Whilst welcoming Immigration Minister Chris Bowen's lifting of the freeze on processing of Afghan asylum claims, the Edmund Rice Centre today expressed serious concerns about the Minister's statement that he now expects lower numbers of successful claims.

The Edmund Rice Centre in conjunction with the Pacific Calling Partnership next week will be taking a delegation of Australian community leaders to Kiribati. The delegation will be led by one of the most senior Indigenous leaders in Australia Patrick Dodson and ERC director Phil Glendenning, and will include representatives from Indigenous communities, the arts, media and education.

Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning, expressed serious concerns today at both the content and language used by Prime-Minister Julia Gillard in her address this morning on the Government's policy response to asylum-seekers.

Researchers at the Edmund Rice Centre this evening condemned the asylum seeker policy announced today by the Coalition, rejecting it as a return to the worst strategies of the past, with potential dire consequences.

On the first anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka's civil war, Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning, who recently returned from Sri Lanka, said tonight that the country is not safe for deported asylum seekers.

“The position taken by Minister Evans yesterday - in urging caution about returning asylum seekers connected to the Tamil Tigers - is a very sound and welcome development. However, based on our experience, similar reservations need to be extended to all those who left Sri Lanka by unauthorized means,” Mr Glendenning said.