Tag Archives: asylum seekers

The Uniting Church in Australia is calling for the immediate release of all children and their families from Australian-run immigration detention centres, following the publication of a shocking report by the Australian Human Rights Commission. Matt Pulford reports. The Australian Human Rights Commission has released a damning report, entitled The Forgotten Children, on the largest survey of children in detention ...

The Uniting Church in Australia has asked to meet with the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton asking for information about the care and support being offered to asylum seekers on Manus Island and asked what can the government do to immediately improve conditions at the centre. Yesterday, national director of UnitingJustice Australia Rev Elenie Poulos said the ...

What would it take for your church to become a place of refuge? Think carefully, because God’s hospitality demands that we welcome the outsider with open hearts and minds. Dianne Jensen reports. Kieran is an ex-prisoner who went looking for a church where he would be welcome. He was a new Christian whose life had taken a radical about-turn in ...

While asylum seeker advocates are celebrating the announcement that some children and their families will be released from detention, they warn that there is still much to do. Dianne Jensen reports. The Uniting Church in Australia has welcomed an announcement by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison that some children in detention will be released into the ...

Key South Australian religious leaders were commended by the Presiding Magistrate this morning after attending Mount Barker Magistrates’ Court to face criminal charges of trespass. The Magistrate dismissed the religious leaders with no conviction and no fine, commenting “you are a credit to your faith, and an inspiration.” Five Uniting Church members, in addition to representatives from the Quaker, Activate and Jewish ...

Ahead of Refugee Week, Sue Hutchinson and Rohan Salmond examine the federal government’s pursuit of a regional solution in asylum seeker policy. The federal government renewed its commitment to offshore processing of asylum seekers in the 2014 Budget with the closure of six onshore detention centres. The government is also in talks with Cambodia to resettle an as yet unknown ...

The Age has reported that Indonesian officials reported that two boats of asylum seekers were intercepted by Australian naval or Customs vessels in recent days and their 20 passengers put together onto one wooden vessel and pushed back towards Indonesian waters. The asylum boat’s crew reportedly told Indonesian navy investigators that two Australian warships put three extra people on board ...

Fr.Denny Guka, the president of the PNG Council of Churches has said they cannot be silent on the issue of the Manus Island Detention Centre. “We are a compassionate people motivated by Christian faith, who are deeply concerned about those who need protection and security. But to allow asylum seekers against their will into our country, and imprisoning people who have ...

There were a number of letters in response to the March edition of Journey. Those which the authors were happy to see published appear below. Letters to the editor should be no longer than 150 words and are published at the discretion of the editor. Please supply your full name as well as the name of your congregation or suburb ...

The simple idea of starting a music class in the Villawood Detention Centre, Sydney, has created a vast network of instrument donors for asylum seekers in detention. Mardi Lumsden explores. Sydney-based volunteer music teacher Philip Feinstein established classes inside the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre around two years ago. He has now expanded the Music for Refugees project to include almost ...