JSM - Edition Two

A ustralia N eeds T o I ntake M ore C hild R efugees A letter to P rime M inister M alcolm T urnbull - continued Currently Australia’s population is approximately 23.2 million people. We are the sixth largest country in the world with 7,741,220 square kilometres yet our population is quite small. I believe that we have so much land and other natural resources and I feel that we have plenty of space to take on more child refugees. Living on the Gold Coast, I have learnt some interesting facts about the refugee situa- tion locally. Currently on the Gold Coast the Humanitarian Programme focuses upon assisting refu- gees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Refugee students that now live on the Gold Coast have recently been provided with professional tutoring and assistance with their homework at the Multi-Cultural Home- work Club. This program provides a service to support and help children from diverse backgrounds to help them improve upon social and academic skills. Refugees are taught Australian laws and culture, as well as English through the Adult Migrant English Program. They are also assisted to seek employment, find accommodation and counselling if required. Refugees are assisted to access services such as Centrelink, Medicare and banking facilities. Refugees are entitled to the same benefits as other Australian residences and do not receive higher benefits than other people who are on social security benefits. Nationally, I have learnt the following: Australia’s immigration program has two parts – Migration for Capable Migrants and Humanitarian for Refugees and others with needs. A big element of the humanitarian program is Australia’s Offshore Resettlement Program which helps people in humanitarian need overseas for when resettlement in another country is the only option. In the past 63 years over 600,000 refugees and other displaced people have resettled in Australia.

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