay ❤ pic.twitter.com/JQRpYxz0HU

The GetUp human rights campaign director, Matthew Phillips, said the “cruelty” of the federal government’s decision had been “matched by the kindness of the Australian community.”

“Over the last two weeks, over 60 men and women have gone into an appointment with the immigration department, emerging penniless, without housing and terrified of returning to harm on Manus and Nauru,” Phillips said.

He commended the Victorian government and called on the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, to rule out putting families with children, including 50 babies born in Australia, on the same bridging visa.

Guardian Australia understands the Victorian government’s move is a one-off package to support asylum seekers expected to be ordered to leave, as part of the US settlement deal or through other avenues, within six months.

“These are some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” the Victorian multicultural affairs minister, Robin Scott, said. “We have an obligation to do whatever we can to support them and their families.”

A spokeswoman for the human services minister, Alan Tudge, who last month defended the move to cut support as “consistent with the principle that anybody who arrives by boat to our shores won’t be settled in Australia”, said he would not comment on the Andrews government’s announcement.

Dutton too declined to comment.