boat people Archives - JourneyOnline

Asylum seeker policy shambles

QLD Synod Webmaster — Thu, 08 May 2014 05:36:59 +0000

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 ...

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Seeking refuge in music

QLD Synod Webmaster — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 23:00:50 +0000

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 ...

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We can do better, Tony

QLD Synod Webmaster — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 23:00:00 +0000

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 ...

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Freddie Steen: Asylum limbo “hell on earth”

QLD Synod Webmaster — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 01:37:01 +0000

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 ...

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Uniting Church takes drastic action in response to child detention

QLD Synod Webmaster — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 06:03:37 +0000

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 ...

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Faith grows through hospitality

QLD Synod Webmaster — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 05:30:45 +0000

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 ...

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