Naw Naw* becomes shaky when she talks about the deadly violence being unleashed in her home of Myanmar.
Activists estimate more than 700 people — some of them children as young as five years old — have been killed since the military seized power in a coup on February 1, deposing de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"Sometimes they kill at night … every age, they kill," Naw Naw told the ABC.
For now, Naw Naw is safe in Melbourne, studying a diploma of early childhood.
But her time in Australia could be about to run out — her visa is due to expire next month.
As a member of the Kachin ethnic community who has been outspoken about the atrocities back home, she fears what would happen if she were forced to return.
"I would be arrested too if I must return now," she said.
She fears if she was detained, she wouldn't come out alive.
"Everyone here is in fear of returning at the moment. I really fear for every student."
Mary Aung, also an international student, echoed those fears at a public hearing on the situation in Myanmar held by the joint standing committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade on Tuesday.
"There's a great danger for me if I go back if I go back to Myanmar — I could be arrested on my arrival," she said.
There are more than 3,500 temporary visa holders from Myanmar in Australia, about half of them students.
Last month, The Australian reported the government was planning to grant visa extensions on humanitarian grounds to Myanmar citizens in Australia on temporary visas.
The report said the Home Affairs and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade were working on a policy to be announced in "not weeks, but days" – but no announcement has yet been made.
The latest government figures show that in March, 45 Myanmar citizens applied to the Australian government for protection visas. Thirteen applied in February.
Some in the Myanmar community have called on the Australian government to follow in the steps of Bob Hawke, who offered asylum to Chinese students in Australia after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
That's something Naw Naw would like to see too.
"I really want to request the Australian government to take strong and quick action [on] this," she said.
Australia criticised over 'constipated' response
Members of the Myanmar community criticised Australia's "slow and ineffective" response to the coup.
Labor MP Julian Hill said they "deserve better".
"Here we are in mid-April, and the best you've got is something might happen and it's not my problem," he said.
"It sounds somewhat constipated, shall I say, so I do hope some of these actions can be brought to bear soon so things are unblocked."
Ridwaan Jadwat, from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, disagreed with that assessment.
"The government will look at this with a great deal of compassion and make a sensible decision," he said.
He said visa extensions are being considered, and when it comes to sanctions, "nothing is off the table", he added.
Hugh Jeffrey from Defence warned that sanctioning the military is not a "silver bullet".
"The Tatmadaw is an institution that has been remarkably impervious to international influence," he said.
"We also need to provide options that incentivise the return to liberal democratic governance."
Complicating Australia's response is the ongoing detention of Professor Sean Turnell, a close aide to Aung San Suu Kyi.
Defence officials said they pushed for his release in a phone call between vice-chief of the Australian Defence Force David Johnston and Myanmar's vice-senior general Soe Win — a call that was spun for propaganda purposes by the Tatmadaw.
DFAT's Mr Jadwat said the Australian government does not recognise the military regime as the Myanmar government, but it was necessary to keep lines of communication open.
Labor joins call for visa extensions
The federal opposition is pressing the government to offer visa extensions to thousands of Myanmar citizens in Australia.
The call comes after 82 people were slaughtered on Friday in the town of Bago, near Yangon.
Shadow Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Keneally have written to the government, urging them to "demonstrate Australia's strong opposition to these direct attacks".
"These events are … causing extreme distress for members of Myanmar's diaspora community in Australia," they wrote.
"We are therefore urging the government to enable Myanmar nationals on temporary visas in Australia to extend their stay.
The United States has already announced it will provide temporary protection to Myanmar citizens in the country.
Naw Naw pointed out Australia has offered extended visa options to Hong Kong passport holders, in the wake of 2019 protests and a sweeping National Security Law in the territory.
She added the violence from the Myanmar military, the Tatmadaw, was on a different level to the crackdown in Hong Kong.
"They didn't do horrible things like Myanmar," she said.
"Every day [we are] losing innocent people."
*Name has been changed to protect identity.
