Annette Hurley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have no intention of answering Senator McGauran’s questions. I notice he is not becoming any more statesmanlike in his declining months in the Senate. What I would like to say, however, is that I am very pleased that the government is now fulfilling the policy to keep children out of detention. I will be pleased to see positive measures being put in place to see this happen over the coming months. People in this place on both sides of the chamber have said that they do not want to see children in detention. Whether they are behind razor wire on Christmas Island or in tents on Christmas Island does not matter: children should not be treated in that fashion. It has been well agreed that that is the case, yet, when the government puts in place positive measures to ensure that it does not happen, we hear complaints from the other side about consultation and the manner in which it is done and no cooperation whatsoever with this policy move that the government has made.

One of the areas to which families with children will be sent is Inverbrackie, near Woodside, just outside Adelaide. It is a beautiful area with a close-knit community, and people in this area do not want their lifestyle compromised. Fair enough, but the arrival of 400 family groups, mostly women and children, will not overwhelm that country lifestyle in the Adelaide Hills, particularly given that the government has pledged an amount of money to ensure that health and education services are well maintained in that area to cope with the new arrivals. It has been widely reported that some members of the community are unhappy about the arrivals, but I have met many refugees in my time as a member of parliament and most of these asylum seekers who come by boat will be given refugee status. Most of the people coming to Inverbrackie, near Woodside, will be given refugee status. This will be the beginning of their time in Australia. I am convinced that most—not all, because that would be unrealistic, but most—of those people will make a solid contribution to Australian life.

The sooner we get people, particularly children, out of detention and start them on their lives in Australia the better the contribution that they will make. It quite possibly is the case that people from Woodside have not come across refugees very often. They may not understand the kinds of people who have desperately fled conflict in their own countries and come to Australia to seek a better life, predominantly for their children. When in Woodside those children will be going to schools to learn English as well as possible, if they do not already speak it, and making the best they can of their lives, to fulfil the faith that their parents have shown in them and to also say thank you to the Australian community.

Our Lieutenant Governor in South Australia, Hieu Van Le, came on a boat from Vietnam. He is a man who has made his way in society and is well recognised and well liked. He has said over and over again that he is grateful for being taken in by Australia at a time when his family were in desperate need. It will be no different with this group of 400 people in Woodside.

I would have thought that in this case the government might have got a bit more support from around the chamber for that kind of initiative. It is a realistic, sensible, pragmatic policy to move family groups out of detention to enable them to begin their lives in the Australian community. I am very pleased to see it happen and I am sure that, after a while, the people of Woodside will begin to see that it only benefits their community and broader society. It will be a great advantage to South Australia, which has constantly said that it wants to keep up its numbers of immigrants and get people into the jobs that South Australia needs to fill in order to prolong growth and continue its expansion and economic development.