News & Stories

This treatment of people seeking asylum is unacceptable

Dear friends,On Migrant and Refugee Sunday we awoke to the announcement that around 100 people seeking asylum, brought to Australia for medical reasons, were to have their income support stopped and their government supported accommodation vacated in 3 weeks. This is the first group and it is likely…

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Enough is enough

The people on Manus Island who sought protection in Australia must in decency be brought to Australia. Enough is enough. The protests at the cutting of services on Manus Island, the leaked conversation between the Australian Prime Minister and the United States President and most recently the death…

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Tragedy on Manus highlights need to #BringThemHere

The tragic death of a 31-year old man in immigration detention on Manus Island should finally force the Federal Government’s hand to #BringThemHere, says the Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum (CAPSA). “There have been so many horrifying stories and tragic events within Manus Island and Nauru, and…

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Manus shooting calls us to do better

29th May 2017Fr Andy Hamilton SJIn recent weeks we have been shown the suffering inflicted on people who seek protection in Australia. We should hold them in our hearts.  The horror of the attack by PNG soldiers on refugees on Manus Island on Good Friday and the shameful…

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Palm Sunday presents an opportunity for us to welcome refugees

21 March 2017By Tim McKennaPope Francis regularly calls on us to welcome people seeking our protection. The Australian bishops’ 2015 statement called for justice for asylum seekers, in particular condemning their prolonged detention in Australia and offshore. Last year the bishops re-iterated this condemnation stating ‘It is time…

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Turning spikes of torment into fronds of welcome

21 March 2017By Andy Hamilton SJDate palm branches are double edged. The fronds are soft and sift the air as they are waved in celebration. They are waved as a symbol of victory for a visiting king. Towards the junction with the trunk, though, the unfurled fronds are…

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Open statement calling for immediate action on offshore detention

FEBRUARY 3, 2017We, as a coalition of organisations and community groups from around Australia, are writing to express our concern regarding the humanitarian crisis that Australia has created.Successive Australian governments have managed and funded offshore detention camps on Manus Island and Nauru. The people detained there are clearly…

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Our Christmas message of hope

20 December 2016 By Andrew Hamilton SJ   Each Christmas morning I celebrate Mass at Melbourne’s Ozanam House with homeless men, and later with people imprisoned at the Immigration Detention Centre.  Each mass makes me ask why they would want to celebrate Christmas. And each highlights for me…

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