The Uniting Church today welcomed new figures from the Federal Government that show only one asylum seeker child remains in detention, but warned the figures only paint a half truth when it comes to Australia's mandatory detention policy.

Leaders of the Uniting Church in Australia are calling on the Government to immediately release children and their families from detention and implement all the recommendations of the report from the Human Rights Commission Inquiry into Children in Detention.

On the eve of Good Friday - the day when we recall how those in authority put an innocent man to death on a cross - the Uniting Church has learnt that the Australian Government is about to use powers again to forcibly send asylum seekers back to Iran, where they face their own persecution and 'crucifixion'.

Leaders of the Uniting Church in Australia today said they are not surprised that the Australian Government ignored the pleas for asylum of the Turkish Kurds from the Minasa Bone.

The Four Corners report on the conditions at Woomera detention centre (19 May) has finally exposed the horrific consequences of the Federal Government's policy of mandatory detention.

Uniting Church leaders today condemned the Federal Government for its agreement with the Iranian Government to accept the forced deportations of failed Iranian asylum seekers.

The Uniting Church in Australia national spokesperson on refugee and asylum issues says she is encouraged by Labor's Refugee Policy released this morning, "although some areas deserve further work."

The Uniting Church in Australia believes that the Federal Government's response to the situation of the Bakhtiari family is cruel and inhumane.

The Federal Government's refusal to close detention centres and implement an alternative refugee and asylum seeker policy is to blame for the dangerous conditions at Curtin Detention Centre according to leaders of the Uniting Church.

The acting National Director, Social Responsibility and Justice, Uniting Church in Australia, Ms Rosemary Hudson Miller, today expressed her concern at the possibility of the passing of the Migration Amendment Bills.