Romero Centre Operational Plan

As at 30th August 2010

For the past five years The Romero Centre has been financially supported by the Mercy Sisters at the rate of $70,000 per year. The Sisters have decided that, in view of their incorporation and the transition to a board to operate the Mercy Ministries, all ministries have to be financially self sufficient. This has been a direction that many church auspiced organisations have been required to undertake due to the changing social and economic climate. Therefore, as at the 30th December 2010, they are no longer providing the $70,000 to Romero. This money paid the wages for the Co-ordinator and Administrative Worker. Further, Romero received a one off donation of $25,000 to employ a Social Worker. This funding is now exhausted and the Social Worker finished work at the end of April 2010. The remaining funding is a $98,000 grant from the Department of Immigration to provide settlement support to the Afghan and Iraqi communities and provides the wages for the two community workers.

Newsletter of Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project

(Under the auspices of the Brigidine Justice Community)

Stop Using Asylum Seekers as Political Footballs

What Australia needs is principled and intelligent decision-making on asylum seekers. We believe this is not happening. Instead, the reasons for the latest policy changes and directions seem to have been inspired by the fact that refugees are unpopular in certain parts of the electorate.

Bill Hay's art work-donated to the Project a few years ago - is a graphic reminder of the way people can be used for political ends, in this case Dr Haneef...

Read the full Newsletter

First we were angry then distressed - NOW ITS TIME FOR ACTION

BELOW IS MATERIAL TO START- more will follow in next few weeks leading up to REFUGEE WEEK in JUNE

Please pass on to friends, fellow workers, anyone you know who cares about human rights....

There is less than six months until the next election.

Uniting Church condemns suspension of Afghan, Sri Lankan visas

President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev. Alistair Macrae has condemned the announcement today by Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Immigration Minister Chris Evans that Australia has suspended the processing of all protection applications from Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers.

Rev. Macrae said, "the Government has broken its promises to uphold the rights of asylum seekers by returning to what is in essence a form of indefinite, mandatory detention.

Amnesty's Q&A

Questions on the suspension policy

What is the new policy?
On 9 April the government announced a blanket ban on processing new asylum claims from Afghan and Sri Lankan nationals. Asylum seekers from these two countries who arrive in Australian territory from that day will still be able to apply for refugee status, but the government will detain these groups for a set period before assessing their claims. Initially claims by Sri Lankans will be suspended for 3 months and claims by Afghan nationals for 6 months.

Australian Human Rights Commission 2009
Immigration detention and offshore processing on Christmas Island

The Australian Human Rights Commission has reported on the July 2009 visit to Australia's immigration detention facilities on Christmas Island. We have included the summary and the recommendations here.

The summary and recommendations have been approved by the Australian Human rights Commission to appear on our site. If you are interested in reading the full report or the response from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship please follow this link: Immigration detention and offshore processing on Christmas Island or download the pdf version

The Indonesian Solution Fact Sheet - by Project Safecom

After almost four weeks of refusing to leave, the 78 Tamil asylum seekers onboard the Australian customs ship, the "Ocean Viking", are now in a detention centre at Tanjung Pinang, Indonesia. Women and children are being housed within the detention centre.

In a fantastic victory, they have been promised that those with UNHCR status (i.e. the 37 who hold UNHCR refugee cards) will be resettled in Australia with 4-6 weeks. Others found to be refugees will be resettled within 12 weeks. Some have been stranded in Indonesia for over four years.
Read the full fact sheet by Project Safecom »

Comment on 'The Human Tide', 60 Minutes: 25 October 2009

I am writing to comment on the 60 Minutes segment, "The Human Tide", aired on 25 October 2009. The plight of 10.5 million refugees and 26 million internally displaced persons worldwide is a notoriously complex and challenging problem.1 While the Australian government has a right to maintain sovereignty of its borders, as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it also has a duty to humanely process the claims of those seeking our protection. The issue of refugees has already bitterly divided Australia during the Howard years and brought international condemnation for abuses of human rights. I argue that 60 Minutes presented a polemic view. Within its broader focus on people smuggling, it used language which once again incites a climate of irrational hostility towards asylum seekers and perpetuates an ignorance of the plight of extremely vulnerable human beings.
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