Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The importance of a strong community and a flexible model to integrate refugees into Australian society cannot be stressed enough. All too often there is a one-size-fits-all model when it comes to introducing refugees to Australian society. This cannot work successfully. I am fortunate in my electorate of Ryan to have many caring and compassionate members. Through churches, charities, small local groups and especially individuals, they reach out to refugees as best they can. However, when they are stifled by bureaucracy and inflexible red tape, worthy deeds become futile.

I recently heard the story of a young Middle Eastern man who is suffering serious depression as a result of being separated from his home and his family. A kind woman in my electorate took him in, unaware of his mental condition, and she was not considered appropriate or important enough to be told about his background. When this young man tried to take his life, my constituent was helpless. She rushed him to the hospital. Once there, the young man spent days under close surveillance. Meanwhile, my constituent was kept totally in the dark, unsure as to whether or not the young man had even survived. Luckily, he did pull through. However, my constituent is a middle aged woman living on her own. She knew she would be unable to physically help the young man were he to try suicide again—not to mention the psychological stress the situation had already placed on her, with no offering of counselling or support after this incident. So she asked that, if the young man were to return—she still wished to help him—a male acquaintance of his also join him in her house. This all became much too hard for the group administering the settlement of the refugees and, in the end, the poor young man, who really did need help and somewhere to settle down, was pushed back into the system. Gone! Gone to someone else, who, no doubt, has been deemed not important enough to know his background.

This situation cannot continue. I always tell my community members when they ask what can be done about the refugee situation in Australia that real change starts with the individual. Yet no matter how dedicated and hard working the individual, with an unhelpful bureaucracy they will get nowhere and the vicious cycle will continue.

Government has the opportunity to change the situation, to let the good members of our Australian community reach out and help those people who are new to our great country. We just need to give them the chance. We should all recognise that diversity makes Australia stronger.

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! In accordance with standing order 193 the time for constituency statements has concluded.