THE Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ACBC) called on the Australian Government to reassess procedures for dealing with asylum seekers in detention centres as the crisis over their treatment escalated last week.
ACBC president Archbishop Francis Carroll of Canberra and Goulburn urged the Government to ‘respect the human dignity and rights of the asylum seekers, hear their cries for help and heed the disquiet of the community’.
Last Monday night Archbishop George Pell of Sydney reinforced the ACBC call on ABC TV’s 7.30 Report.
‘I understand the Government is between a rock and a hard place,’ he said. ‘I have sympathy with the (Immigration) Minister (Philip Ruddock) and the PM’, (but) innocent people are suffering.’
The Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) said on January 25 that the resignation of the chairman of the Council for Multicultural Australia, Neville Roach, highlighted dissatisfaction with treatment of asylum seekers in detention.
The St Vincent de Paul Society and Centacare are among 10 leading welfare agencies who have urged Mr Ruddock to release Woomera detention centre inmates into their care to avoid possible deaths in the ongoing protests.
