Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I take this opportunity to update the House on Australia's response to the escalating humanitarian crisis in the Middle East—in particular, Syria.

The images have been confronting for all of us. The crisis is becoming increasingly desperate as countries in the region struggle to cope with the enormity of the situation and the growing numbers of people displaced by the conflicts.

It is estimated that, to date, more than four million Syrians have fled their country. It is estimated more than seven million are displaced internally.

Australia has already provided support and is moving quickly to do more.

Indeed, more than 3,300 visas have been granted in our offshore program to Syrian refugees in recent years.

In 2012-13 there were 98 Syrians accepted as part of our offshore refugee and humanitarian program, which has grown to 2,232 in the most recent financial year. This was part of over 4,500 humanitarian visa grants to Syrians and Iraqis last year.

Last week, I met with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Antonio Guterres, officials from the UNHCR and officials from the International Organisation for Migration in Europe to inform them of Australia's response to this situation.

Accordingly, the government has announced a generous package of assistance beyond our existing humanitarian program intake. This includes 12,000 visas for those who face significant persecution as a result of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq and an increase in funding of $44 million for humanitarian aid in Syria and Iraq.

The government will continue to work closely with the UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration and other partners in the region to deliver the increase in humanitarian places.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection and partner agencies are working quickly to implement arrangements to manage the increase.

The department is deploying additional staff to the region and will use a combination of short- and long-term deployments in decision making roles in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, where the bulk of people displaced by the conflict are located.

Multidisciplinary teams including security, identity and biometrics specialists will be deployed as needed.

Priority will be given to women, children and families from persecuted minorities and who are assessed as being most vulnerable.

All applicants will be required to meet the criteria for a humanitarian visa, including health, character and security assessments which will be conducted before individuals are able to enter Australia. We need to respond to those who are most vulnerable, but we also need to ensure we are doing so with Australia's national interest in mind.

As with other humanitarian entrants, visa recipients will be eligible for social security benefits, Medicare, English language assistance, torture and trauma services and settlement services.

The Department of Social Services, responsible for settlement arrangements, will take into account a range of factors, including family links and available services such as health and accommodation in planning for these arrivals. The government is advised that settlement organisations are currently well placed to provide for this increased intake. The Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council has been tasked with providing advice to government on the expansion of services, on matters of harnessing community support, settlement location, social cohesion and the importance of education and employment.

Our latest contribution of humanitarian aid will deliver food, water, health care, education, emergency supplies and protection, including support for women and girls, and will assist 240,000 displaced people affected by the conflict in Syria and Iraq.

This will bring Australia's contribution to address the humanitarian crisis in Syria and Iraq to about $230 million since 2011.

I know members' offices and government agencies have had countless offers of generous support from members of the Australian public in responding to this situation. The government thinks them for their offers and will work with state and territory governments, community leaders, peak organisations and settlement providers to try to harness this support in a practical way.

Since the end of World War II, more than 825,000 refugees and others in humanitarian need have been resettled in this great country.

Once again, Australia has responded generously to those most in need, to those who have been caught overseas in conflicts far from our shores. We stand very proud as a nation to offer them support in their darkest hour and we look forward to continuing support when they arrive on our shores to provide them with a new opportunity in life.

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, the politics of immigration in this building changed, and in a wonderful way. The order of the day was generosity, which is exactly how it should be. This, of course, is not how these events started. As late as last Sunday week, the government's position remained one of not contributing any additional places to the Syrian crisis beyond our humanitarian framework, but a few days can be a long time in politics. Last Monday week, the opposition called on the government to provide, as a start, 10,000 refugee places to the crisis in Syria and to coordinate amongst states and community groups within the country a way in which that could be done, along with making a contribution of $100 million towards the state of affairs in Syria.

That announcement was met by some on the government side with a predictable narrow-mindedness, but the government itself responded in a very welcome way by a contribution of 12,000 places, which, by international standards, is generous indeed. I would like to acknowledge the role of the minister in seeing that happen, being, as he was, in Geneva and speaking with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees during the course of last week. It is a really significant contribution to the situation in the world today. We also acknowledge the $44 million that the government put on the table, which will change the lives of tens of thousands of people in and around Syria. As the shadow minister for foreign affairs said, we would have preferred it to be a larger amount, but $44 million will go a long way.

This is a very significant moment. It is a very significant moment in the life of this parliament and in the life of this debate. Last week, we saw the major parties dealing with this issue and, if I might say, competing on the basis of generosity—not on toughness but on generosity. That is, in my view, a sea change in the way in which we have gone about the immigration debate. It was a great moment for this parliament and a great moment for all those involved in this debate, including the minister. We are witnessing today the greatest humanitarian need since the Second World War. Fifty nine million people, according to the UNHCR, are displaced—the largest number since the Second World War. In Syria alone, we see 11 million people displaced, seven million internally and four million beyond the borders of Syria, a situation I personally saw when I visited the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, near the border with Syria, in April this year.

Knowing this, Labor have been very keen in the position that we have taken to make sure that we as a party and an opposition stand for Australia to make a generous offer to the world's affairs. That is why, at our ALP conference in July this year, we announced the transformational commitment to the UNHCR, if Labor were elected to government, of $450 million over three years and the doubling of our humanitarian intake over the course of 10 years. It is the single most generous offer of any potential Australian government to the state of the world's humanitarian affairs and we are very proud to have that position.

There is, of course, an the immediate crisis which needs to be addressed—and that is what we saw this parliament do, ultimately in a bipartisan way, last week. As I say, it was a great moment for this parliament and for our country. Given the state of the world today, not just in Syria but in places like Yemen and in places where there are old conflicts, such as Somalia; and given the state of affairs in northern Nigeria with Boko Haram—and there are many other places around the world where there are people displaced—we need to be playing our part as a nation. We need to be generous. Last week was a very proud week for this parliament. It was a great week in which to be a member of this place. I very much commend the government on the offer that it has made.