Page 946 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 2018
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Because we know that, the ACT government committed almost $1.4 million over four years in the last budget to support refugees and asylum seekers to improve their language skills and to provide workforce participation assistance to new migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
We also know that the government cannot do this crucial work alone. The ACTÂ government funds a range of support services through partners like Companion House, Multicultural Youth Services, and Migrant and Refugee Settlement Services to work with migrants and refugees to ensure that they can build new and better lives in Canberra. The services these organisations offer support those who are suffering from persecution, torture and war-related trauma. They provide assistance in finding a job, getting to school, relationship and family matters and other settlement and related services.
Many of these organisations come together with ACT government officials every two months in the Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Humanitarian Coordination Committee. The RASH committee, as it is known, is supported by the Community Services Directorate. It provides a conduit for community organisations and governments, both local and federal, to share information, to work together constructively and to provide advice to government where needed on the concerns of refugees, humanitarian entrants and the organisations that work with them.
Of course, the work of these community organisations is a testament not just to our commitment to those in need but also to that of the broader Canberra community. These organisations are supported by volunteers and dedicated staff. Many refugee and migrant Canberrans work for them and with them. The ACT community, alongside the government, supports these organisations because we want to deliver on the hope of people who just want to be safe. It is a terrible thing that the federal coalition government consistently seeks to dash this hope. You do not give people hope by demonising and stereotyping them.
The Red Cross recently released a report about asylum seekers and other humanitarian entrants falling through the gap. I wish to quote briefly from it. The report talks a lot about barriers that people face in accessing services and support. It states:
Compounding the above, the report also finds that a frequently negative public portrayal of migrants, including the broader debate on diversity in Australia, impacts on the ability of migrants to feel safe, to feel like they belong, and to engage with supports and assistance they need from the community.
We do not take that attitude in Canberra. We are a refugee welcome zone and we demonstrate that in the multiple ways that we celebrate our cultural diversity and the contributions that refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants make to our city.
I would say to Minister Dutton, the federal minister, that you do not give people hope by demonising and stereotyping them, and you certainly do not give people hope by reducing their capacity to support themselves, as he has done through changes to the status resolution support payment, and then condemn them when they find it hard to learn English, build new lives and settle in the community.
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