Sydney, Australia
A campaign to end indefinite detention in Australia for dozens of men, some of whom have been locked up for as long as nine years, has been launched by the nation’s religious leaders in the wake of the Novak Djokovic case.
More than 30 faith leaders have urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese to work together to release asylum seekers from detention following international publicity surrounding Djokovic’s deportation ahead of the Australian Open.
Rev Tim Costello speaks at the #SetThemFree launch at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne. PICTURE: Supplied.
The latest campaign was launched on 28th January at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne with the release of a short film, #SetThemFree, from director Richard Keddie.
Baptist minister, Rev Tim Costello, says Australia’s actions have stained its international reputation of being a nation which prided itself on the “fair go” after Djokovic’s detention in Melbourne’s Park Hotel highlighted the plight of dozens of long-term detainees on the world stage.
“Men like ‘Mehdi’ from Iran – they won’t take him back. He’s got nowhere to go,” Costello said, adding the Australian Government “absolutely” knows this.
“New Zealand would take them and the US would, but [Australia] needs to send a message that anyone who gets on a boat will suffer unusual cruelty and needs to be locked up.”
He said in theory some men could be sent back to their homelands, but they say they will be killed.
“Jesus said, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted.’ They are refugees because they have been persecuted and suffer unusual threats – interminable threats – if they go back. Some, like Mehdi can’t go back because Iran and others will not take them back.”
About 200 asylum seekers – some bound for the United States – already are living in the community, but others have been held in detention for nine years, with no end in sight.
Costello says Australia is in contravention of international laws and the UN convention on refugees, and the simple solution is for Australia to abide by those conventions and release them. Australia should also “do what other Western nations do: abide by the convention against torture, cruelty, inhuman and degrading treatment”, he said.
He admonished past and current Australian governments and politicians for “chest-beating” to show how tough they are, but also said he was shocked at the general indifference of the Australian people.
“It shocks me that otherwise very reasonable, generous, conscience-driven Australians look away from what we have done to refugees, or shrug their shoulders.”
Costello said since August, 2001, when former Prime Minister John Howard turned back the MV Tampa carrying rescued refugees, Australian attitudes had changed and it had become “OK” to treat refugees “as if they were not human”.
These attitudes were constantly reinforced by television shows such as Border Force which often portrays officers chasing down so-called illegal immigrants, he said.
Elizabeth Stone, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia, last week told Sight that around 75 men remain in immigration detention in hotels in Darwin, Brisbane and Melbourne, with little information from authorities about their future.
“There are a lot of people in the sector trying to find that out. The government has said these people in detention will never get permanent settlement in Australia,” Stone said.
Costello said there is currently no legislated end to indefinite detention.
He said the faith group was asking the government for “a very small, limited” ask.
“We are not asking for change to border rules or security, we are just saying 60 to 70 people are still locked up for no reason. In fact, many others have been let out under the exact same circumstances into the community.”
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The religious leaders involved in this latest campaign represent a wide cross section of faiths.
Jasbir Singh, chair of the Sikh Interfaith Council of Victoria, said in a statement that the refugees and asylum seekers had sought Australia’s care but instead had lost years of their lives in detention.
“There is now a great opportunity for our political leaders to bring closure to the detainees and to the Australian community,” Singh said.
Sister Brigid Arthur, coordinator of the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project, said: “The Prime Minister and Opposition leader have the power to set them free. It is a question of whether they will open their hearts and act, not a question of what to do.”
The film #SetThemFree can be viewed on Twitter at @SetThemFree_AU.
Tim Costello is a member of the Sight Advisory Board.
