Welfare groups offer care for children

Sydney
10 February 2002

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Welfare groups offer care for children

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Welfare groups offer care for children

Australia's largest welfare organisations are offering their combined resources and networks to secure the release of many detained asylum seekers into the community.
St Vincent de Paul's national president, John Moore, and Catholic Welfare Australia head Toby O'Connor are among 14 agency heads - including Anglicare Australia executive director Russell Rollason and Fr Nic Frances, executive director of the Brotherhood of St Laurence - to make the offer.
They ask that the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs release all children and their parents and all single males and females not considered a threat to the community or awaiting deportation.
"We are aware that for the majority of the detainees, their protest action is not currently about obtaining visas but about their strong feeling that it is inhumane to incarcerate them in a harsh desert location for long periods of time as if they are criminals," the letter says.
"We feel confident that, together with your department, we can treat people in a humane way while their claims are assessed", which, the letter said, would remove many of the causes of the ongoing crisis and humanitarian dilemmas the department is facing.