What now for asylum seekers?

Asylum seekers arriving by boat make up a tiny percentage of our annual immigration, yet Australia has treated them very harshly. On August 12 Caz Colman spoke to Social Policy Connections on alternatives to current ways of receiving asylum seekers.

Caz is the Director of the Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project, a Melbourne based agency working with asylum seekers living in the community. Caz has worked in the asylum and refugee sector for ten years and has an academic background in Theology. In 2009, Caz was appointed to the Council for Immigration Services and Status Resolution (CISSR) advising the Federal Minister for Immigration, Senator Chris Evans, on asylum issues in Australia.

According to Ms Coleman’s research, the current policy of mandatory detention is not only having detrimental effects to the asylum seekers themselves, but also to the Australian taxpayer. “Detention is indefensible when compared to the cost of community care models.”

Ms Coleman outlined alternatives to current public policy which included; the Bali process, relevant regional cooperation agreements, work with UNHCR 10 point plan, diplomatic efforts in individual and countries stress the need for multinational and bilateral agreements to build trust and cooperation in the region.  None of these policy initiatives were taken up by either major political party in the Australian 2010 federal election.

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Segments of Caz Colman's talk can be viewed on Social Policy Connections youtube channel.

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Religion and Politics

Professor John Warhurst spoke to SPC on August fourth about religion and politics in Australian federal elections, including church lobbying, relations with parties and governments, and the role of the faith of political leaders.
John Warhurst was born in Adelaide and educated in politics and economics at the Flinders University of South Australia. He has taught political science in various universities for more than 30 years and is now Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University. He is a former president of the Australasian Political Studies Association and now writes a weekly column for The Canberra Times.

Professor Warhurst stressed the importance of collaboration between church groups in order to more effectively engage in politics. He also warned the audience that this is a very difficult undertaking due to the different priorities each church group may have.

While the lecture was not dedicated to the 2010 Australian Federal elections, Professor Warhurst did comment that many progressive Christians feel they are “between a rock and a hard place” as neither major party is adequately addressing their demands.

Please click HERE listen to the discussion. Click the RSS or itunes icon to subscribe.
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Segments of Professor Warhurst’s talk can be viewed on Social Policy Connections youtube channel.
Please click HERE to access SPC’s videos.

New Hope for Africa  

Dr Andre Karamaga is a Rwandan Presbyterian minister. He is currently General Secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, which represents 173 churches and Christian organisations from 40 African countries, with 140 million adherents.

This was Dr Karamaga’s first visit to Australia, where he has been presenting talks on the issues facing Africa, and the response of All Africa Conference of Churches. His talks include the issues of climate change and aid effectiveness, as well as the church’s role in peacekeeping on a continent where many countries are still in the grip of civil war. In this area Dr Karamaga is able to draw from his own personal experiences as a Rwandan leader, who lost family during the genocide. His lecture delivered to Social Policy Connections was entitled “New Hope for Africa: the churches’ role in peacemaking and development’.Please click HERE to read an interview with Dr.Karamaga in the Age.

Please click HERE listen to Dr. Karamaga's lecture delivered to Social Policy Connections.  Please click the RSS or itunes icon to subscribe to theSPC podcast.  
 

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