THE Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) will continue to lobby for humanitarian treatment of asylum seekers despite a High Court decision to uphold the Federal Government’s right to detain failed asylum seekers indefinitely.
Director Fr John Murphy said the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Migrants and Refugees had constantly argued, not on the legality of indefinite detention, but on what was the humanitarian thing to do.
Fr Murphy was commenting on an August 6 High Court ruling that unsuccessful asylum seekers who could not be removed to another country despite their wish to leave Australia could be held in immigration detention indefinitely.
He said the court’s decision was disappointing.
Centacare executive director in Adelaide, Dale West, who has been an advocate on behalf of asylum seekers in detention and arranged practical care for them in the community, was also disappointed by the court decision.
But he told ABC Radio’s PM program on the day of the decision that the ruling could add to pressure for the Government to find a better solution.
