New centres will support WA refugees

25/5/06
Western Australian refugees will be supported by two new service centres under a pilot unveiled by Citizenship and Multicultural Interests Minister Margaret Quirk.
Ms Quirk said the State Government would set up a centre north of the river and one south, to co-ordinate support for humanitarian entry migrants, many of whom she said were victims of torture in their homelands.
The Minister said these refugees had unique needs that were likely to be best met through a specialised, integrated service, and these needs were not currently being met by the Federal Government.
"Many of the humanitarian migrants coming here, especially from Africa, have been through terrible experiences," she said.
"For example, we know that 70 per cent of those from Africa have been through a trauma such as losing a loved one in violent circumstances.
"A quarter of these migrants have themselves been tortured.
"With backgrounds like this, it is not hard to imagine that adjusting to life in Australia can be very difficult.
"It is our hope that these pilot centres will be the best model for delivering the variety of specialist services needed to allow refugees to settle in WA more quickly."
Ms Quirk said the Humanitarian Entrant Settlement Assistance Project centres, which would be attached to existing facilities such as an Intensive English Centre or migrant health facility, would link with a wide range of services.
"The centres will act as community access points to put people in touch with mainstream services which currently cannot manage the complex needs of many humanitarian entrants," she said.
"They could be health, employment, education and language services."
The Minister said $443,000 had been set aside for the centres, the best locations for which would be determined within the next few months, in the 2006-07 Office of Multicultural Interests Budget considered during Estimates today.
The HESAP service was developed in response to concerns by non-government organisations assisting with refugee resettlement, about the suitability of existing services.
"The Commonwealth, which is responsible for settling humanitarian entrants, has not changed its service delivery to suit the needs of what are now mainly African clients," Ms Quirk said.
"Canberra treats the State like a transit lounge, flying these traumatised families in here and leaving the WA Government to sort out their housing, health and educational needs.
"People do not want Canberra to just turn their backs on refugees and leave the State Government to deal with the problems."
WA became home to 1,762 humanitarian program refugees in 2004-05, an increase of 28 per cent on the previous year.
Minister's office: 9213 7000