From Nicholas Kerr, Friday, July 9

WCC general secretary, Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, has called on the Australian Government to abandon its policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers.
He said the policy violated human rights and was totally unchristian.
Dr Kobia said at a press conference in Adelaide, South Australia, he had never seen anything like Baxter Detention Facility, just outside Port Augusta, anywhere in the world.
“The image of Australia has been gravely damaged by what is happening in these detention camps,” he said.
“I think it’s a great disservice to Australia to have this kind of policy and to maintain the types of camps I saw yesterday.”
Dr Kobia said the high-tech detention centre was like a refugee camp.
He described how he felt going into Baxter.
“Walking through the gates of Baxter Detention Centre I got the impression of a maximum security prison,” he said.
“You have the gates opened and then shut behind you before you move to the next gate. This seems like a place for hardcore criminals, for people  that would be considered as dangerous and therefore should be locked away completely.
“This reminded me of the pictures I have seen of Guantanamo Bay – without the chains and the uniforms.
“But then there is the electrical fence.
“I talked to the detainees there. They were attending service with the Eucharist.
“Looking at their faces you clearly get the impression that here are people who are depressed. Depression is written all over their faces. There is no question about that.”
About 60 to 70 detainees attend Christian services in the facility’s visitors’ centre every week..
“I could clearly see that there are people who are depressed.
“Many of them complained of psychological and emotional torture, because there they are, day in and day out, sitting there, not knowing what tomorrow will bring for them.
“They feel things are considerably better even for criminals who have been imprisoned. They know they are serving a sentence of, say, four years. But for them it is limbo really.
“This is one of the most depressing things for any human being.”
Dr Kobia said he had spoken to officers and administrators in the detention centre.
“I got the impression that it is a place that is very well managed, without any mistreatment.
“It’s a wrong policy well administered.
“Many of the detainees told me that they had been put in what I call solitary confinement but what the management call correctional management.
“I felt this was not a good thing to do. If you have a person you fear may endanger themselves, and then you confine them to a small place, closed in, except for three to four hours a day, that is not the way to treat them.”
He said he had not seen anything like this before.
He compared the way some asylum seekers are treated in Australia with the way asylum seekers are being treated in some African countries.
“The way asylum seekers are treated under this particular policy is unique,” he said.
“I compare this with Tanzania, for example, a very poor country, a country that handles hundred of thousands of refugees. They are put in communities where they have freedom, even to interact with the people.  They are given activities, and so they are busy.
“Chad, which at the moment is handling over 350,000 Sudanese asylum seekers from Dafur. They don’t subject people to this kind of thing.
“I am aware that Australia does have thousands of refugees who have been admitted into this country. In fact, there are many of us who have previously cited Australia as the best model of how to receive asylum seekers.
“But this particular policy is what concerns me most.
“It is quite OK to say that the Government has to deal with national security. I didn’t get the impression that the people at Baxter are the kind of people who would pose a security problem for Australia as a country.”
Dr Kobia said the detention policy was a denial of human rights.
“When you have people locked up in that kind of a place for years, obviously you are denying them the right to be normal people in a situation, whether they are asylum seekers or not,” he said.
‘The people also complained of intimidation, blackmailing. Those who have decided to go on hunger strikes, for example, are clearly denied the right to do what they want.
“I think intimidation and blackmailing could be the case here.
“They are promised, if they stop (the hunger strike), they will be given better treatment. But of course this is not the case.
“This is a concern we have as Christians for people who are denied their rights, even to know what their future is going to be. That seems to me a violation of human rights and totally unchristian.”
The Australian Government maintains its policy of mandatory detention has been a success because the number of “illegal” arrivals has dropped.
“I don’t know whether the drop of the asylum seekers is a result of these draconian measures,” Dr Kobia said.
“If we could consider this as a success, it is really at the expense of the emotional, psychological and mental state of hundreds of people. I don’t think then we could call that a success.
“My recommendation to the Australian Government is to abandon this altogether and to resort to the normal way of handling asylum seekers.”
Dr Kobia was asked if he thought the detainees were getting appropriate psychiatric support.
“I talked with quite a number of them,” he said. “Certainly they are not satisfied that they are getting adequate support here.
“They are very pleased that churches have organised this whole event, to be visited, to be talked to, to be listened to, to participate in the Eucharist, as we saw yesterday.
“That’s very good for their spirits. But what is organised as psychiatric or psychological support for them is not sufficient.”
Towards the end of the press conference Dr Kobia was asked: “Can I just clarify – you have not seen anything like this in your travels anywhere in the world?”
“No, I have not seen anything like this anywhere else,” he said.
“Clearly, those of us from the international community have been made to look at the image of Australia, which has been gravely damaged by what is happening in these detention camps. 
“It’s a great disservice to Australia to have this kind of policy and to maintain these types of camps that I saw yesterday.
 “The Australian churches have done a commendable job, from my point of view, of campaigning and advocating for the detainees,” he said. “Whatever we do we will do it together.
“I will speak quite openly about this in the international community.
“I believe that, where a situation like this exists, it is not only the concern of Australian interests and Australian people who advocate for human rights. It is (the concern of ) the international community.
“I will be speaking about this quite openly internationally.”

Photo: Sam Kobia at Baxter detention centre (Kerr)

From Nicholas Kerr, Friday, July 9

Just before he left Australia Dr Samuel Kobia issued two challenges to Australian Christians.
In a final interview shortly before catching a flight to the Pacific he appealed to Christians:
TO VISIT detention centres like Baxter Detention Facility, see the conditions for themselves, and be like Good Samaritans to the detainees held there.
TO SUPPORT Aboriginal people who feel their self-determination is being threatened by government moves to abolish the elected ATSIC (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission) and replace it with an appointed advisory council.
Dr Kobia, secretary general of the World Council of Churches, had been attending the National Council of Churches in Australia’s forum in Adelaide, South Australia.
Before the NCCA forum he spent a day with Aboriginal people in Port Augusta and detainees in Baxter, just outside Port Augusta.
“I appeal for as many Christians as possible to visit these centres and show your love and your care to the detainee,” he said.
“Many of those I talked with in Baxter expressed their happiness at being visited by ministers and priests of the Uniting Church, Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church.
“They also said that they would very much like to have more Christian people visiting them.”
Dr Kobia was visibly distressed by what he saw at Baxter.
“I’d read about the detention centres and I’d heard about them,” he said. “But I must say I wasn’t prepared for what I saw at Baxter.
“I was really shocked. I was shocked by the physical reality – the high fences, the forbidding gates. The people who are in there aren’t criminals.
“I couldn’t understand what it was that made the government detain these asylum seekers in a maximum security prison – because that’s what it looked like to me, a prison.
“That was one of the shocks I had.
“Then I looked at the faces of the detainees. Many of them crowded around me. They wanted to have a word with me, just wanting to whisper a few words.
“Almost without exception, they said, ‘Please, can you tell our story? And can you help to get us out of here?’
“Some of these people have professional skills. They’re mature adults. Hearing them talk like this, and looking at their faces and the depression so evident on them – it really moved me.
“They want to go back to a normal life – but they have no chance of doing so.
“I came out of Baxter with more that pity for these people. I felt that here is a group of young men whose lives are wasting away in detention.
“I left wanting justice done – but also with the compassion of a Christian and the feeling of how much these people need Christian hospitality expressed to them.”
Dr Kobia said he had talked with many church leaders in his four day visit to Australia.
“Many of them have read my comments in the media about Baxter and the conditions there,” he said.
“Most of them agreed with what I have said. I felt encouraged by that.
“I’d like to believe that many of them will continue to advocate with the government on behalf of these detainees.”
Dr Kobia said he was deeply concerned about the position of Australia’s Indigenous people.
“After all these years of tremendous efforts on their part – and after all the expressions of solidarity they’ve had from the Australia churches and the ecumenical movement world wide – it was very depressing to hear Aboriginal leaders say that they are now at their lowest ebb in terms of expectations of an improvement in their conditions.
“I was encouraged when I read about covenant between churches and Aboriginal people, the Sorry Day that’s being observed for the Stolen Generations and the memorial to them in Canberra.”
(The term “Stolen Generations” refers to Aboriginal children who were taken away from their parents.)
“For the government to now abolish ATSIC is the worst blow that could have been dealt the Aboriginal people at this time,” Dr Kobia said.
“I leave here with the strong feeling that, once again, we in the international ecumenical movement need to redouble our efforts in accompanying the Aboriginal people in their struggle for dignity and to be fully human.
“We do this in support of what the Australian churches have done already towards the process of healing and reconciliation.
“These efforts by the Australian churches will continue – and they’ll be strengthened by our solidarity.”
Dr Kobia said the churches had spoken out clearly on these issues.
“I was very encouraged by the words of (Rev Professor) James Haire, the president of the National Council of Churches in Australia, when he said that what the government should have done was not to abolish ATSIC but to fix whatever problems there were with its leadership.
“He also said that the government shouldn’t have taken any action against ATSIC without consultation with the Aboriginal people.
“The churches should continue to insist to the government that it will be paternalistic if they simply go ahead and set up an advisory council instead of listening to the authentic voice of elected Aboriginal people.
“The Aboriginal leadership is very clear about what Aborigines want. The government should listen to that – and that’s what the churches should push for even harder.”

A gruelling schedule
Dr Kobia had a gruelling schedule in Australia. He arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, (Thursday, July 8) on an overnight flight from Hong Kong, caught a connecting flight to Adelaide – and joined NCCA leaders on a flight to Port Augusta in a light aircraft.
The trip from Adelaide to Port Augusta takes three and a half hours by road. Because of a strong headwind it took nearly two hours by plane. The flight back the next day took only an hour.
Port Augusta is in a semi arid area. It is seen as the gateway to the north – and the deserts of inland Australia.
There was a strong wind and light rain when the plane landed and parts of the ceremonial Aboriginal “welcome to country” had to be cancelled.
Dr Kobia lunched with Aboriginal elders, met Aboriginal leaders and gave a press conference.
He then spent close to three hours in Baxter Detention Centre. He visited Pika Wiya Aboriginal Health Service that had been founded with a $30,000 WCC grant 30 years ago. He spent a relaxed evening hosted by the Aboriginal Faith Community, which is run by the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, the Indigenous arm of the Uniting Church in Australia.
His comments at Port Augusta made news.
First he spoke about Indigenous issues.
He said Indigenous people in Australia were going through a crisis and that Australian Government policies showed racist tendencies.
He condemned the Australian Government’s moves to disband the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).
“The decision to abolish ATSIC is very unfortunate,” Dr Kobia said. “The Government wants to replace ATSIC with a hand picked advisory council.
“The Aboriginal people see this as a way of denying them their rights to self determination and what they see as the legitimate voice of the Aboriginal people.
“The commission was composed of people who were elected by Indigenous people themselves.
“To replace this with a commission of handpicked people – they think that would be undemocratic. It will not to provide them with a legitimate voice that will represent the aspirations of the Aboriginal people.”
Dr Kobia was asked if he thought that Australian Government’s policies were racist.
“When I consider the way the Aboriginal people are treated here, and listening to them, I would say that one cannot avoid detecting some racist tendencies,” he said.
“I wouldn’t, however, call the Australian people, or Australia as a country, racist in the same way I would have called South Africa racist in the apartheid period.
“There are very commendable initiatives and efforts that the Australian people have made, both the churches as well as communities of people here.
“But in any society like this you will find individuals, or maybe some extreme organisations, that would want to continue with racist attitudes.
“So it would be, I think, unfair to say ‘blanket’ racist.
“On the other hand, I can’t say the racist motivated treatment of Aboriginals has completely ended. There is still someway to go before you can achieve that level.”
His comments were widely reported. His comments after his visit to Baxter were even more widely reported.
Baxter is about 10 kilometres from Port Augusta. Like most places in Australia, Port Augusta has clear signposts and road signs – but there are no signs pointing to Baxter.
At a press conference in Adelaide the next day (Friday, July 9) he called on the Australian Government to abandon its policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers.
He said the policy violated human rights and was totally unchristian.
“The image of Australia has been gravely damaged by what is happening in these detention camps,” he said.
“I think it’s a great disservice to Australia to have this kind of policy and to maintain the types of camps I saw yesterday.”
Dr Kobia said the high-tech detention centre was like a refugee camp.
He described how he felt going into Baxter.
“Walking through the gates of Baxter Detention Centre I got the impression of a maximum security prison,” he said.
“You have the gates opened and then shut behind you before you move to the next gate. This seems like a place for hardcore criminals, for people that would be considered as dangerous and therefore should be locked away completely.
“This reminded me of the pictures I have seen of Guantanamo Bay – without the chains and the uniforms.
“But then there is the electrical fence.
“I talked to the detainees there. They were attending service with the Eucharist.
“Looking at their faces you clearly get the impression that here are people who are depressed. Depression is written all over their faces. There is no question about that.”
About 60 to 70 detainees attend Christian services in the facility’s visitors’ centre every week.
“I could clearly see that there are people who are depressed.
“Many of them complained of psychological and emotional torture, because there they are, day in and day out, sitting there, not knowing what tomorrow will bring for them.
“They feel things are considerably better even for criminals who have been imprisoned. They know they are serving a sentence of, say, four years. But for them it is limbo really.
“This is one of the most depressing things for any human being.”
He returned to the theme when he spoke to the NCCA forum the next day (Saturday, July 10).
“Refugees and migrants have enriched Australian society and made it into a wonderful multi-cultural society.
“Australia also has a long tradition of supporting the international system of refugee protection, of supporting UN endeavours and international legal norms on refugees and asylum seekers.
“However, policies adopted by the Australian Government in the last five years have called into question this wonderful legacy and have damaged Australia’s reputation abroad.”
The WCC, he said, was particularly concerned about a number of issues.
“One is the Australian system of visa controls which is intended to keep people fleeing persecution at home from arriving at Australia’s borders.
“We are concerned at the continuing existence – although the number is decreasing – of detention centres in which asylum seekers are mandatorily detained for an indefinite period.
“Even children are locked up.
“We don’t know of any other country in the world which has detention policies as rigid as these.
“We are concerned at the policy of Temporary Protection Visas where individuals who are recognised as refugees by the Australian Government are only allowed to remain in the country temporarily.
“After long journeys and jumping over the bureaucratic hurdles they remain in limbo.
“We don’t know of any other country in the world that treats recognised refugees in this way.
“We are also concerned about the so-called ‘Pacific solution’ in which asylum seekers who were en route to Australia are ‘warehoused’ in Nauru.
“This has consequences most immediately for the asylum seekers waiting for a solution to their plight and also for the small country of Nauru.
“It also has consequences for refugees in other countries as other governments talk about emulating the Australian example.”
The next day (Sunday, July 11) he preached in St Peter’s Anglican Cathedral.
He preached on the Good Samaritan reading.
“There is something profoundly disturbing about the Australian Government putting asylum seekers in isolated detention centres.”
It was not right, he said, to isolate asylum seekers from the general public.
“It is easier to deport people when no one in the country knows them, when they have no friends as advocates.
“For churches and Christians n Australia, reaching out to the strangers in your midst or advocating with the government in an increasingly difficult climate is not easy.”
He said the backlash against asylum seekers was not something that was happening “out there”.
“It is also happening in the communities in which most of you live.
“It can be very tiring to always be explaining why refugees sometimes can’t enter through established channels.
“Nevertheless, if we are to be faithful to the gospel – to welcome the stranger and work for justice – we have no choice.
“It must be our task and responsibility to open our eyes to the uprooted among us.”
Dr Kobia said just before he left Australia that he had enjoyed being with Christians from around Australia at the NCCA forum.
“But if I hadn’t had the opportunity to meet Aboriginal people and to visit Baxter my visit would have been much the poorer.”

‘Continue to support Sudanese refugees’
Dr Kobia congratulated Australia on sending relief to the Sudanese refugees who have fled from the ethnic cleansing in West Dafur.
“There are a million refugees in Chad,” he said.
“Many of them will die of hunger and disease within the month if enough aid does not reach them.”
He congratulated Christian World Service, the relief arm of the NCCA on its special appeal for these refugees.
He also congratulated Australia for receiving many hundreds of Sudanese refugees in the last two to three years.

Photo: Rev Sam Kobia with NCCA General Secretary, Rev John Henderson and President Rev James Haire. (Kerr)

A wonderful new resource for worship and peacemaking is being made available by the National Council of Churches in Australia.  Entitled ‘Whispers of Peace’, it is a compilation of songs from  a wide variety of Christians across the country, reflecting the diversity and vitality of Christian life in Australia and the shared Christian commitment to peace and reconciliation in the churches’ Decade to Overcome Violence.  Containing the full sheet music, words and OHP slides for each of the 25 songs, and with contributions ranging from Hillsong to traditional hymn-style, at  just $34.95 this enhanced double CD offers great value for churches and individuals.  Leading Christian musicians such as Kevin Bates, Monica Brown, John Coleman and Robin Mann have contributed songs from their own repertoire, with nine songs recorded from their composers resources and the remaining sixteen professionally recorded and mixed in South Australia, under the direction of Robin Mann, and with production of the CD by Monique Lisbon, herself a lively contributor, through her company mono unlimited in Victoria . 

‘Opening the heart to compassion is a central key to peacemaking and reconciliation’ says Jon Inkpin, national coordinator for this DOV (Decade to Overcome Violence) in Australia project,  ‘and music is vital to this task, celebrating the gift and goal of peace in our lives and world.   These songs reflect something of the chief concerns of peacemaking in our nation today: from the need to address personal and community violence, to issues of Indigenous Reconciliation, care for refugees, international conflict and environmental responsibility.  In each of these the life of prayer and worship is crucial, centring us in the source of all peace and compassion and empowering us to love and action.  No mere whispers in the storm, as we listen, sing and employ these voices of hope, so may the Prince of Peace bless us, and heal the divisions of our times.’

Whispers of Peace will be officially launched by DOV patron Prof.Lowijta O’Donoghue at the NCCA National Forum in Adelaide on 11 July, after which it is hoped that the songs will be widely used by congregations, groups and individuals for many years to come.  Copies of the CD are available from the NCCA (02 9299 2215) and state ecumenical bodies amongst other outlets.

For further information: 
Contact the Revd Dr Jon Inkpin at the NCCA    Tel: (02) 9299 2215  or 0410 583013              
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
and/or Vikki Waller at the South Australian Council of Churches 
Tel: (08) 8221 6633   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Decade to Overcome Violence webpages:   http://www.ncca.org.au/dov
Mono unlimited website:   http://www.monounlimited.com

Representatives of Australia's peak Christian, Islamic and Jewish bodies prayed together for the future of Iraq, the safety of Australian personnel serving in that country and for the families of civilians and soldiers who have lost their lives in that country.

Meeting at Temple Emanuel Synagogue in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra, delegations from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) and the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA), reflected on the great need for peace and international reconciliation at this momentous time.

Amjad Mehboob, the CEO of AFIC, stated the prayers were to "express hope that the long-suffering Iraqi people will find peace and security in their homeland".

NCCA General Secretary Rev John Henderson said, "this is a pivotal moment for the future of our global society and a litmus test for hope".

President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Jeremy Jones, affirmed that "Australians enjoy democracy, peace and wonderful inter-faith and inter-communal relations and our joint prayer is that the blessings we enjoy can be shared by the Iraqis and all people".

The occasion was a meeting of the Australian National Dialogue of Christians, Muslims and Jews, which also included an intensive exchange of understandings of "Prophets and Prophecy" and discussed future prospects for interfaith co-operation in Australia.

* * * * * *
Further Information:

Jeremy Jones,
President, Executive Council of Australian Jewry 0411536436

John Henderson,
General Secretary National Council of Churches 0419224935

Amjad Mehboob,
CEO, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils 0408 234434

The Rev Professor James Haire, President of the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA), today expressed his gratitude for the work of Archbishop Ian George of Adelaide during his time as an Anglican appointee with the Council. The Archbishop was involved with the Council for many years, especially through his support for the cause of refugees and displaced persons. He retired from active involvement in 2004.

“Dr George is an outstanding Church leader who served with distinction for many years. His tireless and energetic work among Australian Churches, particularly as the Chairman of Christian World Service, is greatly appreciated,” Professor Haire said.

Following today’s release of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s damning finding of Federal Government responsibility for cases of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detained asylum seeker children, the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) has backed the Commission’s one-month deadline for the release of all children and their families.

Based on evidence from the Immigration Department's own court-subpoenaed documents, the Commission’s report of the Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention details gross government failures to protect children during violent protests when the riot squad, tear gas, water canons and severe lock-down procedures were deployed. It exposes disturbing cases of repeat child-suicide and self-mutilation attempts, and children witnessing their parents jumping from roof tops onto razor wire and slashing and hanging themselves.

Responsibility for severe child-detainee mental health breakdown is placed squarely on the Federal Government, which failed to heed the consistent advice of medical and psychiatric professionals to use its powers to either release or protect children.

Following the Commission’s findings, churches have backed the Commission’s call to abolish mandatory detention laws and are counting-down to the June 10th deadline for the release of all children and their family members.

"Australia is committed to acting in the best interests of every child. Yet every day that passes is another day in which parents are unable to shield their children from the violence around them, from the heated protests and suicide attempts, from the despair of those detained, from the dehumanising effect of being treated as an illegal or a number" said John Henderson, General Secretary of the NCCA.

"With every day, the will and resilience of parents to protect and raise their children is broken down. They cannot tell their child when they will be released or deny they'll be deported.

"At the end of each day, we must ask ourselves whether the pain and suffering inflicted upon mothers, fathers and their children is a just trade-off in attempting to deter people from our shores" said Mr Henderson.

"There is no point keeping innocent kids in detention to ward-off refugee-boats when Australia has a naval blockade. Moreover, there is no reason to think they'll abscond, as 95% are found to be refugees and will be given a visa despite the trauma they suffer" said James Thomson of the NCCA's Refugee Program.

"If parents exposed their child to violence protests, adults attempting suicide by hanging and slashing or failed to provide adequate education or a safe place to live, we would remove those children and consider prosecuting the parents. It is shocking to think we've had to have a three-year inquiry to tell us the obvious. Well now we know that locking up kids under the mantra of 'border protection' is wrong."

"These are refugee children who have often experienced horrific torture and subsequent trauma. Many have been made to witness the rape, torture and killings of their parents, brothers or sisters. They are extremely vulnerable, and to detain them is simply cruel" said Mr Thomson.

At present, all unauthorised asylum seekers are subject to indefinite, non-reviewable mandatory detention. No distinction is made between adults and children. The NCCA has long-criticised this law for breaching Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that the detention of a child shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest period of time. The report’s findings confirm that Australia's automatic detention system is neither a measure of last report nor for the shortest possible period of time and thus breaches one of the most widely signed international Conventions. Every child has spent an average of one year and five months in detention with the longest period being over 5 years.

The Government has the power to release children on bridging visas, but refuses to release parents. This ‘catch’ keeps children in detention as it is claimed it is 'in the best interests of the child' not to be separated from their parents and placed into foster care.

Responding to the report's finding, the NCCA calls on the government to:

• * immediately release all children and their families from immigration detention in Australia and Nauru;
• * establish and fund appropriate care and support services for children once out of detention;
• *undertake wholesale legislative reform of the Migration Act (1958) to remove the requirement of automatic detention of children who arrive in Australia without the correct documents.

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Australia may be proud of its role in East Timor but it is acting selfishly and illegally  over oil, says Jose Ramos Horta, Foreign Minister of East Timor. He compares Australia’s role in oil talks, to “Bill Gates arguing with a taxi driver over a fare”. The richest country in the region should not be haggling with the poorest, he asserts.

Dr Horta, speaking at a Sydney fundraising dinner, spoke of the many challenges facing East Timor as it approaches its second birthday. There is still much to be done in rebuilding infrastructure, increasing access to education and reducing disease and malnutrition.

Dr Horta is cautiously optimistic about the future. East Timor should not rely exclusively on oil revenue but at the same time, that revenue would help to provide for basic services. “It is a matter of justice”, he said. Over 60 cases on international maritime boundaries had been decided on the 50/50 division between countries and only one - the agreement reached between Australia and Indonesia over the Timor Gap - had used a different formula. “Where is the justice in Australia’s stand?” Dr Horta asked. He was also critical of what he saw as Australia’s delaying tactics in the negotiations, which would only serve to benefit Australia.

Dr Ramos Horta, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his years of struggle for East Timorese independence, said there is “a cost in human terms of delaying the decision on oil and gas rights in the larger fields of the Timor Gap. Australia is putting self-interest before justice.”

He praised the churches, especially the Catholic Church, for their work in education and health and commented, “It’s not enough for churches to promise heaven, people need food in their stomachs”.

The dinner, organized by forceten, raised money for community food projects designed by local churches to help the poorest communities. Money raised form the evening will go projects run by Caritas Australia and Christian World Service.

Full details on Dr Ramos Horta’s speech can be obtained from forceten.

For more information contact Amanda Jackson, forceten, telephone 02 9299 2215        
forceten, Locked Bag 199, Sydney, NSW, 1230, Fax: 02 9262 4514, Ph: 02 9299 2215

Australia should ensure it has good policies as well as good intentions when it intervenes in the affairs of other nations. Mr Caesar D’Mello, National Director of Christian World Service (CWS), said this today.

CWS is the relief and development arm of the National Council of Churches in Australia. “The Solomon Islands welcomed Australia’s intervention when we sent troops, police and officials there last July,” he said. “But how well did we involve the institutions of civil society in the Solomons, such as the churches, in planning the intervention? “Could our attitude be seen as smacking of a ‘we know better than you’ approach?

“We may not have fully taken into account the effects on the people who were left behind to continue to deal with the situation after we’d left. “We may not have been sensitive enough about cultural issues. “Australia needs to consult more with the local people. And we should certainly confer more with the churches in places like the Pacific, where they have so much influence.”

Mr D’Mello said there are two contrasting realities in the Pacific. “It has a stunning tropical landscape - and its environment is threatened by poverty and conflict,” he said. Australia’s interest in the Pacific is growing.
“There’s an increasing need for Australian civil society to be involved in the development of our foreign policy in relation to the Pacific. “Foreign policy, after all, should strive to express the relationship between peoples, not just between experts, or government departments.”

CWS, he said, represents the Australian churches and is in touch with their Pacific partners. “We have a responsibility to be one of the reference points,” he said. “Australia is still coming to terms with what it means to be a good post-colonial neighbour. “We need to foster a relationship that minimises dependency and enables maximum local responsibility.” Mr D’Mello said there are real differences between Australia and the Pacific.
 “There’s also a commonality of issues and challenges,” he said. “We can address them more effectively by working together.”

He said CWS, through Christmas Bowl, has been working for many years with Pacific partners.
“Together we’re striving to address some complex issues - like HIV/AIDS, global warming, trade, security and the effects of economic globalisation.”

Consultations

Are we good neighbours to the Pacific? That question will be the focus of a series of consultations in four Australian states in July. There will be a consultation, “The Pacific at the Crossroads,” in Adelaide on Friday, July 9 - the day the National Council of Churches in Australia’s fifth national forum opens.

It will be held in conjunction with the South Australian Council of Churches.
The consultation and the forum will both be held at Lincoln College, North Adelaide.

Speakers will be:
• Archbishop Adrian Smith, Executive Chairperson of Solomon Islands Christian Association (SICA). He has a long history of involvement in the Solomons.
• Mr Tom Anayabere, who has recently taken up the position of General Secretary of the Papua New Guinea Council of Churches (PNGCC).
• Mr Fei Tevi, who is of Tongan descent. He is the Executive Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pacific Office, based in Fiji
• Ms Koila Costello-Olsson, a long term advocate of women’s issues. She works with the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA), Fiji, as the Gender and Peace Programme Coordinator.

Details are available from the Reverend Vikki Waller, phone 08 8221 6633.

There will be consultations in three other places with the same speakers:
• Brisbane, on Tuesday, July 6. Details from Michelle Knight, 07 3369 6792.
• Canberra, on Wednesday, July 7. Details from Rod Corrigan, 02 6273 8805.
• Melbourne, Thursday, July 8. Details from Jeff Wild, 03 9650 6811.

Details of all the consultations are also available from Aletia Dundas, phone 1800 025 101

by Nicholas Kerr

Australia cannot mature as a nation until there is true reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, Rev Professor James Haire said.
“The churches must do all they can to promote reconciliation in Australia,” he said.
“But, while we must speak out, we must be humble about this issue.”
Professor Haire is President of the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) and Director of the national Christian centre - the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture in Canberra.
“A lot of the things the churches have done weren’t beneficial for the Aboriginal people,” he said.
“Many churches have acknowledged the mistakes of the past.
“Following the ‘Bringing them home’ report on the Stolen Generations, many churches have apologised for our part in helping to break up families.
“So, on the one hand, we are conscious of our own mistakes.
“On the other hand, we are very aware that God has called us to be a prophetic voice for justice, integrity and compassion.
“It’s good that, as a nation, we acknowledge the need for reconciliation and healing.
“As we acknowledge that need, we must also acknowledge that we still have a long way to go.
“Reconciliation calls for a change of heart, a change of attitudes and a determination to bring about social change.
“We cannot say that the work of reconciliation is really under way until we see a change in people’s lives and in the terrible statistics that describe the life of Indigenous people in Australia.
“The statistics about Indigenous people and their poverty, health, unemployment, infant mortality, life expectancy and imprisonment are unacceptable.
“When they change dramatically for the better, then we can say that we are a mature and responsible nation.”
Professor Haire said it was extremely significant that the Federal Government and the National Sorry Day Committee have announced that new artwork will be unveiled in Reconciliation Place in Canberra on National Sorry Day, May 26.
He said that, for 150 years until the late 1970s, thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were removed from their families, with the authorization of Australian governments.
Hundreds of people from the Stolen Generations are expected to be at the unveiling in Canberra.
“It will be a memorial to the Stolen Generations,” Professor Haire said. “But it will also be an expression of gratitude to those Australians who took these children in.
“They have often been excluded. It was not their fault. It was government policy.
“The people who fostered these children need some form of memorial, some form of recognition.
“And the Aboriginal and Islander people want them to be remembered. Often they have deep affection for the individuals.”
Reconciliation is high on the churches’ agenda
Professor Haire said reconciliation is definitely on the Australian churches’ agenda - and it will be high on the agenda of the NCCA’s fifth national Forum in Adelaide from July 9 to 13. The forum is held every three years.

The Forum’s theme will be “At the cross roads; Living in a world of change”.

“We want the Forum to embrace the wider community,” Professor Haire said.
Aboriginal leader, Professor Lowitja O’Donaghue, will speak on peace and reconciliation.
“We want to push reconciliation in this country a bit further,” Professor Haire said.
The Forum will deal with the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV).

Rev Sam Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, will talk about changes, challenges and celebrations.

Part of the Forum will look at trends and directions in Australian society, and the place of the churches and the faith.
There will be a session on “Australian Christianity - what does it look like?” with a Pentecostal and Charismatic leader.
Professor Haire said the Bible studies will be on the theme, “Beneath the Cross”.
“They’ll be presented by Bishop Michael Putney, Catholic Bishop of Townsville,” Professor Haire said.
“This is an ecumenical first, in its way - a Catholic doing the Bible study. It’s normally the sort of thing you’d expect a Protestant to be doing.”
A Sunday celebration at St Peter’s Anglican Cathedral will involve some recognition of the covenanting arrangements churches in Australia have already made with each other.
“There is a wide variety of covenanting arrangements,” Professor Haire said.
“Some churches have agreed to share their buildings, for example. Some have agreed to share the Eucharist.
“We want to ritualise those agreements at the service in the cathedral.”
The NCCA was formed 10 years ago, replacing the old Australian Council of Churches.
“There’ll be a review of the NCCA in a session called ‘At the cross roads: Ten years of travel.’
“And we will look at what the council needs to do in the future in a session called ‘At the cross roads: Setting our direction.’
“We’ll be using this phrase, ‘At the cross roads’ - meaning at the foot of the cross -

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission (NATSIEC) of the National Council of Churches in Australia condemns the decision by the Federal Government to abolish the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).  This decision jeopardises our aspirations as Indigenous peoples to self-determination and totally ignores the recommendations contained in the Report on the ATSIC Review, In the Hands of the Regions - a New ATSIC released in November 2003.

NATSIEC acknowledges that ATSIC is in need of structural reform as reported in the ATSIC Review.  Abolishing ATSIC and replacing it with a non-elected advisory body flies in the face of the principles of self-determination and the democratic process.

Federal and State Governments must share responsibility for the current state of ATSIC and the current problems within the Indigenous community.  ATSIC should not be used as a scapegoat for the Governments’ inadequacies in addressing current disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians.

NATSIEC believes that it is imperative that the Federal Government exercise wisdom and act justly in determining its approach to Indigenous affairs.  The process must be conducted in close consultation and negotiation with Indigenous peoples.  In any democratic society it is recognised that this is best achieved through an elected body.  The Government sought consultation yet has chosen to completely ignore the recommendations from the resulting Review - a tremendous waste of taxpayers’ money and an insult to the contributions made by organisations, government agencies and individuals.

Therefore NATSIEC demands that the Federal Government recognises the importance to the Indigenous community of having a direct say in matters that affect our lives through elected representatives in accordance with the recommendations of the Government’s own review.

For further information please contact Mr. Graeme Mundine, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission on 02-92992215.