ACRT Media Release: Churches Taskforce Speaks out on Asylum Seeker Abuse Claims The Chair of the ACRT, Dean Peter Catt, today welcomed the announcement by the Foreign Minister that Australia will cooperate with the Indonesian authorities as they investigate the allegations of abuse made by asylum seekers against the Australian Navy. He also called on the Australian Government to investigate in a transparent manner the allegations. ‘Serious allegations have been raised. The Australian people are entitled to more than blanket denials’, Dean Catt said. The Federal Government seems to have become confused by its own mis-use of language. While ‘People smuggling’ is a crime in Australia seeking asylum is not. Those who are making the claims of abuse are asylum seekers and not criminals to be dismissed out-of‐hand. Once again we call on the Federal Government to be more precise in its use of language when it refers to people breaking the law. ‘I am increasingly concerned for the welfare of the Navy personal involved in this activity which the government chooses to call a war. It was a mistake to begin with for the Government to militarise what is first & foremost a humanitarian issue. Using the military in this way not only treats asylum seekers as the enemy, it is also unfair on military personnel, who can’t be happy having to use force to turn back vulnerable people. ‘In the past we have seen Navy personnel traumatised by operations such as this. ‘It is not right that our government expects the navy to treat as criminals people who are breaking no law, including young children, who are fleeing persecution. For Further Comment: Dean Peter Catt 0404 052 494
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 23:16:00 +0000
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