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Submission to National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention from
Marist Brothers' Province Centre
We, the Solidarity Committee of the Marist Brothers Province of Melbourne, wish to make the following submission to the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.
We believe that immigration detention is profoundly detrimental for children. As an Institution involved with the education and welfare of school aged children, our many years of collective experience tell us that for children to thrive they need to be and feel safe, secure and loved. We know from reports from people who have visited the detention centres, and from the reports we are receiving through the media, that these centres are not places that are able to promote for children a sense of safety, security and love.
We ask the Inquiry to recommend that children spend an absolute maximum of two weeks in a detention centre, while their health and the identity of their families are checked. We ask the Inquiry to recommend that children, in the company of at least one parent, be released into the community where they can begin the process of healing after the trauma they have faced on their difficult journeys to Australia.
We ask the Inquiry to recommend that children be supported through access to appropriate education and health care by Government agencies while they await decisions affecting their future and that of their families.
Signed: The Solidarity Committee of the Marist Brothers Province of Melbourne
Last Updated 9 January 2003.Brother Paul Gilchrist (Provincial Superior)
Brother Gregory McCrystal
Brother Doug Walsh
Brother Dennis Cooper
Brother John Dyson
Brother Linus Meehan
Brother Bryan Leak
Mr Mark Thomas
