ERC Media: Climate Change: Patrick Dodson to lead important Australian delegation to Kiribati

MEDIA RELEASE Sydney, Friday, 27th Aug 2010

“This visit will reinforce our capacity to work side by side with the low-lying island nations in effectively communicating their situation at the UN Climate Change summit in Cancun, Mexico in December this year.”

ERC Director, Phil Glendenning

The Edmund Rice Centre in conjunction with the Pacific Calling Partnership next week will be taking a delegation of Australian community leaders to Kiribati.

The delegation will be led by one of the most senior Indigenous leaders in Australia, Patrick Dodson and ERC director Phil Glendenning, and will include representatives from Indigenous communities, the arts, media and education.

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Just Comment Vol 13 No 5 -- Climate change - still a great moral challenge

Climate change is happening, is primarily caused by human activity and is complex.

Studies of various scenarios of temperature rise predict that Australia will experience increasing difficulties with its river systems, with water availability for agriculture, industry, residential purposes and broader environmental needs.

There will be coastal flooding due to sea level rise, increasing extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones, heat waves, and extreme precipitation. Infrastructure and public health will suffer. For example:

• a 2-3° rise will mean an expansion of the dengue transmission zone as far  as Brisbane and the malaria zones will increase;
• temperature related mortality for those 65 and over will increase by 89-123%, to 200% with a 3-4° rise.

Although Australia has a particularly vulnerable eco-system, it can draw on significant resources to adapt to the changes; resources that it has accrued through GHG pollution.

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Just Comment Vol 13 No 4: Reconciliation - what priority?

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2010 was Reconciliation: Let’s See It Through! This theme reminds us that, ten years after the historic Reconciliation bridge walks, we have a journey to complete. If we are to “see it through”, Reconciliation must be a part of our lives every day, not simply during one week of the year.

This edition of Just Comment First peoples, first priority: what priority? reproduces an interview given by ERC's Indigenous Education Officer, Cassandra Gibbs, for the May 2010 issue of Just in Time the bulletin of the Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes - NSW.

Cassandra asks, as a society, what priority are we placing on indigenous equity and assures us that our small daily actions are just as important as “big picture” ideas.

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ERC Media: New asylum policy ensures election race for the bottom

Media Release - Tues 6th July 2010

Reconciliation Week 2010: Interview with ERC's Cassandra Gibbs

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2010 - 27th May to 3rd June - is Reconciliation: Let’s See It Through!

This theme reminds us that, ten years after the historic Reconciliation bridge walks, we have a journey to complete. If we are to “see it through”, Reconciliation must be a part of our lives every day, not simply during one week of the year.

ERC's Indigenous Education Officer, Cassandra Gibbs, is a member of the Social Justice Committee of the Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes - NSW. In an  interview in the May 2010 issue of CLRI-NSW's bulletin Just in Time, Cassandra assures us that our small daily actions are just as important as “big picture” ideas.

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ERC Media: Coalition asylum policy condemned

This policy is fundamentally flawed. It takes dangerous risks with vulnerable lives

ERC's Phil Glendenning

Researchers at the Edmund Rice Centre this evening condemned the asylum seeker policy announced today by the Coalition, renouncing it as a return to the worst strategies of the past, with potential dire consequences.

“This policy is fundamentally flawed,” said Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning. “It takes dangerous risks with vulnerable lives.”

“To return to such a policy with such little regard for human life - this time with full knowledge of the implications – would mark a new low-point in Australian national life," he stated.

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ERC Media: "Sri Lanka not safe for deported asylum seekers"

On the first anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka's civil war, Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning, who recently returned from Sri Lanka, said tonight that the country is not safe for deported asylum seekers.

“The position taken by Minister Evans yesterday - in urging caution about returning asylum seekers connected to the Tamil Tigers - is a very sound and welcome development," Mr Glendenning said.

"However, based on our experience, similar reservations need to be extended to all those who left Sri Lanka by unauthorised means,” he affirmed.

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ERC Media: "Withdraw prime-time attack on asylum seekers"

The Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) has condemned the Federal Liberal Party’s television ad campaign broadcast in Western Australia and Queensland on Sunday night – calling for an immediate withdrawal of the campaign.

"This ad campaign is a prime-time attack on asylum-seekers, and can only be regarded as another low in Australian politics,” said ERC Director, Phil Glendenning.

“Australia and Australians have moved on from being frightened by images of extensive arrows coming from our north to represent invading hordes,” Mr Glendenning said.

Against the background of a small asylum-seeker boat in open ocean, the ads show a map upon which five large red arrows progressively stream towards Australia from the north-west – with the arrows bearing the names: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.

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Just Comment Vol 13 No 3: Haiti. Fed on dependency, starved of independence

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ERC Media: Asylum claims -- alarm at announced suspension of processing

At all costs we must avoid a reintroduction by stealth of policies which deport people back into danger – policies that Australia rightly abandoned.

 ERC's Dr John Sweeney

The Edmund Rice Centre today made clear its grave concern at the Australian Government's announcement of suspensions in processing of some asylum seeker claims - three months for Sri Lankan claimants and six months for Afghani claimants.

"For any asylum seeker whose identity, health and security checks have been completed, suspension of processing must be accompanied by release from detention." said ERC spokesperson Dr. John Sweeney.

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Just Comment Vol 13 No 2: Prisoners' rights are human rights

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Just Comment Vol 12 No 5: Debunking Asylum Myths in 2010

At the height of political dog-whistling in 2002 the Edmund Rice Centre led an important effort to bring clarity to the national debate through the publication of the accessible fact-sheet: Debunking the Myths on Asylum Seekers

It now appears to be necessary to revisit the topic to once again bring a factual spotlight to the debate for this coming election year!

Myth 1 : Australia is being inundated by people in boats.

Fact: This is false. 1 800 boat people have sought asylum in Australia in 2009. This number is tiny when compared to other countries. Even given an increase in 2009, the annual average number of boat arrivals to Australia is tiny in comparison to the 50,000 people that over-stay their visas each year, or when taking into account that on average 95% of asylum seekers actually arrive in Australia by plane.

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ERC Media: People Before Politics: Asylum Bids Provoked by Horrendous Violence

“Asylum seekers do not come to Australia because they think that the government has ´softened on border protection´. Asylum seekers come to Australia because of horrendous violence and conflict in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.¨

A Well-Founded Fear -- Nationally televised documentary on Asylum Seekers

www.erc.org.au/deport/petition

www.erc.org.au/donate

Human Rights Acts – Common Misconceptions

A Human Rights Charter / Act is needed to provide an Australian framework by which our society can more transparently and consistently protect and promote the human rights of all Australian society. A Human Rights Act is not a Bill of Rights and therefore not part of our Constitution. The following is a list of common misconceptions about Human Rights Acts.

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ERC Media: Asylum Seeker Documentary Provokes Overwhelming Response

Australians urgently need to encourage the Government to continue with constructive immigration reforms.

Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning today called for Australians to make known to the Federal Government, their support for the process of reform of the Howard Government's immigration regime and it's inhuman treatment of asylum seekers.

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Add your name & details to ERC's online petition to the Minister for Immigration

ERC Submission: Violence against Women and Children

The Federal government is developing a National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Children. Lilla: International Women's Network, initiated by the Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) has made a submission to inform the development of this National Plan.

In this submission, Lilla argues that grass-roots women's initiatives are the fundamental building blocks of any effective, sustainable and long-term effort to eliminate violence against women. Lilla urges the National Council overseeing the developement of this new National Plan to adopt as a key over-arching strategy: the empowerment of women from victims of violence to agents of social change.

The full submission can be read here.

ERC Submission: Immigration Detention

The Edmund Rice Centre has made a submission to the Federal Parliament's Inquiry into Immigration Detention. The Inquiry which was called in June by Senator Evans, the Minster for Immigration is being conducted by Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Migration.

ERC submits that:
• Australian reception of asylum seekers should embrace a continuum of measures ordinarily based on well-supported accommodation with communities which may, in extreme circumstances, include detention.
• Any decisions concerning which measure to apply in particular cases should only be applied after proper judicial review according to the principles of proportionality and necessity consonant with Human Rights Law.
• Wide community involvement and engagement with Government is the best way to fulfil Australia's commitments under the Convention.

The full submission can be read here
 

ERC Media: Urgent Need to Protect Those Deported To Danger

An Edmund Rice Centre call in the wake of tragic death in China

The tragic death of the man known as Mr Zhang who was forcibly returned to China by Australian immigration is not an isolated case.

Edmund Rice Centre Director, Phil Glendenning, said today that the latest tragedy reveals once more the serious errors in Australia’s treatment of people seeking protection.

Recently returned from a research visit to five countries monitoring rejected asylum seeker safety, Mr Glendenning said, “Australia has deported many rejected asylum seekers to situations where they are being persecuted and their lives are at risk. 

Just Comment Vol 10 No 7: IR & Welfare Reforms