Page 773 - Week 02 - Thursday, 23 February 2012
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Given Canberra’s role as the national capital, we have many embassies and high commissions from around the world. This means that not only do we have many ambassadors and diplomats here but also we have their staff and families. These people have also made numerous significant contributions to the development of Canberra’s culture. They add to the rich tapestry of cultural events and inspiring speakers who come to Canberra.
In the 1950s and 1960s Canberra had a large wave of post-war migrants from Europe, including Germans, Italians, Greeks and those from the Balkan states. Due to our proximity to the Snowy Mountains, there was also a large number of skilled European workers who migrated to Australia to work on the Snowy Hydro scheme and moved to Canberra when the project finished.
When the white Australia policy ended, which was a good thing, we saw many Asian immigrants and, significantly to Canberra, we received many Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s. Canberra also had a number of Lebanese refugees in the 1980s and we have continued to take in refugees from around the world, including Kosovo, Sudan and Afghanistan. The Greens welcome the growing cultural diversity in Canberra as a result of this.
It is, of course, very important, as has already been mentioned today, to ensure that we are looking after the needs of current refugees and newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers, including adequately resourcing the migrant resource centre and other such services. As has already been acknowledged today, MARSS do a wonderful job, as do the Canberra refugee association. The scholarship program they run is excellent. There is federal funding for these programs, but the ACT government has an important role in monitoring the needs of migrants, particularly refugees and asylum seekers, especially when it comes to housing, education, interpreter services and providing information in a range of languages.
I echo the minister’s words on refugees. It is vital that we remember the types of situations that refugees and asylum seekers come from. Most of us could barely even begin to imagine what they have been through, including major conflicts, civil war, having been tortured—all the horrific things that have happened to them. We need to be talking openly and honestly about the proper processes that people have been through, and also the fact that asylum seekers—when it is mentioned that they need to go through a proper process—often do not have a proper process to go through. They have very little options and we need to have compassion when we are considering this.
I would also like to acknowledge, as Mrs Dunne has, Marion Le—I actually came in contact with her through her work on refugee issues—and also Jane Keogh, who she has worked with, who do a fantastic job in keeping in contact with people who are in detention centres. They maintain contact with them and assist them in any way. It is about providing them with some correspondence so that they know there are people who are thinking of them and talking to them.
As a result of having a high population of diplomatic families, as well as families who work for departments such as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and
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