Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I wish to speak about the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre, or MITA, in Broadmeadows in my electorate of Calwell. Recently there has been much debate, both in the parliament and in the community, about the arrival of asylum seekers. Tonight, I want to tell the House about the developing relationship between my local community and the 130 unaccompanied minors, predominantly from Afghanistan, that currently reside at MITA.

The history of the Broadmeadows facility dates back to 2004, when the then Howard government announced—without community consultation—a $120 million budget allocation to build a high security immigration detention centre on former Defence department land in Broadmeadows. Residents opposed the centre through a campaign called ‘Links not Locks’. We did not want a maximum security razor wire facility in Broadmeadows, and we were successful in averting this. Instead, a low security transit centre was established with a capacity for about 40 people to hold visa over-stayers for a few days before their deportation.

Last week, media attention zeroed in on MITA as a result of an altercation between a group of the young residents, who argued over the use of a computer. The reporting led to some concern and tonight I want to clarify some of the issues and reject any suggestion that the MITA facility is a government secret or a threat to our community. In September, immigration minister Chris Bowen announced that, as part of the government’s contingency plan to deal with a global humanitarian crisis, the MITA centre would be expanded to accommodate a further 100 unaccompanied young male asylum seekers.

As always, I believed that it was important to inform the local community about the expanded centre and, if possible, engage the local community with those who reside in the centre. As well as talking to the community, I recently initiated a regular soccer round robin at the centre, which I am pleased to say is growing in numbers and strength. I was always confident that my community’s reaction would be driven by their values of compassion and humanity. Broadmeadows is a proud, multicultural suburb that has been home to migrant and refugee settlements for 60 years. It is a community well qualified to respond to asylum seekers in a pragmatic and compassionate way.

There has been fervent debate in this House about proposed detention centres and community impact. In relation to MITA, we were not asked if we wanted an expanded transit centre, but I have made it my aim since to seek my community’s involvement and goodwill as part of a process of dealing in a practical way with the current reality. I want to keep the community informed about the centre because I believe that it is the best way to maintain a positive and constructive dialogue on the whole immigration debate. To that end I have been visiting MITA regularly on a weekly basis for some months. I first toured the centre with the Mayor and CEO of Hume City Council and I have spoken to local councillors, our local police, local media and various community groups about the centre, its expansion and its role. We organised an Iftar dinner at MITA during Ramadan, together with members of the Turkish community, the local imam and former refugees who are now Australian citizens.

The soccer matches that I have worked with the MITA administration to establish are aimed at fostering links with the community through sport and providing a physical outlet for the boys. Sport, especially the world game, is a great equaliser for teenage boys no matter where they come from, or what their circumstances. Since the MITA soccer matches began only a couple of months ago, more than 140 young men from the broader community have come to play against the formidable MITA teams, who rarely lose a match.

We have linked up with the Banksia Gardens Community Group, the Brunswick Zebras Football Club, the Whittlesea Rangers, students from Melbourne University, the Latrobe University Centre for Dialogue and local schools, Ilim College and Isik College, as well as students from Alphington Grammar, who have invited the MITA team to their school. Pastor Albert Peck from the Hume Baptist Community Church has also visited the MITA centre and is now looking at arranging a series of volleyball matches to add to the interaction through sport.

Last Saturday I took members of the Broadmeadows Progress Association to the centre as part of my ongoing community information process. Promoting understanding and building relationships is a far more positive way for us as a community to engage in the immigration and refugee debate than relying on sensationalist headlines. And we have seen many of them in recent times. So it is apt that I end with the words of Clare, the mother of young, Angelo, who comes to MITA every Saturday to play soccer. Clare says: ‘The issue of asylum seekers is not about theories, it is about real people and our acceptance of helping world citizens.’