Australian firebrand Hanson backs African refugee cut

Monday, October 08, 2007

Pauline Hanson

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian right-wing firebrand Pauline Hanson on Friday backed a controversial government decision to cut African refugee numbers, linking them to gang crime and diseases such as HIV and leprosy.

Hanson, who rose to prominence campaigning against Asian immigration in the 1990s, said she agreed with the government assessment that African refugees found it more difficult than others to settle into Australian society.

The former member of parliament, who will contest an upcoming election with Hanson's United Australia Party, said a moratorium on immigration would form part of her platform at the poll, expected to be held late November.

"You can't bring people into the country who are incompatible with our way of life and culture," she told reporters. "They get around in gangs and there is escalating crime that is happening."
Hanson also linked African refugees to health problems.

"It's been recorded in Victoria (state) that there is a 25 percent increase in HIV, there is TB and a case of leprosy which has been recorded in South Australia," she said.

The Australian government has lowered the African proportion of its 13,000 a year refugee intake from 70 to 30 percent, ruling out any new African refugees before next July as the quota has already been filled.
Critics have accused the conservative government of attempting to play the race card ahead of the election but Prime Minister John Howard has rejected the suggestion as "contemptible."

Sudanese Community Association of Australia spokesman Choul Deng Gai denied there was a problem with gangs of Sudanese youths and said the community should not be singled out for punishment.
"We feel we are welcomed by the Australian community, and we should have no problem with anyone," he told ABC radio. "When somebody does something against the law, let them do something against the individual, not Sudanese."

Source: AFP, Oct 08, 2007