Ben Courtice & Margarita Windisch,, Melbourne
6 October 2007
On October 3, immigration minister Kevin Andrews admitted that the federal government has cut the number of African refugees accepted into Australia for racist reasons, namely that African refugees were “not adjusting too well” to Australian society.
Immigration minister Kevin Andrews
The government announced in August that it would slash the annual quota of African refugees to 3900 — or 30% of Australia’s total humanitarian intake — down from 70% of the intake in 2004-05.
Andrews told journalists on October 3 that the government would not accept any more applications from Africans for the humanitarian refugee program until at least July next year. “We have detected that there have been additional challenges in relation to some of the people that have come from Africa … We know that there is a large number of people who are young.
“And on top of that they have the challenges of resettling in a culture which is vastly different from the one which they came from.”
Human rights commissioner Graeme Innes and race discrimination commissioner Tom Calma have both responded to Andrews’ statement, Innes pointing out “Of course people fleeing war-torn countries or cruel regimes may well have special settlement needs, but this is not a reason to reject them.”
Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria chairperson Phong Nguyen said the refugee program should be based on need, and the greatest need was in Africa, where millions are stuck in refugee camps.
“It is simply inhumane for the Australian government to close the door on these people based on perceptions that some African refugees are not integrating into the Australian community”, he said.
There has been a concerted media campaign to vilify and demonise African refugees, particularly those coming from Sudan, suggesting that they are to blame for gang violence and other anti-social behaviour taking place in Australian cities.
Andrews “said the decision had been made after confidential advice to the cabinet, and rejected Victorian Chief Police Commissioner Christine Nixon’s assessment that Africans committed less than 1% of crime in her state”, the October 4 New Zealand Herald reported.
According to the October 5 Melbourne Age, Andrews’ comments “ prompted talkback callers to raise minor crime issues and talk of Sudanese gangs”.
Some of the most anti-social behaviour seen in recent times has not come from African youth but was the shameful and racist actions of mobs of white Australians at Cronulla in 2005.
In 2003, the Socialist Alliance has helped organise a rally in Footscray to protest against police racism after a young Somali man was racially abused and beaten unconscious by the police. We also know that harassment and physical abuse of African immigrants — a common occurrence the western suburbs of Melbourne — needs to be challenged.
Much of the poverty and many of the wars African refugees are fleeing from are a by-product of Western neo-colonialism. It is our duty to highlight and oppose the mercenary practices of Western corporations in these countries and, at the same time, demand that Australia and other rich countries open their borders to poor people in need.
[Ben Courtice is the Socialist Alliance candidate for Gellibrand and Marganita Windisch is a Socialist Alliance Senate candidate for Victoria.]
Andrews told journalists on October 3 that the government would not accept any more applications from Africans for the humanitarian refugee program until at least July next year. “We have detected that there have been additional challenges in relation to some of the people that have come from Africa … We know that there is a large number of people who are young.
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“We know that they have on average low levels of education, lower … than almost any other group of refugees that have come to Australia. We know that many of them, if not most of them, have spent up to a decade in refugee camps and they’ve spent much of their lives in very much a war-torn, conflicted situation. “And on top of that they have the challenges of resettling in a culture which is vastly different from the one which they came from.”
Human rights commissioner Graeme Innes and race discrimination commissioner Tom Calma have both responded to Andrews’ statement, Innes pointing out “Of course people fleeing war-torn countries or cruel regimes may well have special settlement needs, but this is not a reason to reject them.”
Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria chairperson Phong Nguyen said the refugee program should be based on need, and the greatest need was in Africa, where millions are stuck in refugee camps.
“It is simply inhumane for the Australian government to close the door on these people based on perceptions that some African refugees are not integrating into the Australian community”, he said.
There has been a concerted media campaign to vilify and demonise African refugees, particularly those coming from Sudan, suggesting that they are to blame for gang violence and other anti-social behaviour taking place in Australian cities.
Andrews “said the decision had been made after confidential advice to the cabinet, and rejected Victorian Chief Police Commissioner Christine Nixon’s assessment that Africans committed less than 1% of crime in her state”, the October 4 New Zealand Herald reported.
According to the October 5 Melbourne Age, Andrews’ comments “ prompted talkback callers to raise minor crime issues and talk of Sudanese gangs”.
Some of the most anti-social behaviour seen in recent times has not come from African youth but was the shameful and racist actions of mobs of white Australians at Cronulla in 2005.
In 2003, the Socialist Alliance has helped organise a rally in Footscray to protest against police racism after a young Somali man was racially abused and beaten unconscious by the police. We also know that harassment and physical abuse of African immigrants — a common occurrence the western suburbs of Melbourne — needs to be challenged.
Much of the poverty and many of the wars African refugees are fleeing from are a by-product of Western neo-colonialism. It is our duty to highlight and oppose the mercenary practices of Western corporations in these countries and, at the same time, demand that Australia and other rich countries open their borders to poor people in need.
[Ben Courtice is the Socialist Alliance candidate for Gellibrand and Marganita Windisch is a Socialist Alliance Senate candidate for Victoria.]
Source: Green Left Online, Oct 06, 2007