Good Samaritan Sister Sarah Puls has been appointed as the new National Executive Officer for ACRATH, one of Australia’s leading grassroots organisations working to end human trafficking and slavery.
By Debra Vermeer
Sarah, who has been a member of ACRATH (Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans) since 2012, said she felt privileged to be taking up the role and was looking forward to listening to and learning from all involved, especially the victim-survivors of slavery and trafficking.
“ACRATH is a wonderful organisation,” she said. “There are so many people involved in so many different ways, and all sorts of amazing projects going on according to where people’s passion is and interest and capacity.
“I don’t think I’ve ever encountered another organisation that does that with such creativity – lots of different people doing different things, but all focused on the same kind of vision.
“I think, for me, going into the role, the challenge is to be asking, where is the need now, for ACRATH to respond to the needs of today?
“I know the organisation has recently done a mission review, looking at where the priorities and the needs are at the moment. So, I’m keen to get stuck into that.”
ACRATH launched in 2005 when Sister Louise Cleary CSB and the late Sister Pauline Coll SGS invited religious congregations to begin collaborating to stop human trafficking, and it is now present in five states and the Australian Capital Territory.
It works to combat human trafficking and slavery via a range of avenues, including:
- Accompanying and advocating for people who have been trafficked or exploited in Australia;
- Supporting and advocating for those in exploited and forced labour;
- Advocating for systemic change; and
- Educating parishes, schools, community groups and the health sector about slavery.
The organisation was also a key participant in the successful campaign for the establishment of the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act, as well as several other pieces of legislation.
Sister Sarah Puls SGS, ACRATH National Executive Officer. Image: ACRATH.
ACRATH’s President, Good Samaritan Sister Clare Condon, said the National Committee appointed Sarah with an initial three-year agreement following an extensive search.
“She brings diverse experience as a clinical pastoral supervisor at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Casework Team Leader at Jesuit Refugee Service, and Pastoral Carer at Villawood Detention Centre. In recent years she has been involved in formation at her congregational level in Kiribati,” Clare said.
“This year, ACRATH is celebrating its 20th year. Twenty years is a great achievement, but there is still much to do. There is no decrease in the statistics from around the world about slavery and human trafficking.”
Clare said one of Sarah’s key tasks would be to work with members on setting a new strategic direction for ACRATH, to take up from the current 2023-2025 document.
She said the appointment affirmed the deep commitment of religious congregations and lay people to ACRATH’s mission.
“It’s great that it’s a partnership of lay Catholics,” Clare said.
Sarah said she was looking forward to working with the governing body, the members, the victim-survivors, the broader faith community and civic leaders in her new position.
“In my previous experience with ACRATH, being a part of the advocacy team to visit Canberra, there was a recognition that ACRATH comes to Parliament House because it wants to help raise the voices of victim-survivors and their needs, not because ACRATH is gaining anything from it, and I think that is key to the strength of its advocacy,” she said.
“The politicians we meet know that on the issue of migrant labour, for instance, there are ACRATH members who go out to visit farms, to talk with workers who have come to Australia as migrant labour about what their experience is like, and that being available to listen is so important for how ACRATH’s work is shaped. It couldn’t happen without all those members.”
Sarah, who has recently completed a formation program at the International Union of Superiors-General in Rome, holds a Master of Divinity, Grad Dip Migration Law and Practice, a Bachelor of Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts.
She said that in bringing her Good Samaritan background to the role, she was keen to learn more about how Australia can be a good neighbour in the Pacific, both in terms of protecting people who leave Pacific nations to work on migrant visas in Australia, and also, to support the Pacific nations that are losing skilled workers to Australia because of higher pay.
On a more local level, Sarah said that the ACRATH Companions Program, where members spend time with victim-survivors of trafficking or slavery, is another practical way of being neighbour.
“Being neighbour needs only to be a simple thing,” she said. “It’s about understanding that that there is this person in our community who has had a really hard experience and is trying to rebuild their lives. What can we, just as human beings walking alongside them, offer in terms of friendship, a steadiness, a connection with the community? And I think the ACRATH members, over many years, have done that very quietly and graciously.”
Sarah is also hoping that ACRATH can continue to build on the work already being done in schools to encourage young people to share their gifts and their deep interest in the issues in a way that fits in with their often-busy lives.
She said much progress had been made in raising awareness of slavery and trafficking across the Catholic sector, particularly in the education, healthcare and parish settings. This ranged from practical matters such as tracing supply chains for anti-slavery procurement to completing ACRATH’s micro-credential for teachers and health workers to train them in identifying and assisting the victims of trafficking.
Sarah said she would be building on the legacy of former long-serving National Executive Officer Christine Carolan who held the NEO role for 10 years and was project officer before that, as well as interim NEO Lys Crowe.
“Christine was in the role for such a long time, and she brought such creativity, and I’m very aware of how this is going to stretch me to me more creative, so it’s a good challenge for me,” Sarah said.
“I’m really looking forward to learning and listening and getting to know the people, because my experience with ACRATH is that there is just such generosity and commitment among the staff and the members, and that’s a great group of people to be alongside and to work together with. It’s a privilege to be given the chance to get involved in this work in a more significant way than previously, a real privilege.”
For information about how you can support ACRATH, visit www.acrath.org.au
