The Edmund Rice Centre has questioned the changes to asylum policy announced today by the Federal Government, naming them as running in direct contradiction to what Australia is asking of other nations in our region.

The Edmund Rice Centre welcomes the Expert Panel's recommendation to lift the humanitarian intake quota to 20,000 (to increase to 27,000 over the next 5 years). This is a tacit recognition that there are serious conflicts around the world which force people to flee to escape death and persecution, in some of which conflicts Australia has played a very active role.

The Edmund Rice Centre today called upon Federal politicians to forge a 'concrete and durable mechanism' for bipartisan cooperation on Australia's asylum policy.

The Yolngu Nations Assembly recently called on the Senate not to pass the Federal Government’s Stronger Futures legislation, which will extend the NT intervention by up to a decade. Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) strongly supports the call of the Yolngu Elders and their opposition to the Australian Government’s Stronger Futures Bills. 

Deportations research just conducted in Afghanistan by the respected Australian social justice organisation, Edmund Rice Centre, has revealed further horrors confronted by asylum seekers who have been returned there by the Australian Government.