13th August, 2013
Anglican Church agency MU Australia has issued a statement "deploring the inhumane manner in which asylum seekers are being treated" and has called on the Federal Government to ensure asylum seekers are housed in "high standard" accommodation.
The statement, signed by the MU Australia’s president Rev Canon LIbbie Crossman and issued on behalf of the organisations 8,000 members, also calls on the government to ensure asylum seekers are treated in a "generally humanitarian and Christian manner".
"It is our understanding that the conditions at the PNG (Manus Island) Detention Centre are simply not up to what would be regarded as acceptable standards for single adult men, let alone for women and children," it said.
In the statement, Rev Canon Cross stressed the apolitical nature of the organisation but said that whatever the politics of the asylum seeker issue, "as a nation we should be capable of dealing with the asylum seekers in a mucn more humanitarian manner".
MU Australia is a mission agency of the Anglican Church and part of a worldwide Mothers’ Union which has links to 83 countries.
– DAVID ADAMS