Frank Brennan

Frank Brennan AO is a Jesuit priest and Rector of Newman College at the University of Melbourne. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the PM Glynn Institute at Australian Catholic University and an Adjunct Professor at the Thomas More Law School at ACU.

Frank's recent articles

FRANK BRENNAN. Seeking Clarity on Boat Turnbacks and the Utility of Offshore Refugee Warehousing

Erika Feller (former Assistant High Commissioner UNHCR) and Michael Pezzullo (Secretary, Dept of Immigration and Border Protection) spoke at this years ANU Crawford Australian Leadership Forum on borders and the movement of people. The convenor of the forum is ANU Chancellor Gareth Evans.

FRANK BRENNAN. The origins and incoherence of Australia's asylum seeker policy

During Refugee Week 2017, I would like to offer a historical perspective on how we got to where we are in the hope that we might be able to convince one or both of our major political parties to reset their policy, which is needlessly destroying lives, including the lives of children who are proven refugees still living in the no man's land of Nauru.

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Uluru: Take Time to Get This Right

Fifty years on from the successful 1967 referendum, we have all heard the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Aboriginal and Torres Strait representatives have told us that in 1967 we were counted, in 2007 we seek to be heard. Australians of good will acknowledge that sovereignty is a spiritual notion for Indigenous Australians and that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration and separation of children are indicators of the torment of (their) powerlessness. We affirm the aspiration of the Indigenous leaders gathered at Uluru: When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two...

FRANK BRENNAN. Gonski in An Age of Budget Repair

School funding is a very complex issue in Australia. Its now a poisonous political cocktail. David Gonski who had been the poster boy for Julia Gillards bold education reforms has now been showcased by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Education Minister Simon Birmingham announcing their new deal for school funding.

FRANK BRENNAN. The invidious choice for refugee advocates

Robert Mannes latest piece on the future policy options for refugees on Nauru and Manus Island is now availablehere. The moral-political question is about the choice confronting those of us advocating a change of policy by the major political parties.

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Lets amend 18C to say what it means

The debate over section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act (18C) has gone on for far too long. I welcome the Turnbull governments attempt to amend the provision, while being disappointed yet again at the petty politics played on both sides in Canberra in relation to a matter of principle which needs to be handled sensitively for the good of all citizens in our multicultural Australia.

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. The Catholic wrap-up at the Royal Commission.

But in the past, these spiritual leaders were also professing their commitment to an institution which commanded their hierarchical obedience and clerical acquiescence in protecting the institutions public reputation and its coffers.

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. The Catholic wrap-up at the Royal Commission

Last Monday, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse commenced its three-week examination of the causes of child sexual abuse and cover up in the Catholic Church in Australia over the last 60 years. The statistics were horrifying.

FRANK BRENNAN, TIM COSTELLO, ROBERT MANNE and JOHN MENADUE. We can stop the boats and also act decently, fairly and transparently

The only way forward in dealing with Manus Island and Nauru is for bipartisan commitment to keep the boats stopped while settling refugees in Australia.

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Timorese have had a win but could still lose big-time

Without any media fanfare, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop published a statement on 9 January 2017 announcing that Australia and Timor Leste had agreed to terminate the 2006 Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS).

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. The cost of Alexander Downer cutting corners on Timor Leste a decade ago.

If only the government and their supporters like News Ltd had been prepared to listen to the parliamentary committee a decade ago.

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Will the refugee deal with the US come off?

IF United States President-elect Donald Trump decides not to honour an agreement to accept refugees from Nauru and Manus Island then they should be settled permanently in Australia, Jesuit theologian and lawyer Fr Frank Brennan says.

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. A Welcome Deal and an Acceptable Legislative Compromise

The Turnbull government has struck a deal with the USA which provides hope at last for the 1600 proven refugees on Manus Island and Nauru. Theres still a lot of work to be done before these refugees, including children, can get on with their lives after three years of unnecessary, hopeless agony. I welcome the governments decision, and await the further detail. Sundays announcement was packaged in the usual Canberra wrapping with lots of military brass, restating the need to smash people smuggling rings, keeping the boats stopped, and turning back boats when it is safe and legal to...

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Dog-whistling again on asylum seekers.

Labor has decided not to support the Turnbull governments latest asylum bill which was announced in a most hamfisted way on the Sunday morning before last, and which contains very unacceptable overreach measures. So now it will be a matter for the Senate cross benchers. The Turnbull-Dutton bill is a disgraceful mishmash of dog whistle measures.

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Turnbulls Policy Challenge Wrapped in Turnbull Cant

On Sunday morning, Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Dutton held a joint press conference to announce new legislation in relation to the asylum seekers who have been held on Nauru and Manus Island now for over three years. In this policy area, the perfect is the enemy of the good, and the prospect of a bipartisan approach on means despite agreement on ends has been slight since the Tampa affair in 2001.

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Malcolm Turnbull's defence of Nauru.

This is Frank Brennan's most recent post of Facebook. When interviewed by Fran Kelly this morning, Malcolm Turnbull suggested it was a simple binary choice: strong border protection including the cruel, endless warehousing of proven refugees (including children) on places like Nauru OR deaths at sea. Its not a simple binary choice, and he knows it is not. If the governments priority were safety at sea they would be transparent with us in how they intercept boats and send the people back to Indonesia, being so concerned about the safety of those very people on the boats. But thats...

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Being clear eyed and misty eyed about human rights and asylum seekers.

On 5 October 2016, Frank Brennan gave the Fourth Notre Dame Social Justice Lecture. He said It is time to see if we can design a way of getting the asylum seekers off Nauru and Manus Island in such a way that we don't restart boats. ... The suggestion that those camps need to remain filled in order to send a message to people smugglers so that the boats will stay stopped is not only morally unacceptable, it is strategically questionable. ... In August, I joined Robert Manne, Time Costello and John Menadue in calling for an end to...

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Another win for 'David' Timor against 'Goliath' Australia

David Timor has once again scored a win against Goliath Australia in the international legal forum. Last time it was in the International Court of Justice which took strong exception to Australia's raiding of the office of a lawyer involved in the preparation of Timor Leste's case, though admittedly Australia's one ad hoc judge did dissent on key points from the other 15 judges!

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. The hypocrisy of it all is breath-taking.

As you listen to the self-satisfied, self-congratulatory observations of our Australian representatives at the UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants and at the Obama summit, just ask yourself what Messrs Turnbull and Dutton have done to provide a humane solution for the proven refugees on Nauru (and Manus Island), given that after three years the Abbott and Turnbull governments have not resettled one proven refugee. You will recall that the MOU with Nauru was signed by the Rudd Government just prior to the 2013 election and that Richard Marles, the Labor shadow minister, told us during the recent election that...

FRANK BRENNAN. Why Turnbull has no option other than a plebiscite on Same Sex Marriage

In The Australian Paul Kelly writing on the same sex marriage plebiscite said (23/8), Lawyer and priest Frank Brennan, who has always argued the issue should properly be decided by parliament, told this column: Contrary to Justice Kirby I have urged proponents of same-sex marriage to support legislation for a plebiscite because there is no other way that the matter can be resolved during the life of this parliament with Malcolm Turnbull remaining as Prime Minister. Let me explain.

FRANK BRENNAN. Time to defuse Nauru and Manus Island time bombs

On the weekend, I joined Robert Manne, Tim Costello and John Menadue in calling for an end to the limbo imposed on proven refugees on Nauru and Manus Island. I think this can be done while keeping the boats stopped. I think it ought be done. Appearing on the ABC 7.30 program last Thursday afterThe Guardian's release of 2000 incident reports from Nauru, Peter Dutton, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, told presenter Leigh Sales, 'I would like to get people off Nauru tomorrow but I have got to do it in such a way that we don't...

ROBERT MANNE, FRANK BRENNAN, TIM COSTELLO & JOHN MENADUE. A solution to our refugee crisis

This article was posted in today's The Age. There are two powerful arguments about the plight of the refugees dying a slow death in the offshore processing centres Australia has established and which it maintains on Nauru and Manus Island. The supporters of the present policy argue that we cannot bring these refugees to Australia because to do so would act as a signal to people smugglers, allowing their trade to begin again.

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Refugees - John Howard could do it. Why not Malcolm Turnbull?

My quandary remains: if John Howard was able to keep the boats stopped while closing Nauru and Manus Island, why cant Malcolm Turnbull? If John Howard was able to accept New Zealands offer to resettle some of the caseload why cant Malcolm Turnbull? I just dont buy the line that the people smugglers have become more clever than our intelligence services and that the Indonesians have become less co-operative with our military. If Operation Sovereign Borders depends on protracted, ongoing indecent treatment of proven refugees on Manus Island and Nauru then it doesnt pass the test of basic Australian...

FRANK BRENNAN SJ. How to Stop the Boats Decently after the election

In her valedictory speech on 17 June 2013 after 20 years in parliament Judi Moylan reminded us: If we are committed to stopping the deaths at sea, in this most intransigent of political arenas, our parliament must find a way to forge a national consensus before we can possibly entertain any hope of achieving a regional consensus. There are presently 847 people in the Manus Island RPC and 466 persons in the Nauru RPC. There are 541 persons on Manus Island who have received a positive final determination that they are refugees. There are 915 persons on Nauru who are...

FRANK BRENNAN. Asylum policies and the election.

The following is an extract from a speech by Frank Brennan at the Yass Catholic Parish Pot Luck Dinner on Saturday 28 May 2016. The full text of the speech is in the link below. John Menadue

Frank Brennan SJ. Manus Island proposal.

Asylum seekers on Manus Island should be brought to Australia and processed.Those who are refugees should be permitted to stay in Australia. Neither the Liberal Party nor the Labor Party agree.The race to the bottom and the race against time is now on as the country prepares to go into election mode on or about12 May 2016.The Labor Party is adamant that the Rudd governments MOU with PNG was posited on the firm understanding that the processing and resettlement of the asylum seekers would be done and dusted within 12 months. So here is my proposal for consideration...

Frank Brennan. Cheque book solution on asylum is unconstitutional

A bench of five justices of the Supreme Court of Justice, the highest court in Papua New Guinea, has unanimously ruled that the detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island is unconstitutional. The successful applicant in the case was Belden Norman Namah, the PNG Leader of the Opposition. Unlike the Australian Constitution, the PNG Constitution contains a list of basic human rights including section 42 which deals with 'liberty of the person'. That provision states that 'No person will be deprived of his personal liberty' except in specific circumstances. Back in 2001 when John Howard's government instituted the first Pacific...

Frank Brennan. Deja vu for Timor as Turnbull neglects boundary talks

When Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister six months ago, our Timorese neighbours thought there might be an opportunity to draw a line on the past and to kick start the negotiation of a permanent maritime boundary between Australia and Timor-Leste. For the moment, they find themselves sadly mistaken. Rui Maria de Araujo, the fairly new prime minister of Timor-Leste, wrote to our very new prime minister Malcolm Turnbull inviting him to turn a new leaf in the Australia-Timor relationship. It was not to be. However the Timorese should not lose heart. They are well used to winning the...

Frank Brennan SJ. An Unholy Mess: Cardinal Pell, the Royal Commission are Owed Justice, not Vigilantism

Cardinal George Pell still has a lot of questions to answer before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. On medical advice he has decided not to risk the long plane flight home from Rome. This makes things much harder for victims seeking closure. It makes things harder for others, including members of the Catholic Church and citizens wanting certainty about the appalling offences of the past and clarity about the failures of Church leaders adequately to protect children from repeated abuse by paedophiles. Given the response to Tim Minchin's...

Frank Brennan SJ. The Taxpayers Liability for Long Term Detention on Nauru (and Manus Island)

As the Commonwealth Government contemplates what to do with the Bangladeshi woman in the recent High Court asylum case and her baby born in Australia, it will be relevant to consider the possible civil liability of the Commonwealth for its participation in her detention on Nauru for six months at a time when the Commonwealth Parliament had not specifically authorised the Executive Government to take action or make arrangements co-operating in such detention with a refugee processing centre (RPC). Last year the Immigration Department advised the Senate: It was originally planned that the RPC would operate as an...

Frank Brennan SJ. High Court not the answer to Nauru depravity

The moral depravity of Australian funded and orchestrated holding of asylum seekers, including children, on Nauru and Manus Island is to continue. On Wednesday the High Court made clear that it is in no position to question the retrospective law passed by the Commonwealth Parliament on 30 June 2015 authorising the Australian Government to do whatever it takes to assist countries like Nauru with the detention of asylum seekers sent there by Australia as of 18 August 2012. The court ruled by six to one that offshore detention and processing of asylum seekers was valid according to this...

Frank Brennan. Meeting Pope Francis - the planet and markets.

41 years a Jesuit, I had never met a pope. Back in 1986, I was adviser to the Australian Catholic Bishops on Aboriginal land rights. Pope John Paul II came to Alice Springs, met with Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, and spoke strongly about the rights of Aborigines to retain title to their traditional lands. Next day, a bishop told me the amusing story that the Pope had arrived at Alice Springs airport where he had mistaken Wagga's Bishop William Brennan for me.Bishop Brennan was very gracious about the matter when we embraced during the sign...

Frank Brennan SJ. Free speech and the plebiscite on same sex marriage

Chris Puplick, a former senator and former president of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, is one of a rising chorus expressing strong objections to the Australian Catholic bishops daring to evangelise and speak publicly about their views on same sex marriage. Writing in The Australian on 5 December 2015, Puplickasserts: 'When a person or group of people is described in official publications as being seriously depraved, intrinsically disordered, less than whole and messing with kids, they are entitled to take offence, and to the extent they feel they have been vilified and subjected to hate speech they should of course seek...

Frank Brennan SJ. Cardinal Pell, his lawyers and the Royal Commission

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is about to recommence its case study on the Catholic Church in Ballarat. Last week, the Melbourne Herald Sun reported: 'Victims of child sexual abuse look set to be grilled by lawyers for Cardinal George Pell in a bid to quash explosive allegations he was complicit in a widespread cover-up.' Cardinal Pell will have legal representation separate from the legal team appearing for the Church. He will return from Rome and give evidence at the public hearing next month. I am one of those Catholic priests who thinks that the...

Frank Brennan. Border control gulags have had their time

What are the chances of Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten agreeing by Christmas that it's time to close the refugee processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island?Turnbull and Shorten already agree that the boats coming from Indonesia should be stopped. The boats are now being stopped, if need be, with turnbacks, which neither side of politics now questions. Now that the boats have been stopped and will remain stopped no matter who is in government, there is no reason to maintain the facilities on Nauru and Manus Island. The conditions in these facilities are not only harsh, they are...

Frank Brennan. Bishop Geoffrey Robinson at the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The royal commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continues to fill us with dread that we have not yet adequately identified why the incidence of abuse reported in our institutions is higher than in other churches. The divisions amongst our bishops, previously unreported and unknown previously to many of the faithful, are disheartening. Just this week we have heard Bishop Geoffrey Robinson who was an auxiliary bishop to Cardinal Pell when he was archbishop of Sydney telling the royal commission that His Eminence 'had lost the support of the majority of his priests and that alone made him...

Frank Brennan SJ. Four preconditions for supporting marriage equality.

A committed Catholic gay man, whose integrity I admire and whose hurt from ongoing homophobia I feel, recently asked me to sign a letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott urging that Coalition members be granted a conscience vote and that the Commonwealth Marriage Act be amended promptly to include same sex marriage.He assured me that any change to the law would accommodate religious celebrants who would not celebrate gay weddings, and for religious reasons. I declined his request, assuring him my prayers and a commitment to ongoing dialogue. I have long claimed that our federal politicians should have...

Frank Brennan SJ. 'Amplifying That Still Small Voice'. Book Launch.

'Amplifying That Still Small Voice' A collection of essays byFrank Brennan SJ Book Launch. Dates and times of the 2015 Book launches of Fr Frank Brennan's latest book, 'Amplifying That Still, Small Voice': 1. Tuesday 2 June North Sydney Catholic Parish Hall, 7.30 pm. 2. Wednesday 3 June Hobart Town Hall, 6.15 pm. 3. Friday 5 June, Newman College, Melbourne, 5.00 pm. 4.Monday 8 June, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Canberra, 7.30 pm. 5.Thursday 11 June, Brisbane, Toowong Parish , 7.30 pm. 6.Friday 19 June, Adelaide, St Ignatius Norwood, 7.30 pm. Frank...

Frank Brennan. ANZAC Centenary Homily.

ANZAC Centenary Homily Harvard Memorial Church 25 April 2015 Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO Homily This Memorial Church here at Harvard was dedicated on Armistice Day 1932 in memory of those who died in World War I. The inscription over the south entrance to the memorial room reads, In grateful memory of the Harvard men who died in the World War we have built this Church. It is fitting that we, Australians, New Zealanders, Turks and Americans should gather in this place to mark the centenary of Anzac Day, the day on which Australians...

Frank Brennan SJ. Still seeking a way of stopping the boats decently

This is part of the Gasson Lecture which I delivered at Boston College today: I return to Australia accepting that my political leaders will always maintain a commitment to stopping the boats, no matter what political party they represent; but I return insisting that there is a need for international co-operation to determine how decently to stop the boats while providing an increased commitment to the orderly transfer of an increased number of refugees across our border so that they might live safe and fulfilling lives contributing to the life of the nation. This cannot be done in...

Frank Brennan. Cunneen v ICAC

Margaret Cunneen is a high profile public prosecutor. The NSW Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) wanted to investigate her for corrupt behaviour, but not in relation to anything she did as a prosecutor. They wanted to investigate her behaviour as a private citizen, she being the mother of a boy whose girlfriend was involved in a car accident. The suggestion was that Cunneen on being called to the accident scene was party to a plan that the driver should fake chest pains to escape a blood alcohol test even though the driver had not been drinking and her blood alcohol...

Frank Brennan SJ. The Promoted Pell and the Sacked Morris: Two Catholic Bishops emerging from the Royal Commission

This week the royal commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published three reports relating to the Catholic Church. Understandably the media has focused on the appropriately damning findings made by the royal commission against Cardinal Pell in his ruthless conduct of the Ellis case. Having found that the Archdiocese of Sydney fundamentally failed Mr Ellis in its conduct of the Towards Healing process, the commission found that Cardinal Pell accepted the advice of his lawyers to vigorously defend the claim brought by Mr Ellis, in part to encourage other prospective plaintiffs not to litigate claims of...

High Court decision on Tamil asylum seekers

The majority decided that the detention from 1 to 27 July 2014 was lawful at all times and thus there was no claim to damages for the detention.

Frank Brennan SJ. The Vaticans Synod Questions for the Australian Catholic Church

Following up on the Relatio Synodi, the Vatican has now released the lineamenta (http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20141209_lineamenta-xiv-assembly_en.html) for next years synod on the family. They have appended a list of 46 questions and they want the worlds Catholic bishops answers by April. This will be a demanding task for the Australian bishops for three additional reasons. First, they have not shared with the public the results of the first round of questionnaires circulated before this years synod. Second, the country is about to retire for the summer recess. Third, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) is not due to reconvene for a...

Frank Brennan SJ. The Cardinal Pell precedent.

Speaking of the financial reforms in the Vatican, Cardinal Pell says: 'The first principle was that the Vatican should adopt contemporary international standards, much as the rest of the world does. The second principle meant that Vatican policies and procedures would be transparent. The third important principle within the Vatican was that there should be something akin to a separation of powers and that there would be multiple sources of authority.' Imagine if the same approach were taken to administrative processes in the Holy See. I daresay Bishop William Morris would have received a fair hearing...

Frank Brennan SJ. Making the world safer for children.

The United Nations has developed an elaborate system of committees to oversee compliance by nation states with a broad range of international human rights instruments. These committee processes are sometimes used by nongovernmental organizations pushing their own particular causes. Of late, a group called SNAP the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests have been making submissions to U.N. committees expressing dissatisfaction with the Vatican's response to child sexual abuse. SNAP was pleased with the report published last week by the U.N. Committee Against Torture setting out the committee's concluding observations on Australia's fourth and fifth periodic reports...

Frank Brennan SJ. Women Priests in the Catholic Church - Can we at least talk about it?

There was an interesting exchange on CBS 60 Minutes here in the USA on Sunday night between Cardinal OMalley and Norah ODonnell (See http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cardinal-sean-omalley-works-with-pope-francis-to-reform-catholic-church/). Here is part of the interview: Norah O'Donnell: The church says it's not open to the discussion about ordaining women. Why not? Cardinal Sen O'Malley: Not everyone needs to be ordained to have an important role in the life of the church. Women run the Catholic charities, the Catholic schools, the development office for the archdiocese. Norah O'Donnell: Some would say women do a lot of the work but have very little...

Frank Brennan SJ. The G20 Agenda and Pope Francis

The leaders of the worlds 19 largest economies (together with the EU) are meeting in Brisbane this weekend at the annual G20 meeting. Australia is the host and Prime Minister Tony Abbott is the president this year. The host country gets to put its stamp on the agenda. Last year at St Petersburg, the G20 acknowledged the need to work to ensure that growth is strong, sustainable, inclusive and balanced. At these meetings, a lot of word-smithing goes on even before the world leaders disembark their planes and change into the compulsory conference shirts. In the lead up to this...

Frank Brennan. A tribute to the cautious, quirky, humorous, honourable Wayne Goss

Those of us brought up in Queensland owe a lot to Wayne Goss. I first met him when he was instrumental in setting up the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) in Brisbane in 1974. He was the articled clerk. Roisin Hirschfeld was a young social worker at the ALS. They later married and their two children went on to become Rhodes scholars. With Mark Plunkett, I used go in one day a week to the ALS as a volunteer law student. Matt Foley was there in the wings too.(Plunkett went on to sue Joh Bjelke Petersen for conspiracy to pervert the...

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