LATEST NEWS

Saturday 11 October 1pm Treasury Gardens, Melbourne. Wear pink or blue to show your support at the 6th Annual march for the babies. A peaceful rally to defend the rights of unborn babies and their mothers against the 2008 Abortion Law Reform Act.

A growing number of Church and community organisations are concerned over the failure of the Government to ensure even the most basic standard of care for people in the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres. Please consider supporting the following petition calling on Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to put an end to this policy, which is fast-becoming our nation’s greatest shame. The petition to close down the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres is a collaboration between GetUp, the Refugee Action Coalition, Doctors for Refugees, ChilOut, the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, and numerous groups and individuals fighting for compassionate and humane treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. You can sign the petition here: https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/refugees/a-more-compassionate-australia/a-more-compassionate-australia. Also consider adding the petition to your facebook page or twitter account and distributing the link to the petition to your own email list.

‘I WAS IN PRISON AND YOU VISITED ME’ – CHRISTIANS AND THE CRIMINAL  JUSTICE SYSTEM

How should our society treat victims of crime and those who break the law? With the Victorian State Election coming up in November 2014, the Interchurch Criminal Justice Taskforce has developed a series of proposals on criminal justice issues from a Christian perspective.  These are included in a new report “I was in prison and you visited Me”, copies of which will be available in the church on the weekend of 21 September, or you can go to www.css.org.au and download a copy. The report has been prepared to inform you of important criminal justice issues in the run-up to the Election.  The report links to the Victorian Council of Churches website www.vcc.org.au where there is a range of actions that you may consider taking, after reading the report. These include writing to your local MP, or provide support to chaplains and others who help in rehabilitation and resettlement of offenders.

A group of concerned people is taking an unprecedented step in releasing a video of children behind bars to show the shocking effect of harsh detention policies.
Children locked behind fences and bars because their parents arrived by boat.  “Are we really OK with this?”
Candlelight vigils were held around Australia on Thursday evening after the public learned of the death of Iranian asylum seeker, 24 year old Hamid Kehazaei, who cut his foot on Manus Island and reportedly sought medical help for days but was constantly denied.  This resulted in acute septicemia, and while he was transferred to hospital, he received treatment too late to survive.

The Empty Coolamon Exhibition is at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum until October 5th. Indigenous artist Robyne Latham brings recognition of the stolen generations in the exhibition. Coolamons were traditionally used by Aboriginal women to collect water and food and to cradle new born babies. Empty Coolamons responds to a significant historical issue and invites audiences to pause and reflect, with the intention of achieving a sense of reconciliation for Indigenous and Non Indigenous Australians.