5th August, 2014
Western Australian churches have joined with NGOs in writing to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and offering housing and support for asylum seeker families with infants who are being held in offshore detention facilities.
The move – which is supported by locally-based arms of the Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, and Uniting churches as well as the Salvation Army and NGOs including the Coalition for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees and the St Vincent de Paul Society – comes in the wake of reports mothers detained on Christmas Island were self-harming and had attempted suicide. It follows similar moves by groups in South Australia and Queensland.
Rev Ken Williams, acting moderator of the Uniting Church in Western Australia, said the church found it "deeply concerning that nearly 1,000 children remain in detention and yet both major parties remain unmoved in their position on asylum seekers".
"What we are saying here today is that alternatives are available," he said. "Detention is no place for any child and as a first step towards the release of all people in dehumanising detention, we offer to care for families with newborns and infants."
Roger Herft, Anglican Archbishop of Perth, noted that it can take up to two years for the claims of asylum seekers to be processed and that under the Migration Act, detaining children should be a last resort.
"We would like to show compassion to asylum seekers and give babies the best start by accomodating them and their families in Australia while their claims are processed."
The groups say that at least 71 children have been born in Australia to women seeking asylum. Government figures show the number of children in detention was 849 on 30th July, down from more than 1,300 at the time of the last election.
– DAVID ADAMS
