Young Aussies to call for end to detention of children

Michael Otto — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 04:59:44 +0000

CANBERRA (CathNews) — A coalition of young people is banding together to call for an end to immigration detention of children.
From September 28, young people throughout Australia will be hitting their social media networks to spread the word, reports Catholic Mission Australia in a media release.
Australian Young Christian Students Movement (AYCS) networking to thousands of students, ChilOut and their Youth Ambassadors, plus Catholic School students, will join the International Detention Coalition (IDC) and church and community organisations to launch a campaign on September 28 to “End Child Detention” in Australia.
“Detention is a problem, not a solution,” said Tessa Ganley, chairwoman of AYCS. “The youth of Australia can easily identify with what it would be like to be locked up, and they know that a country like Australia should not allow this to happen.”
The focus of the campaign is a Kony-style video that will be launched in Sydney on September 28 and passed on by young people through social media networks with a call to action.
“We will be asking our friends to tell Minister Bowen that the freedoms of children, just like me, matter. All children are vulnerable and need to be protected,” Ms Ganley added.
The newly formed Australian Coalition to End Immigration Detention of Children hopes to show that there is a massive movement of young people and adults who support the Government’s 2010 decision to move children with their families into the community.
Despite early progress, the situation has now deteriorated to a point where 686 children are detained (July 2012, Australian Government Department of Immigration and Citizenship).
Internationally, other alternatives are being pursued. Belgium, Japan and Thailand no longer detain families.

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Opposition leader holds line against homosexual ‘marriage’

Michael Otto — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:34:57 +0000

CANBERRA (CathNews) — Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has indicated the Coalition he leads will hold the party line against gay marriage, and Coalition MPs may have to cross the floor to exercise a conscience vote, said an AAP report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
In contrast to Liberal front-bencher Malcolm Turnbull, who says he is keeping an open mind on the issue, Mr Abbott said on December 6 that his view remained unchanged and he would always support the traditional position on marriage.
“The second point I make is that my sense of my party colleagues is that there will be very strong majority support for the traditional position,” Mr Abbott told reporters in Perth.
Mr Turnbull has asked Mr Abbott to allow coalition MPs a conscience vote.
“My view is there should be a conscience vote,” he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has also appealed to Mr Abbott to allow a conscience vote on the issue when a private member’s bill is presented to the parliament early next year with the aim of changing the Marriage Act.
“For some people this is about their most deeply held aspirations for their own lives,” she told reporters in Canberra.
For some people it was about their religious convictions.
“I think it’s appropriate people should speak from their hearts,” the prime minister said.

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Young Aussies to call for end to detention of children

Opposition leader holds line against homosexual ‘marriage’