Page 5114 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 17 November 2009
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find a home, so that they are part of our community. Therefore, it is very important that the government supports such programs as those run by the Migrant Resource Centre, which help with English classes, job application procedures and forming social networks.
Refugee and migrant youth homelessness remain an ongoing problem in the ACT. The government’s transitional housing program is not set up to house youth but, rather, to house families. Organisations such as the Multicultural Youth Service have continuously raised this point. Indeed, a lot of their work has been finding temporary accommodation for homeless migrant and refugee youth, in particular since the closure of CCHYP and APSSA in Canberra this year.
There is still a long way to go in supporting refugees and migrants in the ACT. Young women are still facing high levels of school dropout, truancy, social isolation, family conflict, relationship issues and unplanned pregnancies. For refugees recovering from trauma, they are at great risk of drug and alcohol abuse and violence, and they risk, unfortunately, being involved with the corrective services.
I am happy to say there has also been progress. A few years ago, there were problems for refugees who were here under temporary protection visas, because they, of course, did not have permanent residency and, therefore, were not eligible for Centrelink concessions. Thankfully, this problem has now been resolved as TPVs have been abolished. But there are many refugees in Canberra, even those with masters degrees, who unfortunately are finding difficulties finding employment in Canberra. Possibly we should have a situation of refugee apprenticeships, similar to the situation we already have for Indigenous Australians here in the ACT.
Along these lines, the Migrant Resource Centre runs an after-school English program for students up to age 25 on three afternoons a week to give them free help with homework and study. This includes not only learning English but writing essays, reports and journals and acquiring study skills, studying school subjects and social support. Unfortunately, these classes are only in Civic, which makes it very hard for some young refugees to access them, and they do not provide sufficient opportunities for the refugees to socialise in their local environments. It would be great if these services could also be offered by the youth centres in other parts of Canberra so that young refugees in Tuggeranong, Woden and Belconnen can easily access these services as well as meet people in their local community.
A great example of young people getting involved in community inclusive events is in Melbourne, where young refugees are able to be involved in community radio programs through 3CR, which has specialised shows such as Sudanese or Arabic hip-hop. These programs give people a great sense of the community, their community of origin and the community that they are moving into.
One of the things that I would like to say in conclusion is that in the ACT we have the Human Rights Act, which entitles people to protection of their fundamental human rights. We need that to be extended to everyone in Australia, including the right to seek asylum. Under the Refugee Convention, asylum seekers should not be penalised because of their method of arrival into the country, and certainly we do not do that in
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