Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk briefly about Australia's response to the Syrian refugee crisis overseas. We have seen people fleeing in their hundreds of thousands because of the Daesh death cult and the murderous war it is inflicting on these people. Australia has made a decision today to allow 12,000 additional refugees who are fleeing this conflict to come to Australia. There will be strict security checks to ensure these people are genuine refugees, and those people most in need from minority groups and able to assimilate into Australia will be given the first preference. In addition to these 12,000 additional refugees on top of our existing humanitarian program, $44 million in additional money will also be given to help refugees with food, shelter and other basic necessities.

This decision represents a significant increase in Australia's humanitarian intake. We are able to make this contribution because after the last election we did stop the boats, which were putting a lot of pressure on our humanitarian program. We are now able to give this support to these people, who are genuine refugees in a vast amount of need. Finally, this will require all Australian governments and community organisations to support these people when they arrive. I applaud the PM and cabinet on this decision.