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Tag Archives: boat people

Asylum seeker policy shambles

"A Great nation is a compassionate nation" Martin Luther King

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 ...

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Seeking refuge in music

Philip Feinstein with guitars bound for the Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney.

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 ...

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We can do better, Tony

Dear Prime Minister, I recently saw the film Philomena and began to wonder whether we, in future years, will be making atonement for our current treatment of refugees. Will people be shocked when they find out what really went on? Will their hearts ache when they find out that these were desperate human beings and not potentially dangerous “illegals”? The ...

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Freddie Steen: Asylum limbo “hell on earth”

Member of the Order of Australia, Freddie Steen is a passionate refugee advocate.

Like a voice crying in the wilderness, Frederika Steen AM won’t be silent about Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Dianne Jensen reports. “I have looked into their faces, I know their names and I have heard their stories of suffering. What else could I do but speak out?” Refugee advocate Frederika (Freddie) Steen doesn’t mince her words when ...

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Uniting Church takes drastic action in response to child detention

Elenie Poulos presents the Uniting Church offer of sanctuary for unaccompanied minors currently held on Christmas Island.

The Uniting Church has received information that children without parents being detained on Christmas Island have been scheduled for imminent deportation to offshore facilities on Nauru. In response, the Uniting Church in Australia has taken the bold step of writing to the Australian Government to offer sanctuary for all children without parents currently held on Christmas Island. “We are well placed ...

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Faith grows through hospitality

2014 is the year of growing faith

By opening her home to asylum seekers, Margaret Landbeck has stretched and grown her faith. Hospitality has always been a largely subconscious expression of my faith—it is my instinct to offer hospitality when and where I can. As the writer of Hebrews says, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality ...

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