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

The Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre, located in Broadmeadows in my electorate, was originally established by the Howard government to be a low security transit accommodation centre for visa overstayers. In the last couple of years the government has placed unaccompanied minors in the centre, and its capacity has been expanded from its original 50 to about 140. Last year I spoke about my own community's involvement with the MITA centre and of the developing relationship between the local community and the 130 unaccompanied minors who were then resident there. I spoke of the interaction between those who were at the centre and a wide range of local schools, community groups and organisations and about my community's enthusiasm to build relationships and engage in a positive way.

I am pleased to say that all the unaccompanied minors have now left MITA and are in community detention facilities. The government's community detention program has to date been a very successful part of the overall management of asylum seekers in this country. While we maintain mandatory detention, we also acknowledge that families and unaccompanied minors do not need to remain in high security detention. With the minors in community detention, the MITA is beginning to receive older asylum seekers—people who are generally on a positive pathway but who need to remain and are better off in low security detention. My community has therefore once again risen to the occasion, and on the basis of the infrastructure that was built and the involvement that took place last year I am proud to say that my community once again has shown that it is driven by its values of compassion and humanity. This again is the case—and very much so—with the Islamic Council of Victoria, which was the first organisation to be involved at the MITA with its new residents. I congratulate the Islamic Council of Victoria for the initiative it took last Sunday to conduct a Ramadan festival at the MITA detention centre. I also want to note to the House that recently I was visited by a number of pastors from my electorate who represent a significant part of my constituency, and I want to report to the House that they urged this House to show compassion towards refugees and asylum seekers. In fact, they offered the government and this parliament their homes and churches—offered them to the people who come here seeking asylum. This is the nature of the Australian community as I have come to know it, and I want to pay tribute to the compassion not only in my electorate but also in cities, towns and regional centres across Australia.

Recently, the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, which I chair, visited the South Australian town of Mount Gambier to investigate a humanitarian resettlement program. About four years ago, Mount Gambier was chosen to pilot the humanitarian settlement of refugees in regional centres. Since 2007, more than 800 refugees have settled on the Limestone Coast. The pilot's success shows the strength and goodwill of communities across Australia—in particular, regional communities, who can provide the right context for successful humanitarian refugee settlement programs. The refugees in Mount Gambier arrived straight from refugee camps and are predominantly from Burma, Afghanistan and the Congo. Our committee had the opportunity to hear firsthand how the town managed the many complexities associated with refugee settlement, and most impressive was the management of the refugee children, who had little English and had never lived outside a camp. I want to congratulate the local Mount Gambier primary school for the excellent program that it provides for these children.

It is, and it was, a welcome reminder to us all that Australians, whether in cities or in regional towns, have the capacity and inclination to be welcoming and supportive. This is because we know that, when we welcome migrants and refugees to Australia, we are investing in our future, increasing our human capacity in a rapidly changing world, and not only fulfilling our international and humanitarian obligations but also enriching our society and building Australia's capacity to meet the challenges of the future.

I think that our country is at a stage in its awareness and development where it is very possible to increase the number of refugees that we take annually, and I want to congratulate the government for taking that first step and increasing it by 1,000 for the next four years. This is to accommodate the Burmese refugees. I am confident that we can actually expand that program—and we should do so, for the reasons that I have just noted. But we should also do it because it is in our national interest.