Are we really our brother’s keeper? Despite, or perhaps because of, the deepening divisions that appears to be infecting our public discourse and national conversations, Pope Francis’ use of clear, explicit language two weeks ago made the headlines internationally.
The pope was addressing one of the wicked problems of our time, the exploitation of asylum seekers by opportunistic politicians. His message was simple and morally unambivalent. Making this powerful call he said, “those who work systematically and with every means possible to repel migrants when done with awareness and responsibility, is a grave sin.”
He went on to say, “We can all agree on one thing: migrants should not be in those seas and in those lethal deserts. But it is not through more restrictive laws, it is not with the militarisation of borders, it is not with rejection that we will obtain this result.”
I heard the pope’s comments reported on ABC news radio as I drove out to the Minister of Home Affairs’ office in Punchbowl. I went to meet a dear Tamil friend of mine who was making up the numbers on the protest line outside Minister Tony Burke’s office.
I wanted to see my friend because I was worried about everyone’s health in this situation. His friend, Mano Yogalingam, 23, had died the week before after self-immolating in Melbourne’s south-east. Mano’s death came after more than a decade spent on a bridging visa in Australia.
The heartbreak and despair that drives a young fellow to this kind of act can only be imagined by most of us who have the privilege and protection of Australian citizenship. As Senator David Pocock said, Mano’s death highlighted the “devastating human cost of not dealing expeditiously with the failed fast-track system. This cruel system has meant that this young man, who came to Australia as a child not much younger than I did, was left in limbo with so little hope for the future.”
What I found on the protest line was a very large group of women and men, a very tidy and organised seating arrangement and a warm welcome with cool watermelon. I sat and chatted with the wonderful Kalyani Inpakumar from the Tamil Refugee Council as she explained to me why so many—over the weekend there were between 600 and 700 families at the protest—can no longer sit in silence.
She told me that while Labor had put 19,000 refugees on permanent protection visas, thousands of people who sought protection in Australia were disadvantaged by what is called the “fast track” system introduced by the previous government. This system Labor itself has found “does not provide a fair, thorough and robust assessment process for persons seeking asylum.”
Nevertheless, there are still thousands of people caught in the bind of an unfair system with no voice and no power. And they have been in this situation for over a decade—no Medicare, no study or work rights, no way forward and no way back. This is the genesis of despair.
The pope went on to call for an expansion of safe, legal pathways for people to use, “promoting in every way a global governance of migration based on justice, fraternity and solidarity.”
In Australia we have spent the last three decades contracting our borders, our hospitality, and our compassion for those who come to us seeking protection. Old people like me will remember a different Australia, an Australia that took real pride in our capacity and competence to settle over 80,000 people who came to our shores seeking protection.
As I sat outside the minister’s office and watched as the local community came by with coffee and offers of pizza and words of encouragement I knew which side of the fence I wanted to be on. Pope Francis is right, treating thousands of people so badly in order to “send a message” that Australia is closed to those seeking protection is a grave sin.
But it is all of us who share this sin, not just those who implement cruel and capricious policies. We really are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. All of us are called to stand in solidarity with those whose only crime is to imagine we are a people that care.
Julie Macken is a Justice and Peace Facilitator for the Archdiocese of Sydney.