Australian humanitarian and human rights organisations have joined in calling for the Federal Government to resettle a promised 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq by the first quarter of 2017.
The call comes a year after then Prime Minister Tony Abbott made the pledge to resettle an additional 12,000 refugees from the two Middle Eastern nations after images of the lifeless body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach shocked the world.
Figures released by the office of Peter Dutton, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, show that some 3,532 of the 12,000 have been resettled in Australia as of 2nd September with 6,678 visas issued in total. Another 6,293 people have been interviewed and assessed as meeting threshold requirements for a visa and are now awaiting the outcome of health, character and security checks.
In a statement from the organisations, Tim Costello, World Vision Australia chief executive, said it was “incomprehensible” that Australia had so far only resettled “a fraction” of the special intake of refugees.
“When Tony Abbott promised to take 12,000 more refugees, he said it would reflect ‘Australia’s proud history as a country with a generous heart’,” he said. “But there is a point at which a promise begins to look hollow when it is not honoured and Australia has reached that point.”
Other organisations behind the call included Save the Children, Oxfam Australia, Plan International Australia, CARE Australia and Amnesty International Australia.
Mr Dutton, meanwhile, stressed that it was vital checks be carried out befoe visas were granted.
“The Government’s prime responsibility is to protect the Australian community and Australians would understand that these checks must be carried out in the current global security environment,” he said. “As a Government we made it clear at the outset this special intake would take time to fulfil, that processing would be thorough, that there would be no shortcuts.”
