Archbishop urges asylum-seeker transparency

Amid rumours that the Australian Government paid people smugglers to return to Indonesia, Archbishop Philip Freier has called for greater transparency about border patrols.

Dr Freier was interviewed by Vatican Radio last week while in Rome. It was broadcast on Friday, June 12.

He told Philippa Hitchen that much of the discussion about border operations is considered “almost a matter of military intelligence” with details being withheld from the public arena. He said the claim that the government paid smugglers was “a remarkable allegation” and said “we’d all be helped by greater transparency about how these policies are being carried out.”

Dr Freier, conceding that his might be a minority voice on asylum seekers, reiterated that it was “morally reprehensible” for immigrant children to be kept in detention “for any longer than is necessary”. Children are still in detention in off-shore facilities.

He said he was surprised that the Australian people “seem willing to accept these things being done in their name”.

“We really need to address issues as to what motivates people to leave their own country. Most people in the world would like to be on a trajectory of prosperity and living in their own place, with their family, in the place their ancestors lived, but we seem to have every indication that this century is going to be one of the greatest human movements in history. … There are people on the move in every direction,” the archbishop said.

“People need to be able to shape the society where they live rather than abandon themselves to people traffickers and all the uncertainties of living life on the fringe of another society.”

Hear the radio interview here:http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/06/12/australian_archbishop_urges_transparency_on_immigration/1151125