Brisbane's Anglican leader has warned authorities they'll have to bash down church doors and arrest clergy to deport asylum seekers who take up the church's offer of sanctuary.
The Dean of Brisbane, Peter Catt, has led the offer by at least 10 churches across the country to protect some of the 267 people facing deportation to Nauru and says he's prepared to face the legal consequences.
"We'll lock the building and we'll see if authorities go as far as breaking down the doors," he said at St John's Cathedral on Thursday.
"I'm certainly prepared to put myself in the way and face consequences which are really quite extreme.
"We're calling on (Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull) to allow the people who are in Australia from Nauru simply to stay."
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says the government will not drag asylum seekers out of churches.
Churches in Queensland, NSW, South Australia and Western Australia have joined the growing list offering sanctuary, a religious concept similar to asylum that dates back to biblical times, a day after a High Court ruling validated Australia's offshore detention regime.
The decision paved the way for 267 asylum seekers who were brought to Australia from Nauru for medical treatment, and babies born in Australia, to be returned to the island.
Mr Dutton has said once they've received medical assistance, the government will look to send people back to Nauru or to their country of origin with financial assistance.
Dr Catt has argued there was irrefutable evidence from health and legal experts that the circumstances asylum seekers, especially children, would face on Nauru were tantamount to state-sanctioned abuse.
After considering offering sanctuary for about a year, Dr Catt decided to act as there were no options left and it's time Australians said: "You're here in this safe country and we're going to keep you safe".
But Queensland Law Society spokesman Bill Potts said while the church was taking a noble stand, there was no modern power of sanctuary in Australian law.
"If the churches could overrule the decision of the courts by granting sanctuary, then pretty soon all of our churches would be more overcrowded than our jails," he told AAP.
"Our religious leaders are making a noble stand. However, they are misguided if they believe it will work," he said.
Australian Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs praised the "symbolic gesture" but agreed it lacked practical enforceability.
Ms Triggs said it was unlikely desperate asylum seekers could get to churches offering sanctuary given many were behind "14-foot razor wire" in detention.
Share
