Tag: Social Justice

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News & Announcements

Love makes a way holds national day of action

Christian leaders across Australia are right now holding nationwide sit-ins inside the electoral offices of 7 Government politicians in 6 cities. In Perth, a sit-in prayer vigil is currently underway at the office of Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop. Included in the sit-in is two leaders from the Uniting Church in WA, Richard Telfer, First Third specialist, and Rev Bev Fabb chair of the Commission for Education for Discipleship and Leadership (CEDAL).

Today’s peaceful action of more than 50 church-goers is in response to reports that the Government is planning to send 25 babies — who were born on Australian soil to families seeking safety — to the Nauru detention centre. These Christian leaders come from the full breadth of the Australian church (including Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Anglican and others).

The Christian leaders are committed to remaining in the MPs’ offices until the Government publicly promises that no children will be detained offshore, and that all asylum-seeker children will be released into the Australian community with their families. Sit-ins are occurring in the Sydney office of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, as well as 6 other Government representatives in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane.

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Update: 5 Christian leaders arrested at MP Kevin Andrew’s office in Doncaster after prayer sit-in

Advocates for children suffering in detention have been arrested after sitting in the office of MP Kevin Andrews to request the release of all children and families from immigration detention.

Five church leaders have been arrested after a prayer sit-in in at Cabinet Minister for Social Services Kevin Andrews’ electorate office. The group were requesting a timetabled commitment for the release of all children and families from immigration detention centres.  They asked that Kevin Andrews become a public champion for the immediate release of children and families. Despite an invitation to respond to their message, Kevin chose to remain silent and decided to arrest the church leaders and close his office early today at 3pm.

Those arrested included local clergy and Christians from different denominations. One of those arrested, former disability nurse Leonnie Wickenden had this to say about her participation in today’s action: “I’m here today because the evidence of over 15 years of bipartisan asylum seeker policies, show us that vulnerable children continue to be put at immeasurable and unacceptable risk of life-long developmental disruption. Having over 20 years of service to people with disability, my faith determines that we owe children immediate freedom from detention so they can thrive in all aspects of their development, away from the bars of hopelessness and despair.”

The group made this request of Kevin Andrews because he is both a Cabinet member and a vocal public advocate for children’s welfare.

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Christian leaders hold prayer sit-in inside Kevin Andrews’ Doncaster office

Advocates for children suffering in immigration detention intend to stay until they have a timetabled commitment from the Government for all children and families to be released.

5 Christian leaders are right now holding a prayer sit-in inside current Minister for Social Services and former Minister for Immigration Kevin Andrew’s Melbourne electoral office calling on the Federal Government for the immediate release of all children and families from immigration detention centres.

The group, comprised of church leaders from Pentecostal, Church of Christ and Uniting Church backgrounds entered Kevin Andrew’s office at 11am and say they intend to remain there until they get a timetabled commitment for the release of all children and their families.

The group is making this request of Kevin because he is both a Cabinet member and a vocal public advocate for children’s welfare. In his recent address for National Child Protection Week, Kevin said that “child protection is a unifying issue in a place where we are so often divided. It’s one of those things that should be bigger than the to-and-fro of partisan politics.”

Speaking of the governmental “duty to protect,” he stated, “At the end of the day, the best interests of the child must always be pre-eminent and paramount. There should never be ambiguity on this question.”

However Kevin Andrews has been silent regarding the harmful effects of the detention of asylum seeker children.

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Uniting Church members become modern-day abolitionists

Uniting Church members are joining forces with Christians across Australia to speak up against human trafficking and slavery on Abolitionist Sunday 23 November.

UnitingWorld is joining forces with World Vision for Abolitionist Sunday, to raise awareness of the issue of human trafficking and slavery and equip  Christians to speak up on the issue. World Vision  Australia’s chief executive, Tim Costello, says that Christians are often unaware of the human suffering that may be behind the products and services they buy.

“Human trafficking is woven into the lives we lead – whether we know it or not,” said Tim.

“Our own actions may even contribute to this demand because of the goods we consume.”

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Uniting Church condemns escalating abuse of asylum seekers

The Uniting Church in Australia has today strongly condemned the continuing and systematic abuse of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia by boat and those being held indefinitely in unsuitable offshore detention centres.

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev Prof Andrew Dutney said that the Government’s inhumane treatment of 157 Tamil asylum seekers had plumbed new depths of cruelty.

“The revelations about what happened to the Tamil asylum seekers while they were detained on a Customs vessel are truly shocking,” said Andrew.

“Capturing people on the high seas, detaining them in harsh conditions and then threatening to set them to sea without experienced navigators or sailors, demonstrates a level of hysteria on the part of the Government that is extremely disturbing.

“In its single-minded efforts to ‘stop the boats’, this Government has lost its moral compass. What started badly enough as using asylum seekers for political point-scoring has degenerated into a callous disregard for the value of human life.”

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