Page 1805 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 8 June 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
government how we can improve people’s English in this city—those who would like to learn it but who have family barriers. That has been a great focus of my work, as you know. Fifteen per cent have never attended school in their own country. This makes it difficult for them to achieve work sometimes. Nearly 50 per cent have never undertaken paid work and they therefore need proper support.
Given these facts, we are not surprised that many refugees will have significant challenges in developing their language proficiency and engaging in employment. It is clear that we have a great deal of work to do in this space and always have had. And until now, as a bipartisan effort, we have supported these people. There has never been a quibble or question from this side about such support or how we could increase it or improve it. It is clear we have a great deal of work to do in this space and always have done.
This is why federal governments have been so committed to providing settlement services, not just allowing new arrivals to slip through the cracks and not access the benefits that Australia has to offer. The federal government has committed over $800 million to process and resettle 12,000 additional refugees on top of the 13,750 we take every year. These additional refugees will come from the conflict in Syria and Iraq. That is 12,000 over and above the current stated annual number of 13,750.
What we know is that it is vital to be able to provide housing options, suitable employment opportunities and health services, as well as support and integration services, given that many of our most recent arrivals have fled traumatic events. Our goal should be to ensure that migrants and refugees are able to build happy, healthy and successful lives in Australia.
This process can take many years, even a generation. There is no quick fix. Mr Hinder’s motion today is nothing short of an attempt to play dirty politics and to muddy the waters on an issue of refugees on a day like World Refugee Day, which is celebrated on 20 June. It is disgraceful tactic on what should just be a strong bipartisan area.
It is Mr Hinder who comes to this place today to be divisive. It is Mr Hinder who basically is here supporting the Greens federal policy to increase the refugee intake to 50,000 a year, which was the basis of the comments that were made. We have seen over this term that ACT Labor has been supportive of the Greens. This is why we have got a $1.65 billion tram coming and a huge expense per household for the building of that behemoth, which every household will pay for, whether they are wealthy or whether they are poor.
However, I am surprised that ACT Labor is now spruiking the federal Greens policy without any thought to how it will be implemented or who will fund the additional services. If Mr Hinder thinks he can do a better job of federal policy, maybe he should take Katy’s lead and go and stand on the hill. I do not shun ACT politics. I think this is a place to make a difference on the things that we legislate on, on the matters that matter here. It is a constant barrage from the other side whenever they get a chance to speak of issues to do with the federal arena. Do they not have any concerns to deal with in their own electorates?
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video