Royal Children's Hospital chairman Rob Knowles told News Corp he supported the doctors' stand to protect the health and safety of children.
"The work of RCH doctors and nurses is highly valued by the Victorian community, and has made this hospital a global leader in adolescent and child health," he said.
"It is not surprising these same specialists would be concerned about the detention of children, on the basis that detention can have severe detrimental impacts on children's health.
"Our staff have consistently acted responsibly and in a considered manner in relation to the treatment of children in detention, and I support their right to have a responsible, considered opinion on this significant matter of public interest."
THE Australian Catholic Bishops’ recently released Social Justice Statement “For those who’ve come across the seas – Justice for Refugees and Asylum Seekers”, was welcomed in Ballarat last Wednesday.
Councillor Belinda Coates, on behalf of the Ballarat City Council, opened proceedings by saying that the current refugee tragedy engulfing Europe, and until recently playing out in the waters off the Australian Coast is a crisis of great magnitude.
She said in part, “Around the world hundreds of thousands of people are on the move, or wasting away in camps or detention centres. Tragically, it seems no one wants them.”
“I applaud the authors of the Social Justice Statement 2015-2016. I acknowledge that it’s a document of the Catholic Church – but the truths it contains and the sentiments it expresses go beyond religion.”
The document cuts to the core of the issue and is an unequivocal statement of how a civilized society should treat refuges and asylum seekers.
Father Constantine Osuchukwu of St Paul’s Anglican Church, Bakery Hill, said he came to Australia as a twenty-four-year-old in 2003 from Nigeria.
“I wasn’t a refugee or an asylum seeker fleeing persecution or violence,” he said.
“I came here as a migrant of my own volition. In my 12 years in Australia I have had nothing but positive experiences.
“My own personal experience is that Australia is a country of a thousand welcomes. While my experience has been mostly positive, I know that not all migrants or refugees have been as blessed as I have been.”
Father Constantine added that he was not native to think there are easy answers or a magic bullet to end the global refugee crisis and
welcomed the Social Justice Statement because it calls people to reflect on the impact of our policies.
Bishop Paul Bird responded by saying he commended the document and underlined one of the themes that runs through the text – the good examples of Australians welcoming those who have come to this country.
“I was pleased to hear that Australia will resettle 12,000 refugees from the current war torn regions of the Middle East,” he said.
“I have also been pleased that many church and other community groups are already looking at how they can help these refugees when they arrive from December onwards.”
The Social Justice Statement “For those who’ve come across the seas – Justice for Refugees and Asylum Seekers, comes in three sections.
The first draws on scripture and the social teaching of the Church, emphasizing the principles of human dignity, the option for the poor, and solidarity as foundations for how we should respond to the call of the asylum seeker.
The second section aims to lift the gaze from a myopic focus on the interception of boats and detention of asylum seekers.
The final section calls for a new global response of compassion.
Emergency rally: Support asylum seekers on Manus Island. No forced relocation to Lorengau
Wednesday, January 21, 5:30pm. Over 700 asylum seekers are on hunger strike on Manus Island, over 200 have collapsed and required treatment. They fear for their lives if they are resettled at Longerau on PNG. One Wilson security guard recently told them: ‘You should keep on hunger strike and die here, because you will be killed as soon as you are outside.’ In retaliation against the protests even those not participating in the hunger strike have been refused food and water for two days. The first eight refugees are due to be forced to Longerau on January 22. No forced resettlement! No violence against hunger strikers! Close Manus and all the detention camps!State Library, 328 Swanston St, City.Organised by Refugee Action Collective.
Rally: Defend the Great Barrier Reef
Sunday, January 25, 11am. The Australian government plans to create the world's largest coal export terminal at Abbott Point near Bowen in Queensland. Dredging for the terminal will dump mountains of spoil in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. It's time to stand up for the world's largest living organism, our Great Barrier Reef, a national treasure and one of the seven wonders of the world. O'Donnell Gardens, Lower Esplanade, St Kilda.
Rally: Invasion Day
Monday, January 26, 10:30am. January 26 is not only a day of mourning for us as Indigenous people but a day to make our voices heard, to take a stand. Invasion Day is a day to demonstrate our resistance to colonization and genocide. We have never ceded our sovereignty, and remain committed to the cause of decolonization. We are asking people to bring flowers with them to leave on the steps of parliament in commemoration of those killed at the hands of continued genocidal practices: the massacres, Black deaths in custody, stolen generations, and the onslaught of assimilation. All welcome to march with us. Parliament House steps, Spring St, City. Organised by Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance.
Film Screening: Ningla A-Na (Hungry for our land)
Friday, February 6, 6:30pm(meal from 6pm).A rare additon to the study of Australian History. Made in 1972,Ningla A-Na records the events surrounding the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of Parliament House. It incorporates interviews with black activists, the work of the National Black Theatre, Aboriginal Legal Service and Aboriginal Medical Service, plus footage from the demonstrations and arrests at the embassy. Suggested donation $10/$5. Resistance Centre, Level 5, 407 Swanston St, City (opposite RMIT). Presented byGreen Left Weekly.
If there is one good thing about the shake up of the print media in Oz, it is the arrival of an Australian version of the historic English newspaper, The Guardian.
This piece on mandatory detention and the profits to major international corporations and the costs to homegrown Australian taxpayers is a fine example of what fine newspaper reporting can provide. Below are just a few paragraphs to act as a teaser. Please go to the site for some startling information, graphs, pictograms etc. One thing seems to be clear. Some one - and perhaps more - will get PhDs and book contracts out of the "turn the boats back" and "regional assessments" policies of the Liberal/National Party Government of Australia and its enforcer, Scott Morrison.
In these days of constantly unfolding political corruption, one question that needs to be raised ... if international corporations are profiteering out of the mandatory detention contracts, are there benefits in cash or in kind - filtering back, one way or another, to political parties and/or politicians?
The Australian government’s policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers has benefited contractors by up to $10bn since mid-2007.
Guardian Australia has conducted an analysis of contracts in theAusTender databaseawarded by the Department of Immigration and containing keywords relating to the mandatory detention system. You can read more about the specific methods below.
The analysis reveals for the first time the scale of the privatised detention system, with 1,770 contracts awarded to 522 entities.
